1+1: What you own, owns you + How to declutter your home

Here’s one leadership idea and one resource I’ve found beneficial this week:

1 idea: What you own, owns you

Seven years ago, I sat at my dining room table in our first home and pondered my life choices. A flash flood had recently hit our home in Jackson, Michigan, and our basement decided to do its part in collecting excess rain. I’d spent hours bailing water and ripping up damp flooring from the hundred-year-old home, and now we needed to decide what to do next. Across the table from me sat a salesman for a basement waterproofing company, and his quote was staggering: $26,000.

As I stared out the window trying to wrap my mind around the price tag, my eyes roamed around our backyard. On the grass lay 12 feet of our wooden privacy fence that had been blown over by high winds a few weeks before. On the wall and ceiling of our dining room, I glimpsed the sagging paint left by a slow water leak. The emotional weight of all our responsibilities sat heavy on my shoulders. In that moment, a line from my pastor played on repeat in my head: what you own, owns you.

This moment of reckoning was honestly surprising. Emily and I had never been materialistic people. We lived in a small, modest home, and most of our furniture and cars were secondhand. Even still, the weight of our possessions was real. By owning a home, we felt a responsibility to care for it lest it fall into disrepair and lose all its value. As an owner, there was no landlord I could call to solve all these problems for me. The buck stopped with us.

What I experienced in that moment was the total cost of ownership of my belongings.

Growing up, my family often drove inexpensive cars, but they frequently needed repairs. The purchase price was low, but considering all the time and money we invested to keep them running, the total cost of ownership was actually quite high.

The same is true for lifestyle purchases. If I buy a jet ski, not only will I have operational costs like fuel and maintenance, but I’ll also want to invest many hours each summer at the lake using it. Similarly, if a friend gives me his old gaming system, the cost seems to be zero—until I account for the money I’ll invest in purchasing games and the time I’ll spend playing it.

None of these purchases is intrinsically bad, but they do place a weight on our lives that we’d be wise to recognize in advance. The more stuff we have, the more emotional and mental energy we must dedicate to using and maintaining it. Or in the words of Jesus,

If you’re feeling scattered, frazzled, preoccupied, or weighed down, consider how your belongings may be contributing to your state of mind. If you want to live a freer life, it might just start with reducing your possessions.

Remember, it’s your stuff, so you can decide what you want to do with it. If it’s not serving you well anymore, perhaps it’s time for it to find a new home.

Oh, and a word for the wise: if you want to keep water out of your basement, keep your gutters and downspouts clean. You might not need to spend $26k on basement waterproofing.

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• When have you felt your things “owning you” in recent months?

• In the words of Marie Kondo, what do you own that doesn’t “spark joy”?

• If you were to part with some of your possessions, who might really benefit from some of the things you own?

1 resource: How to declutter your home

Reducing your possessions is challenging for at least three reasons: it's scary, counter-cultural, and hard to know where to start. Fortunately, the growing minimalist movement addresses these challenges by simplifying the process, sharing success stories of folks who've decluttered, and welcoming you into a counter-culture so you are not alone.

There are lots of great resources in this space, including Marie Kondo's Netflix series Tidying Up. If you're just getting started on this idea though, a simple place to begin is with the practical advice you'll find on Joshua Becker's blog. Enjoy!

PS: Not that kind of "fill"…