Last year I sought to have less of me around. This year I seek to have less around me.
I have entirely too many "things". I am overwhelmed with an abundance of things I have used once and never touched again. I condemn billionaires for spending their 8 figure bonus checks on vacation homes and luxury yachts but at least they use those lavish purchases and reap continued enjoyment from them. Meanwhile, I'll buy a $60 video game, play it for 10 hours, and then never touch it again. In that perspective, my actions are more wasteful than purchasing a third vacation home.
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My home became a cable-free household last summer. Paying $80/month for ignorant tripe to be spewed at me and my family just sounded crazy when we stepped back to think about it. There are many entertaining, intelligent, and worthwhile things on television that provide enjoyment and education. But I don't think we were getting anywhere near $80 worth of that every month. And once you decide that the product you receive is not worth the price you pay it becomes extremely difficult to continue justifying the purchase.
It started as a money-saving experiment. It has evolved into a liberating experience, at least for me. Keeping up with shows I enjoy no longer feels like an obligation. Our main sources of visual entertainment have become Netflix and Hulu Plus. These cost us a combined $15.98/month and I think we get more than our money's worth from each.
It has not been without complications, however. I have always had cable and therefore have always had access to sports coverage. In previous years, I estimate I would watch no less than 100 football games a season, between college and NFL. This year I may have watched ten. Being a Cowboys fan, I got to tune into four of their games this year via NBC's streaming of their Sunday Night Football coverage...and see them lose all four. Such is the life of a Cowboys fan.
Having less to watch gave us more to do. This is the basic foundation of my goal for this year: I want to get rid a large portion of my things. I was inspired by Sean Bonner and his "Year of Less". His goals are to limit purchases to one per month and to get rid of one thing every day this year. This sounds intoxicating to me.
In this spirit, my wife and I spent a few hours going through our closet last weekend. It was....messy. (I don't even know how to describe it. Picture the trash compactor from A New Hope and add hanging clothes to the walls.) We ended up filling six garbage bags with clothes to donate. And we only stopped because we didn't want to start on the drawers that day. We didn't even start with the kids' clothes.
Two humans gave away six garbage bags full of clothes and we still had 3 times as much as we needed. I was extremely angry at myself for having so many things that I neither wanted nor needed yet kept. I estimate at least 100 items were in those bags. Some with tags still on them. Many more never actually worn.
I will be joining Mr. Bonner in his quest to eliminate one thing everyday. Because of the children, I will have to modify the one purchase per month rule to apply only to things for myself. But I intend to stand by that as well.
I am going to let the clothes count for the month of January. Starting February 1st I plan to eliminate one item from my life everyday for the rest of the year. Computer parts, books, movies, more clothes, or whatever else is taking up space but not being used. Theoretically, I will keep track of these items, since I obviously tracked my weight goal so well last year. And throwing away broken things doesn't count, but it will be a nice bonus to get rid of that crap, too.
I am hoping this will alleviate some of the clutter around the house and help me appreciate and enjoy the things I choose to keep.
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