Not sure why I choose Jesus but figured it'd get people's attention. He was obviously a cool dude and what did he own? A sheet, some sandals... and a jug of water in case he ever felt like drinking.
All joking aside, the point is I'm trying to make is do we really need all the materialistic objects in our lives? Do we need 10 different pairs of jeans, 20 different dress shirts and 10 pairs of shoes? I had a pair of shoes that I haven’t worn in years and convinced myself to keep it because, “I could use these if it’s muddy out and I don’t want to get my nice shoes wet.” Mud washes off! It’s needless clutter that could be put to much better use if donated. I had never really thought about it until I learned about Pareto's 80/20 Principle and applied it to many aspects of my life. I decided to reevaluate my belongings first. The 80/20 principle states that 20% of all my belongings are what I use 80% of time. Think that's crazy?
Well, I decided to put the theory to the test on my clothing first, mainly because I had been living out of three suitcases for the last 8 months. I had traveled to China for work and had never unpacked my belongings that had been in storage. Knowing that I had lived out of three suitcases for 8 months made it much easier to see that I had absolutely no need for all the apparel that I owned. So, I got all my clothes into one room, took out a garbage bag and started going to town. 2 minutes later one garbage bag was full!
I thought to myself, “O man, this is ludicrous. Why did I keep all this crap?!!”
By the time I had finished sorting through all my boxes and suitcases, I had filled three and a half garbage bags with shirts, pants, jackets and shoes. Some stuff was really nice and some stuff was average, but all of it was in perfect condition. I didn’t want to think about how much money was in those garbage bags but they were going to a good cause. There is a clothing donation box down the street that they found a home in.
I was so impressed with how much useless crap I got rid of with my clothes, that I decide to move on to the rest of my boxes. Board games, books, glassware, tv, papers, old bills, DVD's, my old desktop computer, etc. What did I really need? I have probably played the board games once in the 3 years I've owned them, never re-read any of the books, don't watch tv any more, never glanced at my old bill's and papers, hardly ever watch the DVD's and definately will never use my outdated desktop again.
They're all gone now. Either donated, thrown out or sold on eBay (good way to pull in a little extra cash) In a few hours I had reduced my materialistic belongings by 80%. I went from 10 boxes and three suitcases, to 2 boxes and two suitcases!! This did a few great things for me:
1. Reduced useless clutter in my life that took up a ton of space.
2. Made me much more mobile. If I want to move it will be much easier now.
3. Helped out those less fortunate than me.
4. Helped me realize that I don’t need to go out and buy new clothes, games, TV’s or other unnecessary materialistic items to make me happy.
So try it yourself. Judge yourself. Do you really need all the materialistic things you own?
Would you be better off getting rid of 80% of it? Would you be better off saving all the money you throw away on materialistic things? Maybe you could spend that money on something that will truly make you happy, like traveling to a new country, learning something new or joining that gym that is just “too expensive”.
Think about other aspects of your life that you can apply the 80/20 Principle to: work, email, texting, or athletics. Remember that 20% of what you do leads to 80% of your output. Let me any success stories after trying this out. Have at it!
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