With holiday shopping in full swing I feel like I’m faced with constant temptation to buy new things. It seems like every retailer is offering “amazing” sales for Black Friday and Cyber Monday and the barrage of ads is almost impossible to avoid. I did something last week that gave me a new perspective on my stuff, however, and I think it also might help you resist the temptation to buy, buy buy!
The action I took was so simple, I’m surprised it had any impact at all: I rearranged the clothes in my closet. I do this periodically because I like to play around with different organizational tactics to see how they work for me (yes, I’m weird like that). I’ve tried hanging my clothes in order of color, style, and function, and I decided to tweak the arrangement again when I was recently moving some summer items into storage. Just seeing my clothes hung in a different order has allowed me to consider different combinations, and the things I have owned forever suddenly seem new again!
It’s human nature to be attracted to novel stimuli and so it makes sense that we often feel the urge to buy new stuff. But we can trick our brains into thinking what we have is new by simply moving them around. Try this: take everything out of a cabinet or drawer and put it back in a different arrangement. It will seem weird every time you open it up but you will probably end up using things you had forgotten you even owned. Another way to accomplish this is to put some of your belongings in storage and only keep a curated collection out to use at a time. Then, when you start feeling the itch to get something new you can revisit the things you have packed away.
Here are some places you can start putting this tip into practice:
Clothing in closets and drawers Kid’s toys Makeup and toiletries Craft and hobby supplies Home decor Coffee mugs Music and movies (if you’re still using CDs and DVDs)
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Make it fab!
Carrie