Live it Simple is about Minimalism, Mindfulness and Simplicity. Because life is complicated enough.

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    Taming the Power of Possessions

    These are some excerpts from the Less is More article by Wendy Priesnitz, written in 2002. I don’t know if she was the first one to give these advices, but I’ve seen them a lot on popular blogs.

    Everything you own costs you something, no matter how much or little you originally paid for it. Aside from the cost of acquisition, there are costs associated with a space to store your stuff, the energy to transport it, and your attention to deal with it. By having only the items that you need, you’ll gain a significant cost savings by avoiding the money, space, and energy costs of clutter.

    Examine each item you own and ask yourself if you really need it, with these three questions;

    1. Have I used this item recently (in the last six months)?
    2. Will this item help me attain my life goals?
    3. Do I need to own this item or can I rent or borrow it?

    Sort things into three piles:

    1. those you want to keep
    2. those you want to give away, sell or recycle
    3. those suited only for the garbage

    You might also want a pile labeled “not sure”. Wait a few weeks and go through that pile again; you might feel less attached to these items the second time around or you might decide some of them are too precious to get rid of.

    Once you have simplified your possessions, examine ways not to re-acquire them.

    Write down the name of an item that you think you simply must have, then wait for a month. If you still want or need it at that time, go ahead and buy it. You may find that you won’t be able to remember why you were so excited about the item in the first place!

    If you need to acquire something, consider buying used or rent or borrow it.

    Once you take some time to get rid of possessions that you don’t use, you will probably start thinking about simplifying other aspects of your life too – moving into a smaller home, simplifying your social life, your volunteer schedule, your finances and eventually your career.

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