I did a thing last week. I called a junk hauling company and had them empty my basement. I’ve lived in six different Nashville zip codes over the decades, and I get rid of things every time I move. But this was big.
After sorting and organizing some tax and real estate files, and moving the file cabinets into a corner, I had the junk guys take everything else. No questions, no exceptions. I didn’t look at any of it. I’m not sure what all of it was, but it filled up their truck. And it’s gone.
It feels like I’ve lost 20 pounds.
While not everyone is a full-on hoarder, we all do this to some extent – hang on to stuff that we don’t need, that we don’t even want, stuff that holds us down.
In the past 12 months, I’ve had six sellers who spent weeks – even months – clearing out so they could move. Deciding what to take, what to sell, what to junk. Hard, sometimes actually painful, work. Psychology underlying the issue aside, there are ways to avoid this extra weight, and make moving easier when the time comes.
The fact that I had a truckload of junk in my basement notwithstanding, compared to some friends, family, and clients, I’ve done a pretty fair job of keeping the accumulation down to a manageable level. Here are a few tricks I’ve used to make it happen.
Throw as you go
One end of my guestroom closet is reserved for things that need to go to Goodwill, or the dump, or somewhere other than my house. When the corner fills up, I get rid of it. Right now, I have a basket of clothes and household items ready to go, and I’ll take it to Goodwill the next time I’m headed to Green Hills.
Take it slow
If you are facing tons of accumulated stuff, go easy on yourself. Be ruthless – gradually. Whittle it down one box, one closet, one basement at a time. I did this with books. At one point I had almost 600 books on the shelves. Little by little – a box at a time – I took more than half of them to McKay and sold them for cash. It took a year, but what a relief!
Gift before you die
Why wait until you’re dead to give things to friends and family? Why not give it away now – when they can thank you in person. I’ve given lots of things away to family, and earmarked others as future gifts. But remember this: if friends and family don’t want it, it's likely no one else does either. (see below)
Remember, it’s only stuff
You can’t take it with you. If you don’t use it or want it, and no one else does (see above), why are you hanging on to it? It’s not relationships. It’s not experience. It’s not friends, not family. It’s none of the things that really matter. It’s just stuff!