I recently listened to a highly motivational, incredibly inspirational TedX talk by Angela Horn. It was about Angela’s decision to downsize, and the important message of “the less you own, the more you have.” Angela encouraged the viewer to challenge themselves by throwing out or giving away an item a day for 30 days.
Some of the things Angela said are quoted below:
“Stuff is a very demanding mistress”
“The first thing you have to do is sayonara to the clutter”
“Throw out just one thing a day for thirty days. I promise that at the end of those 30 days, you’ll feel so light and free and easy, that you’ll just want to keep going. So do that. Keep going until you’ve gotten rid of absolutely everything that you no longer use.”
“Stop buying for buying’s sake”
“Retail therapy is a costly exercise with negligible results”
“It’s always the experiences that you remember”
“Do I really need this, or do I just want it because I want it?”
It’s funny, because theoretically, I totally agree with Angela. I’m with her. Everything she said made perfect sense to me, to the point that I actually tried it – I threw out, donated or gave away one item per day for thirty days. In fact, here is my list of items:
- Blue garland from festival
- Last cigarette packet from quitting
- Broken work pass holder (gift from bestie)
- Shiny bead necklaces from party with relative
- Transparent expensive deodorant
- Havaiianas slim I have owned for at least 11 years, that have been repaired by my partner many times
- Zensu white shoes for balcony, gift from grandma, no longer wearable or presentable
- Black broken ballet flats that rescued me many times
- Perfume bottle from my partner, first one he ever gave me
- Mini set of plastic drawers that cluttered our bathroom, they came from my partner’s old place
- 1 x blue duster I bought years ago when I was quite poor
- Beige cardboard box & blue cardboard box from cupboard near the doorway
- Paper roll holder from my partner’s old place, not so presentable anymore
- Black felt placemats, given to me by my sister; although she didn’t remember them anymore, I felt attached to them
- Kitchen spatula – grandma gave me this, I gave it back to use at my parent’s place
- Nesquik strawberry drink which I binged on
- Pack of cute shower caps I bought as gifts but never gave; finally I gave these away
- L plates (two different types, albeit one kind was thrown away on the last day but I only count the first ones)
- Spare door hooks (packs of these actually)
- Christmas card from a company I am no longer a customer of that was in my “special” box
- Terracotta pots I was keeping
- Cylindrical box and gift bag
- Broken black heart glasses
- Another expensive deodorant, dark spot corrector and mascara gifted to me by my sister
- Nail stuff from my nail kit, including an old nail file my sister gave me and a dried bottle of acetone
- “Designer” icing (way too sweet and application took way too long, but I could not bring myself to throw it out)
- Many, many items from the medical box such as expired medicines, cough syrups and vitamins
- Old candles from my partner’s birthday
- A cheap headband that I did not like, which broke in my hand as I threw it out
- Lipgloss and another mascara given to me by my sister.
I was incredibly proud for having finished my thirty days. However, instead feeling light and free and easy, I feel a sense of guilt for each item when I think about it. Each of these items had a story, and I just shamelessly discarded each of them.
I feel like I achieved something throughout parts of the list. For example, it would definitely have taken something as special as Angela’s talk to have me even think of cleaning out the clutter from the Medical cabinet. I’ve also since been thinking about how much I really need the additional nailpolishes that I no longer use, as well as asking myself, how many of those shampoo bottles do I really need to keep?
I know that I’ve been bugging my partner to complete his side of the bargain, which is also to throw out thirty items in thirty days and he currently has five on his list. His clutter is a little more complex to clean out than most of mine, comprising of computer hardware parts and things that may require complex assembly.
Upon cleaning out my items, I noticed a few items of choice. I have a special box in which I keep items that are truly meaningful to me, items that I never want to throw out. This box includes old tickets from our overseas trip many years ago, cards from people I care about (not random companies, thank you very much) and an old phone cover that my partner attempted to fix and melt magnets into for me.
Those items, although not of huge value, are meaningful to me because they have a story. They tie up with some part of my soul and I cannot part with them. I am highly sentimental, and I know this about myself. Those items tie in with experiences that I do not want to forget, but I fear forgetting. I forget many things all the time due to the stressful nature of my job and I know this. Could this be why I don’t feel entirely free?
I also feel a sense of guilt for wasting items, even the really obviously broken ones, simply because I have thrown them out. Finally, I feel sad for having thrown out gifts that have been given to me. I hate that I was not able to keep all of these.
For me, it is a mixed feeling right now; especially when I look at the list of items that I have thrown out. I agree with Angela overall though, because I certainly do not wish to live in clutter. I picked this image today because I like the modern minimalistic box, I am just not sure that I am capable of living in that way right now. I also felt like painting the old shells I found from our beach visit, which is a lovely side effect.
I don’t buy a whole lot of items; it is agreed with my partner that we both don’t, and I certainly love my experiences, which is what most of my money tends to go to at the moment; but there is a deep discomfort within my heart when I read that list. Although I am disappointed that I do not suddenly feel light and free and easy, I don’t think this is the end of the story yet. Let’s see how I feel about it in a little while, perhaps I will feel more free in a few months, or if I throw out an additional 30 items.
Image by Giovanni_cg of Pixabay.
Edit on 28/04/2018: I just wanted to note down one more thing. Since I’ve done the 30 items, I have noticed a lot more mess lately, so it’s time to clean up!