The average household contains 300,000 things inside of it.

Think about that.

At first, it sounds unreasonable, even unbelievable. How could you have that much stuff in your home?

But then, start to think about everything you own and everything that reside in your home. . .

• All the clothes and shoes for you and your entire family
• All the kitchen items and utensils
• All the tools and random stuff in your storage unit, garage, attic, basement, and shed
• All the books, jewelry, makeup, knick-knacks, and trinkets
• All the gifts and souvenirs you have ever received
• All the things you bought — even the stuff you hardly or never used

It is totally incredible, and totally possible to see how you get into the hundreds of thousands of possessions.

How did we get here? How did we fill our house with hundreds of thousands of things? How are we at the point of out-of-control consumerism?

There are plenty of articles explaining the history of consumerism. I won’t get into this topic here, but please search ‘consumerism’ or ‘media culture’ to learn more.

I’m more interested in investigating where we are now and what we can do to change our future behavior.

Here are a few of my personal struggles and strategies that have helped me simplify my life:

/ Minimalism

Having less stuff requires less time to organize, maintain, clean, put away, straight up, track, and pack all your things. This gives you more space in your home and in your schedule to do what you love. Plus, having fewer expenses allows you to save, invest, or use the extra cash on something that will truly bring you value.

By focusing on less, you gain more. This is the minimalist philosophy.

Minimalists are known to be more intentional, more confident, and happy because they don’t attach their joy to worldly possessions but rather find happiness in experiences.

I’ve been on this journey to minimalism for quite some time. The furthest I can remember is probably high school when I saw how my parents’ spending habits were getting them into trouble. This was also when I started to dream about setting up my room in a simple and beautiful design. I did not know it then, but I think I was trying to become a minimalist.

Ever since then, I have been striving to maintain a minimalist lifestyle. It’s a struggle for me. I’m sentimental with most of my things and attach way too much meaning to objects. I’ve been working on owning less and practice paring down daily.

Unfortunately, since having kids, being minimalist has been even harder, yet more of a necessity. This is especially true when living with limited space and with what seems like maximum stuff.

Something I’ve learned over the years is to bring less stuff into your house. By monitoring the inflow of items that we receive, we can control the number of things we own. I also like to do at least a two for one exchange. For instance, if we receive or buy a shirt, I try to donate or give away two other objects. This ensures that the outflow of things is always more than the inflow, resulting in less.

I’m ultra-focused on filtering down the things we own, letting go of things we don’t use, and making space for the things we love and bring us the most joy.

/ Abundance

Believing and affirming (out loud) that there is plenty in my life versus not enough has changed my perspective and shifted my mindset.

Instead of proclaiming that “I don’t have enough” or saying “I need that,” I now see and say that I have plenty.

Because I’m fortunate enough to have a roof over my head, good health, food in my fridge, and a decent internet connection, I have to remind myself daily that I have more than enough in almost all aspects of my life.

I remind myself I have plenty to survive and thrive.

By saying this to myself, I’m aligning myself with more positive energy.

The easiest way to practice abundance is to appreciate everything you have and don’t focus on what you don’t have.

/ Gift Wars

Not sure about you, but my family members are all very astute gift-givers, sometimes to the point that it gets ridiculous. It is what I started calling the “gift wars.”

Say, for instance, my sister is shopping and sees a sweater for my mom. Maybe it is on sale, or she has a coupon or both. She buys it and gifts it to my mom. It could be for her birthday or a special occasion like Mother’s Day or maybe not. Maybe she just bought it for her because she wanted to buy something or because she thought of her or perhaps, she simply remembered it was her favorite color. She’s doing a beautiful thing and showing love to a friend, her mom. She wraps it and gives it to her the next time she sees her.

You think it would end there. But no.

My mom, who receives the gift, semi-appreciates it. She is happy about the thoughtful gesture, but then she also feels guilty. Guilty because she didn’t get a present for my sister in return. So now, my mom goes shopping — searching for an object of equal or higher value to be able to reciprocate. She wraps it, and gifts are, and the whole cycle begins again.

This can go on for months and, in some cases, even years. (Think about holiday or birthday presents). So, what started as an act of love turns into a war of gifts that never ends. The cycle continues. And it gets worse over holidays where gift-giving is front and center.

The thing about gift wars is that the gift doesn’t necessarily make the receiver feel good, grateful, or even happy. It makes them feel guilty or stressed or anxious.

Have you ever thought about what you received or gifted to determine how much you will spend or what you will buy this year? Aha! You are part of the gift wars.

It’s time to let this go and instead focus on experiences, not material gifts.

Finally, remember the 300,000 items you likely already own?

At some point, these 300,000 things in your home were exchanged for money, either by you or by someone else. (And yes, they could have been on sale or maybe even free). However, the point is that these 300,000 objects have, or had, some value.

Imagine that each of these things in your house cost or could be exchanged for 1 dollar each. Likely it could be more or less for some things, and other items could never be replaced (either invaluable or have no tangible value at all).

In this example, you potentially have $300,000 worth of stuff hanging around your house.

Whoa.

Let’s say that again.

You potentially have $300,000 worth of stuff in your house.

Imagine the stacks of dollars in your closets, in your dressers, in your cupboard, bookshelves, or bins?

Now, let’s take this example one step further.

If things are equivalent to dollars, then money is equal to minutes or time.

Which makes sense because every day, we exchange our time for money. Some of us may go to work and get paid a salary or get paid by the hour for the time you spend working.

Going back to my point, what would you do if you could convert your 300,000 things into $300,000? Would you buy a house? Invest? Pay off debt? Retire early?

The answer doesn’t actually matter.

But the logic behind this example does very much matter. Every object you buy is an exchange for your money AND your time. The fewer things you own or buy, the more money and the more time you end up with.

Now I’m not saying for you go sell every possession you own (although if you want to, then go for it).

I am saying that the next time you are looking to shop, ask yourself, “how many hours will I have to work to afford this?”

Is that next thing worth your time?

Summary

Take a hard look at how you are spending your money.

Be intentional with the things you buy and bring into your home and into your life. Use these concepts and put into practice daily:

Minimalism — Focus on less, to gain more

Abundance — Focus on everything you have, not what you don’t have

Gift wars — Focus on experiences, not material gifts

It’s not easy, but imagine how streamlined, calm, and organized, you’ll feel when everything in your home and in your life has a place, purpose, and a point.

You’ll be happier and more satisfied and intentionally living more of your best life.

Most importantly, remember that every object you buy is an exchange for your money and time. Those 300,000 items you own, could equally mean 300,000 dollars, or 300,000 minutes of your life — 300,000 reasons to simplify.

After all, money is time.

Stop wasting it.