Recently I was talking with some friends and several of them bemoaning the fact that they really needed bigger houses. Keep in mind that the smallest home among this group is over 2500 sq ft. According to American Enterprise Institute the average home size in 1973 was 1660 sq feet. Are families getting larger? Not according to the statistics. The average family size has actually decreased slightly since the 1970’s. Why do we need more space? Because we have more stuff.
Previously we’ve talked about the rapidly growing storage industry. It is becoming all too common for people to spend more simply so they can own more stuff. Renting external storage space to house your stuff costs money. Buying a larger house not only increases your mortgage, it raises other expenses as well. Your property taxes, insurance, and daily cost to maintain your home will all go up as well.
Having all this stuff isn’t a sign of success, it’s a sign of being owned by your possessions. We don’t need bigger homes with more storage space, we need less stuff. The key to reducing our possessions is being able to effectively access and use the things that we need. Stockpile, the best free online inventory solution, can help you achieve this goal.
The stores are full of cool gadgets to help us “live better”, just because they sell it doesn’t mean we need it though. If you have a running inventory of your stuff in your pocket or purse, you can easily check to see if you will really benefit from that new gizmo or if it is just one more thing you’ll need to store. Stockpile is mobile compatible so once you’ve entered your items into the system you can quickly and easily access your inventory anytime from anywhere. Sometimes just taking a moment to check can be the pause you need to avoid making that impulse buy. If you think you still want it, ask yourself where you’re going to store it once you get it home. If you can’t confidently answer that question you may need to postpone the purchase. Buying things that we will “find a place for once we get them home” quickly leads to the belief that we need more storage or a larger home. Don’t fall into that trap.
Charles Spurgeon, a famous British Particular Baptist preacher, said “It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy that makes happiness.” Those words were true in the 1890’s and they are still true today. If we are too busy working more to pay to store our stuff, how much time do we have to actually enjoy that stuff? Our goal should be to find that sweet spot, when we have what we need and can still afford to take the time to enjoy it.
Bigger Space or Better System? Choose Stockpile Best Free Online Inventory Solution
As you start your spring cleaning get rid of the things that are just taking up space. Add all your items to the best free online inventory solution, Stockpile, so that you will be able to track them going forward and hopefully avoid any future unnecessary purchases. Lastly, get organized. Your items need to be easy to find and easy to get to. Knowing where something is doesn’t help that much if it is so difficult to access that you try to avoid needing it. Eventually you will replace the item just so that you don’t have to climb the ladder, move all the boxes or reorganize the entire garage just to get it.
This spring make a commitment to make the changes that will provide dividends for years to come. Get Stockpile and start taking control of your stuff!
