Nowadays everything has to be bigger or more. The bigger, the better! More of the bigger is what makes people happy. Does it? Do 3 sports cars, a mansion, the newest gadgets, (lots of) expensive clothes, even more shoes and a perfect manicure really make you happy? Very cliché, but you can not buy happiness and if you could, I’m sure there would be people making a huge profit out of it. Because everybody wants happiness. People do tend to buy stuff to feel happy and almost everybody owns more than they actually need. Most people have cupboards full of stuff and a lot of that stuff we don’t actually need or use. For example, most people own a lot of clothes, but they only wear a small collection of these clothes. Also, almost everybody has stuff in storage and I’m sure if I’d ask you what you keep in your storage space, you don’t know exactly what’s on that attic anymore or what’s in those bags in the back of the cupboard. Why do we feel the need to own all this stuff? When it comes too actual stuff, I believe less is more. People have the habit to collect and to keep it all though, for a lot of different reasons.

More is better.
If one is amazing, more must be better. So if we already have 1 item of something, but we see another one, we like even better, we tend to buy it. We didn’t need it, but because the newer one was for example more beautiful or came with an extra function, you wanted to own it. Do we get rid of the old one? Most of the time we don’t. Because you know.. it was still good and why get rid of something you can still use?! This is how we build up a lot of stuff. Stuff we already had. If things need replacement, then it’s fine, but do make sure you get rid of the old one. Throw it away when it’s broken or donate it in case somebody else can still make use of it.

Being a part of something.
How many things do you own, because everybody owns one? And did you really wanted to have that new iPhone or was it because you can show off? Some people buy something (and I think everybody has an example, if you’re really honest), because others have it. Especially when something becomes a hype, you might feel the need to be a part of it.

What if’s. 
This is a tricky one and I think everybody recognises this reason to keep something. The ‘what if’s’. What if I need it when this or that happens.. What if the old one breaks or gets lost.. What if.. What if.. We’re probably all guilty of keeping something (or a lot of somethings) you didn’t use for ages, but you keep because what if one day you might need it? Though, we can’t live like this. In the meantime somebody else maybe really needs it, so it’s better to donate it. When the time comes you really need it, you can go and get it (again), so you can use it straight away. Get rid of your ‘what if’s’, because what if you will never use it?

Sentimental value.
Old tickets, pictures, clothes/shoes, books.. or anything really. We all own things that make us think back of the time we used it or when we were given things. This is perfectly fine. I have a memory box myself. It’s nice to keep some things that have value because of (mostly) happy times. But do you need 5 very similar pictures? Do you need to keep that book you already read? Do you need all of those used train tickets? Do we need some of that stuff at all? Try to make a selection of things you really see as valuable or the things you used during happy times. If the memory is so important to you, it will not fade. You don’t need every single material piece to remember it by.

Go through all your stuff and ask yourself, why do I want to keep it and do I really need it? Don’t hold on to things you don’t use or need. I will write about minimalism again soon, for now I hope this helps you to look at everything you own in a different way.

Do you own things you don’t use or need? Will you be going through your stuff to see why you’re keeping certain things? Do you have something to add to this, something to say about this or do you have questions? Please let me know! You can do this in the comments below or you can send me a message via CONTACT. Thank you! X