Continuing on with the reasons we keep things that we don't love or need (the stuff that's cluttering our homes and lives) …
In our last post we started talking about the most common reasons we save things. This post is the second in a series (of 5) and focuses on;
“It was expensive”
This one is a bit easier to handle than gifts, which can have a positive emotion attached to them. The emotion here is probably more negative, buyers remorse or guilt being the most common.
Perhaps you did love this thing at one point, clearly you were willing to part with significant amount of cash to acquire it. Like a gift, it happened a moment in time. Lifestyles and styles change. What's important to you changes. I used to love arts and crafts furniture but my tastes have changed and while I still appreciate it, I prefer being surrounded by more modern things. To create the home I have now, which I love, I had to get rid of some of the things I bought early on.
Letting go of the things you no longer love or need helps you focus on and enjoy the things you do. Holding onto something just because it was expensive isn't worth it. Often, we see these things as “mistakes” which bring up negative emotions whenever we see them. Be glad for whatever joy the item brought you, however long or short and … move on! If you can sell them and recoup some of cash, great! If not, holding on to it won't get your money back. Let it find its way to someone who will love or need it.
Next up … “It's a family heirloom”