Update #7 100 Thing Challenge Considering Intervention

Crazy!  I just noticed that there has been no 100 Thing Challenge Update since January!  Absolutely no excuse.  My apologies, Sam.

Ok, so image yourself in your chair with your clipboard in hand and I’m on the couch - the therapist’s couch that is.  Our conversation goes something like this:

Doctor, we have piles of stuff all around our house.  We don’t use it.  We’re not sure how most of it got here.  It just is.  Like an ontological theory for consumerism.
If you don’t use it, why don’t you just get rid of it?
We try.  I’m not sure.  Maybe I just dream that we try.  Maybe I’m delusional.  But I think we try... (dreamily) I think we try.
Perhaps you need an intervention?
(Softly) Yes.  Yeah, doc, perhaps we do.

There it is.  We’re considering a stuff intervention.   A running idea is a massive garage sale where everything is priced $1 - from junky toys to broken vacuums (why do we have 2 in the garage?) to clothes to unneeded furniture.  AMVETS has been good to pick lots of stuff up this year.  But we still have too much.  And honestly eBay really only works on an occasional basis.  It’s not the best place to unload hundreds of unnecessary items.

Any other ideas for a massive stuff intervention?

Comments

[Tanna]

Go for the garage sale. Make a rule to yourself though that once it is out it stays out. Whatever does not sell, box it up and donate it.

There are always options like Freecycle, Craigslist and Ebay, but it is time consuming. The more time it takes the less motivated you will be to get the stuff out.

[Joyful Abode]

Glad to see this! I had worried you'd given up!

[Debbie]

A friend. A ruthless, tell-it-like-it-is friend. Preferably someone who lives in a smaller, less cluttered place than you.

We often need someone who is not attached to our stuff to give us the straight goods in terms of what to keep and what to give away.

Then garage sale it all.

If there's something you're not sure about, put it in a box, seal it and put the date on it. A year down the road, if that box is still sealed, get rid of it.

I sppreciate your struggle.

Any "We Sell Your Stuff on Ebay" stores near you?

[Paz]

Should you be truly steadfast in your conviction to unstuff your habitat of material items.. by all means have a massive garage sales... only advertise that all items are FREE... for the first 5 minutes... ask, believe and receive..
advertise it on Craigs and within minutes it will all go away...

Bahhhahahahahahhah.

[Nina Ruth]

Howzabout a stuckinstuff community garage sale, where we all fix up our stuff to saleable condition, pick a location, advertise & have a massive sale, w/proceeds to benefit Stop the Traffick or some other worthy cause?! Then we can support each other in getting rid of the stuff (that maybe we're too attached to to find courage to get rid of on our own) AND feel good about it, too! My concern w/a private garage sale is that, while I need the $, I might be tempted to just turn around & use it to buy more STUFF! :-)

[Ariah Fine]

Go for it.
This is such a great idea by the way.

[sam]

Great Idea. I don't have so much stuff, but my wife does!!
take care!
sam

[Amy]

I'm sure you see similar comments to this one but you've inspired me to do the same! I made some slightly different rules for myself, and for some things I'm allowing myself 100 of such-and-such, but the concept is the same. ;)

Thanks for the great idea, and I've passed it on too!

[J. Grant]

Just a trick I use. I use this formula with
books and clothing. If I buy 2 items of clothing, 2 items must be donated or gotten
rid of in some way. Same with books! Seems to work for me..(after I have done a general
purge, of course.
Love your blog. Our "stuff" does take over
our lives. It fills space and needs to be taken care of.
Thanks for this site!
J. Grant

[LJ]

Hi Dave,

It seems to me that you might be hung up on value.

If you're a perfectionist and insist on having garage sales, using ebay, craigslist, etc., it'll take too long. Try selling the best stuff if you must, but then *donate* the rest.

Or put it on the curb with a free sign and let your neighbors have at it. It's amazing what goes away, how good you feel, and even better, you don't have to fuss with it anymore (or pay to have it hauled away).

If you insist it has value, take it to your favorite charity thrift store. Bless someone else with it. Don't you already have enough for yourself and your family? Isn't that the point? I don't have much money for charity, so I try to donate good stuff whenever I can.

Is your stuff a blessing to you? No? Then why give it a monetary value? Let it bless someone who really needs it.

In our culture, we have so many systems for getting stuff INTO the house, but very few for getting it OUT again. Invent some. Use them regularly. Get over the idea that your stuff is precious, so you can let it go. If you've gotten as far as concluding that you don't want something anymore, don't let a little thing like "value" deter you!

When I have bothered to have a yard sale, I put the stuff out on the lawn and put out a coffee can for money. I put up a sign giving a price range for stuff - saying pay what you can/want, nothing is over five bucks. Yard sales only make money if you're going to do the hard sell for every item, and I'm not that kind of person. And I don't want to waste my time making change, just to end up with a few bucks for my (long, hot) day's effort.

We made the most money the time our note pledged to match the proceeds & donate it all. We went out and when we came back, that can was crammed with money. Writing that check was a good feeling!

I guess what I'm saying is, if you've got 2 broken vacuum cleaners in the garage, you're missing the nugget of wisdom at the heart of the purging process. Your idea that you should get the value of your stuff out of it before giving it up is chaining you not just to stuff, but to CRAP!

Laura

[Kristin]

RE: Laura's comment. I am blown away by the last sentence: "Your idea that you should get the value of your stuff out of it before giving it up is chaining you not just to stuff, but to CRAP!" You nailed it. I'm going to rethink my selling/donanting process. Thanks!

[LJ]

Whew. I was afraid I was too harsh.

I was raised by a person with an unhealthy collecting obsession, and have been working to unlearn it ever since. I had to get pretty harsh with myself, and was able to when I returned from a peaceful (because empty of stuff) vacation to a house full of piles stuff that literally sloped up from the doorway in.

I still have way more stuff than most other people I know (mainly in the form of art materials in my studio), but a hell of a lot less than I used to. I'm great at finding free furniture or whatever, I guess I inherited that, so it's way too easy to bring stuff in. Getting it out again is a skill, and the more I do it the better I get.

I can say that even though I've gotten rid of hundreds (and hundreds?) of boxes of stuff in the last ten years or so, I don't miss a damn thing.

Best wishes,
Laura

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or find to be beautiful."
William Morris, 1834-1896

[Ian]

For those that are doing this and are looking for a way to unload stuff, I'd recommend you check out the Freecycle Network (www.freecycle.org). I have used it here in Dallas for years. It's a great way to give other people the opportunity to acquire your stuff and put it to use. I hope this helps.

Cheers.