Our friends at Apartment Therapy introduced us to Discardia: a holiday – all about letting things go and simplifying your life. The inventor of Discardia has produced tons of info, tips and tricks on how to live simply at her Discardian site…here is one of our favorites:
It’s accepted wisdom that with very few exceptions, it’s likely that clothing that you haven’t worn in six months is clothing you will not wear again. It could be donated and used by someone who needs it. We’ve been thinking about this as we pack up our summer stuff and pull out the sweaters. We have good intentions but it’s not always easy to keep track and apply the six month rule…
The Closet Trick – Turn around all the hangers in your closet so the hooks are pointing towards you (wrong way round).
When you wear something, put it back with the hook the normal way.
In six months, any hanger still facing the wrong way is holding an item you haven’t worn, ready for the donation bag. Smart!
DVD Trick – brought to you by Apartment Therapy
Sometimes you need to trick yourself into getting rid of your old stuff. We call it the DVD buy-back. Grab a friend and $20 (you won’t really be spending it!) and get started.
Grab a rational, movie-loving friend to help you grab some cash. Then ask your pal to go through your DVD collection one at a time and offer to sell each title to you for $1. Depending on how small you want to shrink your collection, you could have started with $15-$50 in your hand to “buy back” your DVDs with, forcing you to limit your library to only the movies that mean the most to you.
Even if it’s just pretend, when our own real money gets involved, it’s easier to work with a clear (un-hoarding) head.
And if you’re looking to trade your old stuff for cash check out these options:
Amazon’s “Trade In” program ¨
Glyde.com
We’re really going to try and get serious on the regular closet clearouts…more tips and ideas are welcome – let us know in the comments below if you follow the six month rule.
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