Stuff has been on my mind lately. I even have a manila folder labeled “stuff”.
Since I moved to Texas a year ago I’ve had a storage locker back in Seattle with some stuff I thought I might still want back there, but didn’t really need here. It’s been a valuable exercise in evaluating what stuff means to me and noticing how that meaning can change over time … if you let it.
The first thing I noticed in this journey of stuff is that it costs a lot of money to have stuff. There’s the original price you pay for stuff, the cost of maintaining it, then the cost of moving it or storing it, and finally the very minimal return you get when you sell or donate it (my accountant recommends 1/4 of the original price paid and I’ve often received even less than that when selling items on craigslist).
This leads me to my second big learning about stuff. The value of stuff is not so much monetary as it is energy. If a $5 knickknack brings me oodles of joy, then it’s worth it to buy it, care for it, store it, and ship it.
And third, that energetic value changes over time. What brought me joy when I bought it as a kid might not bring me joy now, even though I have a long history with it. I can only decide from who I am now, what brings me joy now.
But what if I change my mind and I wish I had back the stuff that I’ve passed on?
After having stuff in a storage unit for a year, I can tell you, most of it I didn’t even remember until I reopened the box. It was a bit like Christmas – new surprises under each layer of newspaper. And it was really obvious which stuff still brought me joy, and which stuff was a nice memory but no longer impactful.
The joyful stuff made it into the long car-ride home and has been integrated into my stuff here. And with that integration process, a lot has been removed from the walls so that the key reminders and most joyful stuff can stand out and receive my focus.
Managing stuff is an ongoing process, but it’s easier and easier when you focus on the joy it brings and ways to honor the memories of the stuff that is no longer fully supporting your joy.
So, how’s your stuff? And what’s it doing for you?
