I have way to much stuff and it has got to the stage where it owns me. I no longer own it. I have decided to reclaim the future me by reducing my stuff down to what I need now. If you walked around my house and look through all my stuff you would find lots of different things that describe who I was or wanted to be at one time. These things are my past identify, my history. I have finally realised that I don’t need stuff to define who I am. In fact all the stuff is getting in the way of who I want to be.
I have been busy for the last few weeks getting sorted. It has impacted my running and cycling training. Including my carless status. But it will all result in a better future. A future of freedom where my stuff propels me forward and does not hold me in the past.
I am at the stage of life that I really have all the stuff I could ever need and I have most of what I have ever wanted. It was 11 years ago when moving into our current house, that I figured out I had far too much. I have been working in cycles on getting the amount of stuff I have down to a reasonable amount. So getting rid of stuff has been an up and down affair. It is experiences that I want to collect and share these days. Stuff holds less value when not used but just stored, in fact it costs to store it.
I have started by making a list of which items I will go through and in what order. This is to keep me on track in my reduction of gear. The list is as follows so far. I am going to go at it for 26 weeks (Project 26). What amounts to a committed push to really reduce down to what is “used” not just stored. I have no number for how much I want to keep. But I do want to keep what I use in each 6 month period. If I need it outside this period of time I am sure I can borrow, loan, or get a new one if required in the future.
I am starting with the shed, and my biggest collection of stuff. My bike stuff. Above is everything I am removing from the house. I have kept the essentials or bike consumables that you use all the time; new chains, brake cables etc. But anything that I have replaced on a bike with a better part or took off a bike before using it I am pairing down.
My list I am aiming to do one each week.
- Bike Stuff
- Camping stuff
- DVDs
- Bags (back packs etc)
- Electronics
- Mobile phones
- Kitchen
- Bathroom
This is only 8 weeks but it is as far as I have got in my head. It is actually emotionally challenging to get ride of stuff. I am still stuck to the idea that it defines me to some extent. I can feel a pressure in my chest thinking about getting ride of things. It will take some time to get over this even though I am sure I will feel better for it.
No doubt I will add to this list as I go through other areas. I have left out a section of gear that I will not reduce at this stage and that is tools. With tools I can generally build most things that I want. So this is an area that I will not be reducing at this stage.
Thanks for joining me on this ride. I am looking forward to spending less time sorting out stuff and finding a place to store for it. I hope it results in more time with family and adventuring out the front door.
