I used to catch myself thinking about a purchase and thinking "it's ONLY x amount of dollars, which ONLY took me x amount of hours to earn" and it would often lead me to buying the silly random item on clearance at Target. Rugs, shoes, whatever. It was a problem.
I still look at things and think about the money and hours it took me to earn it...but now I have a curved scale on what it's worth in regards to my time. My time is absolutely priceless. I don't get any of it back. Ever. It's gone. So am I going to work for two hours of my LIFE to own another brown pair of boots?? No thanks.
Now, I am not perfect, as discussed in my last blog post. I still shop. But I am better every single day. Every day I have more available time. When I spend less time looking for my water bottle because it's not surrounded by dishes I don't use, less time sorting laundry, reorganizing countless shoes...
After you buy something you don't realize the effort you will likely put into owning it. So much effort that it ends up owning you. (insert Fight Club image here for good measure). You own those shoes. Now you get to find a place for them, decide if you are going to keep the box, care for them, try them on 800 times and probably still go with your tried and true comfortable shoes, feel guilty if you have only worn them once, put them back 30 times a day when your kid tosses them out of the closet, pack them up when you move...etc etc. And that's just one pair of shoes. Think of ALL the stuff you own. Your knick-knacks that you have to dust, holiday decorations that you have to spend an entire day bubble-wrapping and storing every year, and we can keep going on and on here.
If and when you start the purge process, and you stare at a shirt with the tags still on...and you feel guilt because you never even wore that shirt... so you put it back on the hanger and tell yourself you will wear it the next time the opportunity arrives...just stop. You won't. If you haven't worn it in the 8 months or years since you bought it, you likely won't wear it now. Let it go. Don't spend time staring at it today. And don't pick it up on your next night out, try it on, still hate it, throw it on your bed and have to rehang it when you get home...and continue to beat yourself up by its presence. That money is gone. Your time is more valuable.
And when it comes time to just let it go, feel free to have a garage sale or take it to a consignment store, or if it's (still) valuable, sell it online. But also be realistic about it. If you know it will fetch you $1 at your garage sale, along with other 50 cent items...maybe re-evaluate if that is how you want to spend your weekend? Haggling with people who offer you 50 cents instead of the dollar you're asking for your new Express tank. It's not worth it. If you feel like it is, then by all means...but just stop and think about it. Your time is worth more than all the money that your closet could get you in a garage sale.
When staring at this stuff, don't think about it as a waste if you learned from it. It's only a complete waste if you do it again next week on another identical shirt. Don't make the same mistakes, don't waste more of your time and hard-earned money. Learn from it and say goodbye.
Decide what your time is worth. Because I can promise you it will change the way you look at how you spend it. The next time you are polishing a vase...ask yourself if you would rather be playing with your kids/dog/cat? These things can weigh you down and you may not even realize it yet. Things can hold you back. Things can rob you of your life. I know that kinda sounds absurd...but I hope that it at least gets you thinking about it.
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