“It is a luxury to own little,” a colleague of my wife’s said to the group quite by chance some time ago. Unfortunately, I missed the following discussion, but nevertheless, something made me sit up and I was encouraged to think. What exactly did he mean by that? Isn’t it rather luxury to own a lot (expensive)? I recognized the core of the statement: In our society, where we lack nothing, we own things in abundance and have to learn that it is possible to do it with less. But is that really true?

First of all we have to define. I think that the statement is first of all only addressed to those who, in an affluent society, already own a lot of what there is to own. This statement seems cynical to people who have to look at how they make ends meet on a daily basis. No, it’s more about those who need a five-door wardrobe for their clothes or those whose car/house/boat has to be bigger and better than the neighbour’s.

In my coaching sessions I also have clients who seem to be caught in exactly this cycle. They want more things, bigger, faster, better, earn more money, but still not a bit happier. Could it be that my wife’s colleague’s sentence is the guide to more happiness for these people?

My Self-experiment

I spontaneously decided to do a self-experiment. That was nine months ago. I never thought of myself as someone who possesses many material things, but self-impressions are relative and can be deceptive. So where should I start? There are a few low-hanging fruits that anyone can look at, for example… clothes.

Clothing

The environmental organisation Greenpeace asked 18 to 69-year-olds about their approach to clothing in 2015 as part of its detox campaign for more sustainable textile production. The representative survey “Disposable clothing” shows, for example, how many items of clothing the respondents own on average – and the trend is rising. On average, every adult German owns 95 items of clothing; incidentally, according to the survey, more education and higher income also leads to more clothing. What is really frightening about the survey is that a good 19% of the clothes are hardly ever worn.

I also took a closer look at the topic of clothes. During a few months I put the clothes I wear often into one half of the wardrobe and sorted everything else into the other half. The result: a few visits to the Salvation Army and 1-2 bags of clothes given to the Swiss Mountain Aid.

Getting rid of them is one thing, but how can I now prevent more clothes from being returned? For this purpose I sat down and thought about how much of each kind of clothing I really need. For example: number of jeans (2), number of chinos (3), number of T-shirts (4), number of white shirts (5), business suits (2). Buying – and this is the big change – I only do something new when something existing breaks or is washed/ no longer colourfast.

Shoes

According to a slightly dated survey by yougov in 2014, every German owns an average of 12.8 pairs of shoes. Women 17.3, men 8.2 – Holy cow, I was way above that with my almost 20 pairs of shoes. I found that I rarely or never wore many of the shoes I owned. So get rid of them: Salvation Army, Brockenhaus, friends with the same shoe size are grateful customers. The same principle applies here as above to prevent the number of shoes from increasing again. I consider myself how many shoes I really need and stick to it, i.e. something is only bought after the previous one has broken or run down.

What’s in the basement or attic?

For many people, the cellar or the attic is an endless source of “mucking out”. For my experiment I have thought about the following. Why does something go there to be stowed away in the first place?

1. Things with seasonal and/or irregular sporting use, e.g. skis, ice skates, hiking boots, possibly seasonal clothing, Christmas decorations.
2. Useful things that are not necessarily needed every day: Tools, drill etc.
3. Durable food, wine, etc.
4. “Old” things: We bought a new kitchen appliance, but we don’t want to throw away or give away the old one that still works… “let’s put it in the cellar”.
5. Things with emotional value: The wedding dress or the leather jacket from the good old days.
6. Things you think you’ll be able to use again someday: Your own old school things, maybe useful to the kids. All kinds of cables. Shoes to keep them out of sight and out of mind. Old furniture.

My self-experiment has shown me that especially in points 4-6 there is an incredible potential, because the “costs” of storing something, and thus also the burden of storing it in the broadest sense, far outweigh the unlikely case that the one thing could be used again. As a person with a certain inclination towards technology, I myself initially kept many things with character point 6 (see above), but then almost happily parted with them. Old iPhones or old cables (RS232, who cares).

Therefore: Away with it. Giving away, passing it on is fun, possibly selling it. So I was able to build two racks back in our cellar. It looks nice and empty now.

Apropos: Technology and electronics

As a fan of technology, this field was a real treasure trove of letting go. Telephones, several computers, monitors, measuring devices, video terminals, modems, routers, network switches, computer accessories of all kinds. Everything sold or given away on tutti, ricardo or eBay.

Paper / Letters / Binders / Documents / Warranty certificates / Operating instructions

The world has become digital. Banks, health insurance companies, taxes, everything now goes paperless in certain countries, others are not quite there yet. What you absolutely need can be scanned. General terms and conditions, e.g. for purchases or contracts can always be found online and downloaded. The same applies to operating instructions.

I started this change 2 years ago and the number of federal folders has decreased to zero.

Books

Books that you know you will only read once should be bought digitally. I had dozens of books that went into my paper collection, because they were really just dust catchers. Keep it because you might read the one Harry Hole crime novel by Jo Nesbø again? Even if the thriller was good, the probability is small to slight. Put it away.

Then there are other books, rather works where it is worth buying a nice hardcover book. That may then also be put in a nice rack.

At this point, by the way, it should be mentioned that with the shift towards digital, of course it also needs an occasional digital “mucking out”. So I have organized my digital filing so that I can quickly find documents that are older than e.g. 10 years. The same applies to emails, by the way.

Summary

After about nine months, I can justifiably claim: I feel freer. Liberated. I have thrown off ballast, and I mean that in the figurative as well as the real sense of the word. Ballast that I did not even know was there before. I almost joyfully parted with things that I was convinced I would never give away or pass on.

The other day I read about an IT expert who puts all his possessions in a gym bag. That’s all he owns anymore. I don’t think I want to go that far, but still impressive.

I will continue.

How will I continue?

My experiment becomes really exciting only now, when I start to realize that I have not yet looked at the really big, possibly expensive things. I left my second car years ago, but do we need one at all? And if so, does a smaller, more modest model do? Or could we just use public transport?

And what about watches, jewelry, other luxury goods? How much of it is okay, what is overrun? You can only really wear one watch, not two or more.

And now that the apartment looks much emptier due to all the mucking out and ballast: Do we still need such a big apartment, or does a smaller one do the same?

I can’t tell you the answers to these questions yet, because the experiment is still going on. Results may be available soon in this blog.