As I minimize possessions, how do I overcome the money spent on things in the past?
As part of my online 12 week course called Uncluttered, I have helped over 50,000 families
from all over the world minimize their possessions, own less stuff, and live more life.
And one of the most common obstacles, one of the most common roadblocks is, "What do
I do about all the money that I wasted on things?"
"How do I get rid of things that I spent so much money on?"
So I want to try to answer that question for you today.
And I want to do it by number one, by introducing you to an accounting principle, and then,
number two, just reminding you of two truths about life that are important in overcoming
this question.
First, the accounting principle.
Uh, banking and finance is actually my college degree, and during college, I learned about
the sunk cost fallacy, or the sunk cost trap.
It's an accounting term that actually has a lot of application to the way that we live
our lives.
The accounting principle is this: just because my business spent a lot of money on something
in the past doesn't mean I need to keep using it in the future.
And it looks a little something like this.
Let's say I spent $10,000 on a machine to do something.
Well now, there's a new machine that only costs $5,000.
It does the work better, faster, more efficiently and higher quality.
It would be foolish, it would actually be wrong, in business thinking, to think to myself,
I'm not going to buy the new machine, because I spent so much money on the old machine.
In life, it looks a little bit something like this.
Just because I wasted a lot of time, and energy, and money on things in the past, doesn't mean
I need to hold onto them if they're not contributing to living my best life today.
So then I want to remind you of two thoughts or two truths about life that will help you
overcome this obstacle.
Number one, You cannot change the past.
You cannot go back and relive anything from your past.
Unless the tags are still on the item, you can't go back and unpurchase the thing.
It is done, it is over, it happened, and that's the truth.
However, the second truth is even more important.
I can't change the past, but I can learn from the past.
I can take the lessons learned from those items that I'm removing, learn a lesson from
them, decide that I'm not going to make that same mistake in the future.
And in that way, we begin to redeem the past.
We learn lessons from those mistakes.
And so it's not entirely wasted money.
There is not a doubt in my mind that you will love owning less stuff.
You'll find more money and more time and more energy, and more focus.
You will live a more fulfilled life focused on things that actually matter, rather than
physical possessions.
To get there, we're going to have to overcome the money that we wasted on things in the
past.
I had to overcome it.
We got rid of about 60-70% of our things as we began pursuing minimalism.
And all I could do is just say, "Okay.
I need to learn not to repeat this mistake in the future."
You will love owning less stuff.
It will lead to a far better, more meaningful life than you ever imagined.
And, I know that you can do it.