UNITED STATES—Have you ever taken a look at your closet and just said there is just too much going on in here. Yes, that happens to me at least once a week. I clean it out, but less than a day or two I have tossed more stuff in the closet and its disorganized once again. So the question that has to be asked is WHY? That is a good question, and if I’m being honest, I think it all boils down with my inability to sometimes just get rid of things.
I would NOT say I’m a hoarder, but when you pay for things, you just don’t like letting them go, and it’s unfortunate, but it’s the truth people. You worked hard for that money and whatever item you purchased, rather its clothing, shoes, jackets, electronics or something else, it is hard at times to let it go. However, I have to put on my big boy pants and took a hard look in the mirror: if I’m not using the item, it needs to be given to someone else so that they can utilize it.
So about a month ago, I literally took all the clothes out of my closet and anything I hadn’t worn in over a year or that I just didn’t want in my closet anymore I donated the items. It did allow me the opportunity to declutter my closet a bit, but another problem arose. I purchase more clothing and shoes because they were on sale. So it begs the age old question: just because something is on sale doesn’t mean you have to purchase it right? I want to believe that, I know that is true, but heck, when you can get a pair of Levi Jeans for $5, that regularly costs $70 that is literally like saving 95 percent America. That is very difficult to turn something like that away, so the closet that just had a bit of space is not packed yet again.
So it raises a big question perhaps I’m buying just to be buying when I actually don’t need anything. Yes, that is a tough pill to swallow, but I had to swallow it to realize that I was spending money a bit frivolously and I need to stop. So what did I do? I went over my expenses for the past month. Another realization: I hadn’t spent that much money, I just happened to get a ton of things on sale, so while I had a lot, I barely spent any money for those items. Trust me I’m just like any other American, when you get something on sale it delivers you an amazing feeling.
The one thing I hadn’t realized about my closet is that I was keeping paperwork and old documentation that I no longer needed to keep. Yeah, it was bad America, I had paperwork and documents from almost 10 years ago. Just collecting dust and taking up space. So I finally said, to hell with it and I started shredding and tossing out things that were no longer of value to me or needed. It felt quite good to do it because I opened up more space that I hadn’t realized was available to me because I was constantly looking at the clothes as being a big problem versus the items staring directly at me in the face.
Now, my closet is NOT as pristine and organized as I would like it to be, but its way more organized and visible to see things than what they were a week or two ago. I just have to pump the brakes on purchases that are not necessary. When I say necessary, I mean something I WANT versus something I need.
Written By Jason Jones
