Check it out, like it, buy it! But wait, exclaims the organizer!
We all know that the holidays are coming soon and that means shopping. I know you’ll buy for others, but let’s be honest and admit that we also see things we’d like for ourselves, which reminds me of a customer story I’d like to share…
I have a wonderful client we’ll call Joy. Joy and I have been working together preparing her mother’s property for sale. It is an arduous task because her mother had decades of accumulation in her large house and many of these possessions touch Joy’s heart. It hasn’t even been a year since Joy’s mother passed away and they were very close.
To add to this already difficult project, Joy has lived in her mother’s house all her life, so almost everything feels familiar to her with a special family history and attachment. Now Joy must make thousands of decisions about whether items will be moved to a much smaller home, sold, donated, disposed of, recycled, thrown away, etc. Between the death of her mother and the next move after this 60-something paradise, emotions, of course, are up and down.
As Joy and I worked to get the house in order, she would often pick up an item and say: “This was a ‘See it, Like it, Buy it’ thing…” and then, almost always, she was willing to part with that particular possession. I thought this was an interesting way of looking at “stuff” and appreciated her quick decision-making when it came to store-bought products.
Joy, at the time of the retail sale, would make a spontaneous purchase based on her automatic attraction and momentary happiness with the item, but realized during our time together that these things were flashes of retail therapy and they actually became a mess rather than a long-term thing. treasure, use or wear.
So I’ve always taught my customers and will share the following questions to ask yourself when you’re in a store in front of an item you’d like to buy, ready to spend money on the “shiny object” that catches your eye and tugs on your wallet:
Questions to ask yourself before You see it, you like it, you buy it:
- What do I think the “life expectancy” will be if this item comes home with me?
- Do I need this at this time in my life?
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do I like it?
- Will it fit in my house or on my body?
- Where will it “live” when you return it to the house?
- Am I willing to part with something else if I buy it?
- Do I already have one or more of this?
- What’s the worst that can happen to me if I don’t buy this?
Many times our homes become receptacles for our Watch it, like it, buy it treasures, especially here in northern New Jersey, where we are surrounded by every possible type of store and most people have disposable income.
If you’re really trying to maintain a balance in your material bank account, stay away from the stores and walk around your house just keeping…
THE BEST OF THE BEST AND DONATE THE REST!
