The "Right Amount" of Stuff
What is “the right amount” of stuff? Many of us book lovers shuddered at Marie Kondo's assertion that she owns just 30 books. Should we only own 30 books too?! How would you even go about choosing which 30 to keep?!
The truth is, 30 might be the right number for Marie Kondo, for some people it would be too many, and for most of us it's too few.
Why set limits?
If you are in the process of decluttering you may find it helpful to set a number (or volume) for yourself as a target.
Unfortunately there is no helpful universal list of how many of each item we should keep in our homes. Or perhaps I should say fortunately, what a boring world that would be!
You may like to consider limits such as:
“This is the shelf I have available for shoes. I will only keep as many shoes as can fit.”
“I will only keep fine-liner pens, not biros.”
“I will keep enough socks so that I can do the washing every other weekend.”
The number or volume will depend on your personal circumstances.
Everyone’s different
Coming up with these limits will depend on your priorities, your lifestyle, and the space you have available.
If you are someone who has dinner parties on a regular basis, owning 20 plates might make perfect sense, and may take priority for space over other items.
On the other hand you might not have the space for 20 guests to come over, and the plates sit in the cupboard unused.
Check out my interview with Josie, when she mentions only owning two plates! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyMML0dBV54&t=295s&ab_channel=Chirp
So if you love books and are happy for the majority of your shelf space to be full of books, then I’m not here to say you shouldn’t!
On the other hand, if you find yourself unable to use your home in the ways that you would like, and it's having a negative impact on you, you may like to consider a way to reduce the quantity.
I recommend weighing up the following:
What am I gaining by keeping this object?
Is this benefit happening right now or is it in the past or future?
What am I loosing out on by keeping it?
What would I gain by letting it go?
