Buying Stuff & Thinking About Buying Stuff

Not my closet, but a reasonable approximation.

You know what always sounds like a really fun time? Buying stuff. You know what’s almost better than buying stuff? Thinking about buying stuff. I can spend hours just poring over shopping sites, flash sale sites, even just plain fucking Amazon. (I love you, Prime!)

Well, that’s got to stop. I have too much stuff. No one needs this much stuff. It’s ridiculous.

I’ve already begun working on it. Over the last few months, I’ve sold, given away, or thrown away dozens of giant bags of shoes and clothing. In fact, in a single week, I sold 17 pairs of shoes, the majority of which I had never even worn. That is completely absurd.

Culling my closet is the first step. Additionally, I’ll be making an effort not only to curb my purchase behaviors, but to reduce the time I spend simply looking at stuff and thinking about buying it. This will likely free up a good two hours of my day, every single day. Isn’t that kind of horrifying? Fuck.

To reinforce these efforts, I’ll also be starting yet another picture project – a sort of “item appreciation day” series of posts. There’s a familiar saying: “Out of sight, out of mind.” Well, if I put things in plain sight, will they become top of mind? If I make an effort to sort through all those items sitting unworn and forgotten in my closet, take pictures of them, and post those pics to this blog, my awareness of them will certainly increase dramatically. And then, perhaps I’ll be more likely to make use of them. And then, perhaps I’ll be less likely to feel the need to purchase new stuff.

It’s just so crazy it has to work!

And, it starts right now.