Find It Or Lose It

If you don’t have a plan for finding an item, you should get rid of it. This is a modification of the “use-it-or-lose-it” rule, which may be more poetic, but is too extreme.

There are plenty of things we may have good reason to keep, but may have no intention of using. For example, we like to surround ourselves with attractive or fun display items, but for the most part we don’t actually use them. Keepsakes are another example. They are special enough to keep in a special box, but there’s nothing wrong with not using them.

What doesn’t make sense is to keep something with no plan for finding it.  If you’re trying to stow something where you have no legitimate hope of finding it, SERIOUSLY, get rid of it! You don’t have to toss it, maybe you donate or sell it, but don’t keep it. This stuff just weighs you down and gets in the way of the stuff you DO value. Sometimes giving stuff away is the best gift you can give yourself.

This is a moderate approach that makes sense. “Use-it-or-lose-it” leads to regrets and when you have regrets, you will be discouraged from purging next time. That’s not good. At least limit yourself to keeping what you can find. You can purge the excess later.

TODAY’S KEY TO UNLOCKING CLUTTER: If you don’t care whether you find an item then you need to question why you should keep it at all.