On having excess 'stuff'

I’ve got a bit of an issue with ‘stuff’.

I like having stuff.

Then I feel overcrowded and want it out.

I go through phases of collecting things, then feel the need to purge and get them all out.

It happens with everything.

I used to buy so many magazines you wouldn’t believe. When I had no room to keep them, I’d keep a folder of the front covers. One day, I recycled them all.

I went through a phase of buying loads of (fairly cheap) clothes, then had a day where I needed to sort through everything and keep only the things that were flattering and that I loved.

I bought so much makeup and so many toiletries there’s no way one person could use it all and I was running out of space to store it. Then I suddenly couldn’t bear how many products were crowding me out. I’ve been using everything up, so I can get to the point where I have one of everything, plus a backup if said item is close to running out.

I’ve always been like it.

I feel such an urge to collect or buy a certain thing, which is followed weeks or months or years later by a feeling of everything being too crowded, and of needing to get rid of it all.

When I was younger and living at home I used to have ruthless clear-outs all the time. Ruthless to the point that my parents would sometimes have to question what I was throwing out or giving away.

I’ve now reached a turning point and realised three things:

It’s a waste of money. 

It’s a waste of energy. 

It’s a waste of space.

I’m teaching myself to change my spending habits, to avoid the obsessive buying of whatever I’m ‘into’ at the time. 

I’ve realised I care more about experiences than things. I’d so much rather see a show or have a weekend away than add three things to my wardrobe.

I’m trying to work on a ‘one in, one out’ policy, not buying things until something else has run out or broken.

Of course there will be slip-ups, but I’m determined to stop crowding myself out with ‘stuff’ I attach little feeling to.

I want to surround myself with things I love, with things which have meaning, and with things that make me feel great.

Wish me luck.