Exploring Deacquisition Strategies
Making faster decisions and setting up clutter checkpoints helps you cope with clutter on an ongoing basis, but to decrease the flow at the source, you’ll need to address the desire to acquire.
Finding ways to live well with less stuff not only clears out the cluttered landscape, but also enhances the life you live. Fewer possessions means fewer decisions to make, more space to enjoy, and more time and money to spend on the things that matter most. Try these deacquisition strategies to put this principle into play.
Borrow, Don’t Buy
Planning a new project, many of us automatically reach for the shopping list to stock up on tools and supplies. As a result, our closets are full of items like bow makers, tile cutters, and cake stands—specialized equipment we’ve used once or twice and never touched again. As a clutter-cutting rule of thumb, borrow, don’t buy, any item that you will use fewer than 10 times.
Lending options for single-use or specialized tools are all around us. Interested in a new hobby? Check out the local photography club, bird-watching group, or woodworking club; many organizations offer loaner equipment for use by beginners. Similarly, adult education classes provide access to sewing machines, cake-decorating supplies, and tools for furniture repair.
Don’t overlook commercial solutions. Planning a party? Party rental firms offer everything you’d need, from tablecloths to glassware. Home improvement retailers often lend tools necessary for a project when you purchase supplies; at the crafts store, you can often use specialty tools if you buy materials there.
Utilize Online Access
Taking advantage of the digital age is a great solution to the conundrum of collecting “too much stuff.” Whether it’s music or movies, books or crafts patterns, it’s no longer necessary to house your own physical collection of these items in order to have access to them.
You can access a massive movie collection by using DVD services like Netflix or by tapping online streaming from your cable provider. Instead of buying physical CDs, move to digital copies, tune in to internet radio stations, or join “all you can listen” music subscription services. E-book readers make it easy to tote a large library wherever you go and prevent last season’s bestsellers from piling up around the house.
Even patterns for knitting, sewing, and crafts are now available through online libraries. Whether it’s plastic canvas or quilting, you can find a bonanza of ideas and instruction without having to touch a shelf of books.
Make the Most of What You Have
What’s a good way to shortcut the desire for the latest-and-greatest electronic gadget or new must-have kitchen appliance? Read the manual for the version you currently have!
Most of us fail to use our devices to their full potential. Have you mastered more than the basic functions of your smartphone, DVD player, or food processor?
Before rushing out to answer the call of a new device, check out the possibilities of the one you currently own. Often, using what you have more fully can satisfy your need for change.
Buy Good Once
When rearing young children, home-baked cookies were a staple of our household. During that time, we burned out mixers at the rate of about one a year. Buying not-quite-adequate equipment left us with a cupboard full of parts and accessories known as the mixer graveyard.
Only when we bit the bullet and invested in a powerful and pricey stand mixer was the problem resolved. That mixer still sits on our kitchen counter today, a testament to the value of buying good once.
Put this principle to work around your house. In the closet, a well-made jacket constructed from quality materials will give good service years after its trendy, cheap cousin has departed for the ragbag. In the garage, one set of craftsman-quality tools will outlive and outperform a steady succession of bargain-bin tool kits. In the kitchen, a single set of fine knives can be sharpened regularly for a lifetime of use.
Buy good once, and you’ll save yourself a lot of clutter decisions along the way.