How Do You Acquire Things?
How Do You Acquire Things?
Can you identify where your clutter is coming from? Are you pointing the finger at someone else or is it you that is causing the overabundance in your space? Take some time to look at how you acquire and you may find a pattern of:
- Impulsive buying – you see something and have to have it.
- Compulsive buying – you buy to feel good.
- People pleasing – you don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.
- Memory aids – you use items to remind you of things.
- Hoarding – you might need it one day.
- Procrastination – you don’t have the time or energy.
Identifying your pattern of acquiring is the beginning of solving your issue of overabundance.
How do you acquire things? Are you pointing the finger at someone else or is it you that is causing the overabundance in your space? Click To Tweet
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Janet Schiesl
Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.
She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.
Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.
Janet Schiesl
Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.
She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.
Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.
Isn’t it amazing when you stop and think about all the ways items enter our lives? When my children were little, I felt like “gifts” was a major feeder of stuff in my house. I appreciated the kindness, but it got out of hand.
It definitely helps to figure out how things are coming in because this helps us understand what changes we may need to make to stem the influx. One year, we had a birthday party for our daughter and asked that guests bring small gifts (e.g., pencils, erasers) to be send to her sponsor sister, rather than gifts for her. It worked out really well!
Yes, gifts can often be overwhelming even though the sentiment is so nice, especially with multiple kids throughout the year.
I’ve come to realize over the years that I keep a lot of things due to the memories associated with them. I’ve let go of quite a few, but some are much harder to part with.
Some are very difficult when they are associated with great memories. But letting those that aren’t really special go, will help keep room for the good stuff.
Great list of ways people acquire things without even realizing it.
Thank you!
There are so many points of entry for the ‘stuff’ in our lives. This is an excellent question because it gets us to think about where the clutter is originating from. Once we determine the source, we can tease out solutions to reduce the input.
Exactly, it’s important to stop and take a wider look and see where things come in to begin with.
Figuring out the “why” is the only sure way to make sure the “what” doesn’t keep coming back! I’m not much of an acquirer, but I do tend to generate and save a lot of paper because my brain processes and values information in paper form so much more highly than digital info. But it’s all a matter of paying attention to why I feel obliged to keep something, and I need to question the why of acquisition, the why of maintaining, and the why of where it’s kept!
Exactly, it helps break the cycle!