It Starts With Just One

Too much stuff can affect not just our mood, but our motivation. It zaps our energy and weighs us down. We hold onto things for a variety of reasons and have guilt about letting them go, only to collect more stuff and have that guilt and demotivation continue a seemingly never-ending cycle.

This can change. Don’t let your things own you. Your home is a place for you to live, love and grow - not just a place to house stuff.

I see people who use garages to store an abundance of stuff from Target, Costco and Amazon that has little to no resale value, while their cars - likely the biggest expense outside of their home - sit uncovered in the driveway.

Our priorities have shifted. We have been led to believe we need the air fryers, instant pots and elliptical machines. Instead of borrowing something from a neighbor for a one-time use or paying for a gym membership for access to hundreds of pieces of equipment, we buy that item to own and use, often only once. Then, into the garage it goes, forgotten but not gone, taking up space and providing zero benefits.

To provide context, a search on Facebook Marketplace for instant pots for sale in the Bay Area returned more than 1,600 posts. I stopped counting after that.

I think about the repetition, how each house on my street probably has a similar list of those occasional, infrequent-use items. Rakes, shovels, stand mixers, leaf blowers, power washers, juicers, slow cookers... Borrowing things from a neighbor has become taboo while personal ownership is a sign of success.

While becoming a more communal society would require a massive social behavioral shift and may likely never occur, we can start in our own homes and garages. And the way to start is with eliminating one item. Just one. And then another and another and another. And not taking in an item we really don't need and taking something out before another comes in. However, you do it, it's got to start somewhere.

Get your motivation back, take control, you're the boss. Letting go of that thing will prove to be more valuable than the thing you're letting go of.