Reading is not hoarding

I’ve been travelling recently and just got back. One of the benefits for me of travelling is that it disrupts my routine. There are downsides to this, of course; the upside is that it gives me emotional distance which naturally causes me to evaluate habits I’ve got into without realising and become aware of “stuff” I’ve been accumulating.

So I’m currently going through everything I own and deciding what I do and don’t need. It’s such a refreshing, albeit challenging and sometimes slightly painful, experience! I have been doing this for a few years now but I still find things building up anyway.

My process for sorting
1. Have I used this item recently?
2. If I have, is it beneficial?
3. If I haven’t, is it for specific purposes, not everyday use (e.g. occasionwear, certain documents, reference books in a field I will definitely be working with)?
4. If not, is it of significant (< keyword) sentimental value?
5. If not, get rid of it.
6. As I put what I’ve kept away, I ask myself these questions again and get rid of items that fail (there are always a few that trigger the “want want want” response in the first round).

To help myself be ruthless, I remind myself that
1. If I don’t get rid of useless items now, I will have to deal with even more of them later.
2. If I die before sorting it, someone else will have to deal with all this stuff (I’ve seen this happen more than once and it’s brutal for those involved).
3. If I’m not using it, why should I deprive someone else of it when they would benefit from it more? Why am I wasting valuable resources for selfish reasons? (This is the one that works best on me.)

Do you have any other tips?

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