Sometimes I feel like the only thing that comes out as a by-product of my life is stuff. There is a significant amount of stuff that I get rid every week with the garbage. But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the stuff that accumulates.
In my home, I have an office. I set it up when I bought the house and at a time when, to do any serious work with a computer, you needed one of those large tower PCs. Nowadays, I do all my work on my laptop or on my iPad so I don't need an office. It has become a repository for my unused stuff. The compost that accumulates in my life.
The picture above is from a shelf in my office. This shelf is a great examplar of stuff I keep all around my house. Let's see if the stuff can be categorized.
Things that you just don't throw away: The "non-designers design book" (throwing books away is a crime isn't it?), Macadamian baseball cap
Things that have a sentimental value: The stuffed Smurf, Starbucks cup
Things that are cute or beautiful or fun: The little cat rock statue, Peter (family guy that says funny things when you squeeze it)
Things that belong to other people that just happen to be in my possession: The bottle of rum, the plastic pitcher, "les laboratories Crete" book
Things that are part of projects that never finished or even started: Bonsai tree kit, large bag of silica gel packets
Things that are obsolete or should be digital: Old compact flash cards, replacement batteries for a camera I don't use anymore, paper printout for the rules of a board game, software retail boxes, business cards
Tools: Air pressure gauge, paintbrushes, pens, 9v battery, tie-wrap, little hard-disk screw, cables, plugs, adaptors, lens cleaning cloth, the various containers to organize the stuff
After making an inventory of the content of the shelf, I realize that (aside from the little pile of change) most of the stuff in there is stuff that I don't use often or at all. Yet I keep it. Stuff accumulates, a perfect incarnation of the principle of entropy.
How to deal with that stuff? Is it different depending on the type of stuff?
And putting it away is not the answer here. Actually, putting it away is part of the problem. It is not about cleanliness, it's about the stuff itself.
Anyone has brilliant ideas here? How do you deal with your stuff?
2 comments:
Allow your junk to become someone else's treasure by putting it for free (or a value) on kijiji. This is what we do and it works. Stuff do disappear.
Of course this does not work for stuff with sentimental value. For these items, put hem in a box. Keep the box as long as you can, when you cannot keep it anymore, ask yourself (without opening it) what you are missing in your life?
Dig in if you can name something that might be there. Otherwise, give a treasure away. Move on.
Move to a different continent. Rent a very small apartment. Works every time.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kipple
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