Do you ever find yourself with far too much of something? So much so you want to get rid of certain items, except they’re all ‘still good’?. This is a situation I find myself in from time to time. The mental difficulty of getting rid of perfectly good stuff.
An excellent example of this problem would be my sock drawer. I have an abundance of socks, far too many pairs. I don’t wear socks that often, however they are all still good. I currently don’t have any that have or are losing their elasticity or any with holes. Even if I did have any with holes I’d probably be tempted to sew them up!
I often find it difficult to get rid of surplus items such as this because there’s nothing wrong with them and eventually I will need them. I often wonder how I’ve come to end up with so many, one of the main reasons is probably buying them whilst overseas either because I need a clean pair or because I’ve found some that are just plain cute.
My ‘sock concept’ is starting to creep into other areas of my life such as my t-shirt drawer and stationary (I have far too many working pens, no one needs this many pens in their life believe me). I find it easy to get rid of things I don’t use any more or things that are broken or worn out. But items that I use but have a surplus of I find far more difficult. My frugal mind tells me to hold onto it so I don’t have buy more down the track and save the money. My minimalist mind tells me to dump the excess and free my space. This is an inner debate that I have regularly and sometimes I reach a conclusion more easily than others. My sock drawer for instance, I still cannot bear to minimalise. Mostly because this is an item that I can’t donate, meaning any extras would have to go in the bin which I deem to be wasteful. At least with my surplus, unused stationary I can donate these to my local charity.
Do you have difficulty giving preference one way or the other? Frugality? or Minimalism? How do you decide?
This is Minimalism 
I totally understand. I have the same issue. I try and give perfectly good children’s stuff to friends and my stuff to charity, but there are some things like you say, that are surplus and very difficult to part with. There are also some things that look like new and I want to sell them (with little success). I tend to hide old clothes, that I’m not sure if I want, in an old suitcase or something which I will probably come across as part of my decluttering and have to deal with it again. Total waste of my time :-). Maybe we should be thinking of now much energy is being used for these surplus items. Good luck!
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I’m glad I’m not the only one with this struggle!! It’s hard to find a balance sometimes. Thanks for your feedback 🙂
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That’s when you Google things like… How can I repurpose socks and you get results like BIRD FEEDER and DIY BLANKET. Hahaha 🙂 A least now you could (wash them and) use them as face masks. #Couchella2020
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Haha yes, recent times have definitely called for some face mask creativity!
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