Simplifying your life can be paradoxical
Simplifying can be paradoxical. To get rid of your excess stuff, you need to make it go away. Where will you take your things? How will you get them there?
WHERE WILL YOU TAKE YOUR THINGS?
If you want to get rid of your excess stuff, you need to make it go away. It needs to go somewhere else. Where will you take it?
Craigslist or Ebay. You can post your excess stuff for sale at these places. You will need to snap good photos and write interesting text for each single item you want to sell. Once you get an item posted online, you will need to deal with the inevitable trolls, meet (several) potential buyers, and perhaps finally sell that one thing. Multiply that whole process by your tens or hundreds of individual items.
Consignment shops. They sell your excess stuff for you. There might be a consignment shop or two in your area. You bundle up your excess stuff and take them to consignment shop #1. They might or might not be interested. They might take some of it, but not all of it. You take what’s left to Consignment shop #2. And so on. Consignment shops often have a 90-day period. If your items have not sold within 90 days, you need to go get it back. Then you will need to make a new plan.
Pawn shops. Perhaps you are in a hurry. You walk into a pawn shop and ask them to buy your stuff. You might not make as much money as you would otherwise. But at least the deed is done. Quickly. You will also need to wrestle with the ethics of dealing with a pawn shop. Some Christians disdain them, while other Christians are thankful for the service they provide.
Charitable organizations. Almost every town has a charitable organization where you can donate your excess stuff. Goodwill and Salvation Army are two examples. They sell your excess stuff, and they use the money to help fund their charitable operations.
City dump. This is simple and quick. But it does not seem like good stewardship.
HOW WILL YOU GET THEM THERE?
Now that you’ve picked out where you want to take your excess stuff, how will you get it there?
Make dozens of trips in your car?
Rent a cargo van?
Borrow a friend’s pickup truck?
Pay a moving company to pick your things up and deliver them for you?
YOU MIGHT NEED TO BUY MORE STUFF
This is a great paradox. Yet it is often true. To get rid of your excess stuff, you might need to buy yet more stuff.
Shipping and packaging goods. These are pretty much necessary for moving your stuff. Yet who would foresee that to get rid of stuff, you need to buy more stuff first?
Consolidating. Some of the excess stuff you want to get rid of serves an actual purpose in your life. What will you do without it? The simplest solution is to get a new thing that replaces several old things. The net result is simplification, although it means buying stuff in order to get rid of stuff.
CONCLUSION
To simplify your life, your life will become more complicated, at least in the short term. You will need to figure out where to take your stuff. You will need to figure out how to get it there. And you might need to buy more stuff to replace what you will get rid of.
We encourage you to keep your eye on the goal, and not be dismayed by all the interim steps that are needed.
Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.