We're quick to collect junk, but slow to throw it out
by James Simpson

Potomac News
Friday, November 14, 2003

Time is our most valuable commodity. We are given a certain amount of it, and all too frequently we waste much of it on meaningless or trivial matters.
I made a choice a year ago that I was not going to continue wasting my time doing something that I didn't enjoy doing, so I quit my job. Even with the job market tanking, I felt that it was important to stop squandering what little time I had? even if it meant completely changing my lifestyle and standard of living.

As part of the metamorphosis that I have been undergoing over the past year, I am now aware of what a pack rat I have become. In fact, Americans are at the point of owning so much "stuff" that we now have storage units everywhere.

Why we feel it is necessary to keep so many things that we are at the point of renting additional space to store it is beyond me.

What really brings to light the increase in possessions over the years is a look at family photos from the 60s and 70s. Living rooms use to have a couple pieces of furniture and maybe a television set. Now they are packed with massive entertainment centers, videos, CDs, game units and other various accessories that there is little room for entertaining and virtually no open space.

Is it any wonder that folks are constantly stressed? When a room, which is supposed to be one of the most relaxing places for people to congregate, is a disaster and always bombarding the house with noise, it is obvious why we are a nation of overweight, hypertensive individuals occasionally prone to violence.

I finally came to the realization that there is no point in keeping stuff that you can't get to or don't even remember you own.

Just today I finished emptying out my 10x15 storage unit. In one of my recent "purges," and there have been several, I was opening boxes of stuff that I honestly didn't remember I owned.

Unfortunately, like many people, I constantly had to rearrange my junk, or tear through it when looking for something. This was (and to a lesser degree now, still is) a time bandit. I have more progress to make in extricating myself of the excess things in my home, but thus far I have made a significant impact.

The time we lose cleaning, searching, acquiring and organizing our junk is time wasted that should be spent with family or friends and time that could be better put to use pursuing our goals and dreams.

In getting rid of non-essential items, I have developed a few rules that may help you in cleaning out your home, in the hope that you too can find more time to spend on things that really matter in life:

? Keep only those things that fall into one of three categories: items that are useful, items that have financial value or items that have a sentimental value.

Even limiting oneself to these three conditions can still leave a home too cluttered. Consider selling some of the financially valuable items on eBay, and only holding onto a few sentimental items. For instance, is it really necessary to keep every single piece of clothing your children wore as they grew up, or just one or two that were your favorites?

? Use furniture only for its intended purpose. Couches and chairs should not have stuff stacked on them. Dining room table should not be used as a second office desk. Beds should not be used as a laundry room table.

? Purchase clear storage containers so it is easy to tell what is squirreled away in each of them.

? Folders that are too large have documents that you will never reference. Go through old folders and purge items that are no longer relevant. Take the remaining documents and break them down into smaller manila folders with sub-titles.

? Centralize supplies for various projects and hobbies. If you have office supplies, picture framing equipment, board games, computer equipment, etc? place them in one specific area so you always know where to go to look for something.

? Get rid of clothes that don't fit. If you shrink or expand over the next couple of months you can go buy a new set of clothing. There is no reason to hold onto five different sizes of clothes? "just in case."

Possessions are irrelevant. The more "stuff" we have in our lives the less time we tend to spend on what is important: family, friends, relationships, and pursuing meaningful goals.

When purging, remember that things are just that? things. We tend to hold onto possessions too strong. I have been guilty of worrying about my possessions too much in the past. This has caused me to waste time and money.

I hope that I have persuaded you to get rid of some of the time bandits (read: excess possessions) in your life. If you do, the victory will be a vastly simplified existence with more time available for the truly important things in life.

James Simpson lives in Lake Ridge.