Useless Junk; Overcoming Materialism and Clutter to Improve Creativity and Reduce Stress.

On a whim, I decided several months ago to move to Los Angeles with a friend. Though I haven’t moved yet (my house is still on the market), the entire process has created a whole new set of value-based questions and answers. Most notably, this has been in the area of materialism, junk and the actual value of possessions which I own.

My Story

As soon as the decision was made, I knew I would have to purge as much as I could in my house. At the time, my brother and I lived together and generally “acquired” whatever others offered to us, and I ended up buying a whole lot of junk that I just didn’t need. Some of this came from drunken-eBaying, some from impulse, and some from just having too much money to spend and not enough responsibility.

Within a week, I had gone through both attics, all of the rooms in the house, and the garage. We were able to get a 17 foot box truck (like you’d rent at U-Haul), and WE FILLED IT UP.

After taking furniture, several very old computers, broken appliances, and other useless junk to the junkyard, I figured I was pretty much done with that process.

Not even close to true.

Since then, I’ve tossed about a dozen very full trash cans worth of stuff and I have half of my garage full of stuff to donate or give away.

And I’m not done. Each week, I find a new way to reevaluate my materialism, and make new decisions about which possessions are now useless and which aren’t.

Through this, I’ve redefined the value I place on my things, redefined the my priorities and values, and ended up with a new perspective that has cleared my head in a way I never thought would be possible. I’m more relaxed, calm, and more focused. While all of this is not due solely to my reduction of useless junk, it has had a significant effect and continues to do so.

Less Stuff = Less Distractions = More Focus

The fact is, the more stuff you have, the more draining it is of your energy. Mentally, physically, and emotionally, it becomes exhausting. Keeping track of things in your head, having to regularly clean everything that’s out, and whatever memories are attached to things around your house…it all comes back around and takes up brain space.

When you have so many “things” to look after and take care of, not to mention the materialistic mentality of “what am I going to buy next?”, your attention and focus is taken from your main goals, desires, purpose, whatever you want to call it.

So, if more stuff = more distractions = less focus, then:
Less Stuff = Less Distractions = More Focus.

The Materialism Battle

Man, I love to buy things. I’ve been called (both endearingly and snidely) a clothes horse, materialistic, obsessive, etc. I can hardly go into Banana Republic without spending a couple hundred dollars. I saved over $250 with my Barnes and Noble card last year. You generally save 10% with the card, so I’ll let you do the math on the amount I spent on books and magazines last year. I spent over $2,000 on domain names alone last year - “I’ve got this idea for a business…”

The point is, buying “things” is not a problem for me. And it’s generally not a problem for most people. If this concept is confusing to you, find any girl in the mall and ask her if she likes buying things and why. If it’s still confusing, go to Best Buy and ask a guy in the home theater section the same thing.

Especially here in America, we’re bombarded with messages declaring and trying to convince us that there’s something else we need. And if we get it, we’ll be much happier. Makes sense, right?

All the while, as we’re buying up all of this “stuff,” we’re spending our hard-earned dollars to acquire these things, spending our valuable attention keeping up with it, and spending our time trying to figure out what we’re going to acquire next.

To have these things, we “spend” a lot, and that is the battle we face: The desire to possess vs. the cost of possessing.

Why Do You Value Possessions?

This will likely be very different for everyone, though I would imagine that your reasons fall under some of the following areas:

You wish to increase your social value: Increasing your social value means playing by everyone else’s rules. In a material world, your car, your clothes, your home, and the things that you do and own have some affect on your perceived social value. “A Breitling watch? This guy must be worth a lot…” When people talk about materialism in a negative manner, this is usually what they’re referring to.
You have placed sentimental value on it: Sentiment is a very powerful emotion. Yet, at times, sentiment can hold you back from moving forward. The important distinction to make here is to understand which sentiments you have attached to possessions help you and which ones hurt you. Do I need 500 copies of the same rave flyer? Probably not. Toss ‘em.
It might have some value/utility in the future: I love to cook. I love to cook so much that I have tons of cooking utensils and appliances. Do I really need the bamboo steamer that I’ve never used? After all, I might need it one day, or might be able to use it one day? Do I need it? Probably not. There are other ways to steam vegetables anyway.

Redefining the Value of Your Possessions

In order to truly win the battle we face against materialism and “having things,” we must ultimately understand the root of the issue. Thus, it is our “desire to possess” which must be addressed and reframed.

For myself, the importance that I placed on possessions mostly fell into the first and third category above. Thus, in order for me to move from this frame of mind, I needed to replace those frames with new ones that better served my purpose. I needed to understand what my new purpose was in order to decide why I was making these changes, and in order to determine how far to continue down the road of simplicity.

In this case, I felt tied down to what I owned. My things owned me instead of me owning them, and it was keeping me from moving to LA faster, keeping me from having a more clear mind, and furthered a sense of complacency. Thus, I defined my purpose as being to ultimately “live a more simplified life for the sake of being able to explore more valuable opportunities and experiences.”

With this purpose defined, reframing the first and third examples above becomes easy:

My social value is not increased by material possessions. I can increase my social value through my actions, character, and influence.
The extent with which future utility should be valued stops at 6 months. In other words, if I will definitely use it in the next six months, keep it. If not, toss it.

Are you seeing a similar process to The Process of Manifestation?
Final Thoughts

How do you place value on your possessions? Are they helping you achieve your goals and live your purpose, or are they holding you back? Do you need the things you have, or do you want the things you have? Better yet, do you want the things you don’t have more than the things that you do have? Are you compensating for a lack of something, within yourself, through the possessions you have or want - What do they fulfill for you?

Tynan, Herbal from The Game, took it to the extreme of selling almost everything he has except for a couple boxes and is loving every minute of the added clarity. (As a side note, if you haven’t read his blog, you need to. Not only for the value of entertainment, but also in its utility and application to everyday life, he’s certain to stretch the way you think about a lot of things.)

With regard to unnecessary possessions, check out this picture of my office in December last year. 4 computers, tons of books, too many papers and files, and trash everywhere. No wonder I could hardly focus last Winter. Since then, I’m down to core books that are relevant in my life now, one laptop, one computer, most of my drawers are empty and I have one filing cabinet. Not only is it cleaner, but it’s a LOT easier to focus. And yes, the white boards came down. Again, another constant, unnecessary distraction.

I ended up getting rid of about a dozen large trash bags of clothes and reduced everything to about 6-8 trash bags worth of clothes that I’m going to keep. With this new frame of viewing possessions, I’ve been toying with the idea of taking it even further to wearing only solid colored shirts, jeans, shorts, and keeping one suit. After all, if I don’t have to think about what I’m going to wear, that opens up additional time for me to think about other things, right?

I’m even taking a look at the necessity of the 50 gigs of music I have - is it necessary? What about the 2,000 vinyl records I have from DJing and friends/family? What about my king-sized bed? What about my CDs - especially since I have an iPod and can play that in my car? What about my old sports equipment? Surely I need my wall pictures…don’t I? What about my plates/bowls, etc - do I need three sets like I have?

Take this idea as a tool for your life. Push the limits with it and explore it.

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