Keeping your objects as long as possible is easier on your budget, but it also leads to a lot of clutter. Instead of trying to keep your stuff for as long as possible, make your default decision one to throw it out.
Picture: kris krüg/Flickr
Most of us don’t throw stuff out unless we can think of a good reason to. Organising consultant Marie Kondo has a different opinion. Author Tim Harford explains the lesson he learned from Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying:
Kondo turns things around. For her, the status quo is that every item you own will be thrown away unless you can think of a compelling reason why it should stay. This mental reversal turns status quo bias, paradoxically, into a force for change.
Even though it sounds like a small mental change, you can eliminate your status quo bias by reversing the situation. If you have a clutter problem and can’t find a compelling reason to keep an object, considering throwing it out. When you’re making a decision to declutter and are sitting on the fence, change the question from “Why throw it out?” to “Why keep it?
Why more and more means less [Tim Harford]
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