2820: Why Do I Have 7 Surfboards Operation Declutter by Joel of 5AM Joel on Intentional Living

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[00:00:56] [SPEAKER_03]: This is Optimal Finance Daily.

[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_03]: Why Do I Have 7 Surfboards? Operation Declutter.

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_03]: By Joel of 5amjoel.com

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_03]: And I'm your host and personal finance enthusiast, Diana Merriam.

[00:01:11] [SPEAKER_03]: Now, let's get right to today's post and start optimizing your life.

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_03]: Why Do I Have 7 Surfboards? Operation Declutter.

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_03]: By Joel of 5amjoel.com

[00:01:28] [SPEAKER_03]: Time to declutter my life.

[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_03]: It's time to get rid of some of the crap in my house.

[00:01:33] [SPEAKER_03]: I was looking around the other day and noticed the amount of clutter has built up to an uncomfortable level.

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm not sure how I let it get this bad in the first place.

[00:01:42] [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, do I really need the 7 different surfboards stored in our spare room?

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_03]: Time to declutter.

[00:01:49] [SPEAKER_03]: Actually, it gets worse.

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_03]: I have an additional 3 surfboards stored at my wife's parents house.

[00:01:55] [SPEAKER_03]: So that's 10 surfboards total for only one person.

[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_03]: I am an idiot.

[00:02:01] [SPEAKER_03]: Even professional surfers only surf one board at a time.

[00:02:05] [SPEAKER_03]: Anyway, out of my 10 boards, I really only regularly use one of them.

[00:02:10] [SPEAKER_03]: It's a hybrid board that's rideable in almost all surf conditions.

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_03]: I keep telling myself that I'll use the others someday.

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_03]: But I never actually do.

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_03]: I always end up riding the old faithful.

[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_03]: Also, I find it's easier to just use the same board all the time because I know exactly how it's going to ride.

[00:02:29] [SPEAKER_03]: So why keep the others?

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_03]: Why have 10 when one will do?

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_03]: It starts with wanting more options.

[00:02:35] [SPEAKER_03]: I think it's natural for people to want more options in life, especially for the things they enjoy.

[00:02:40] [SPEAKER_03]: When I was buying each of these surfboards, I thought each one would enhance my experience by adding different size shape boards to my quiver.

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_03]: I thought it would make the hobby more fun for me.

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_03]: Not everyone gets to choose from 10 different boards every time they surf.

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_03]: I guess I thought the more boards I have, the luckier I am, the richer I am.

[00:03:00] [SPEAKER_03]: But here's the issue.

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_03]: With more options comes more decisions.

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_03]: And more decisions in life is the exact opposite of what I'm trying to accomplish.

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_03]: Reducing clutter reduces decisions.

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_03]: As the amount of decisions grow and get more complex, our minds cope by taking shortcuts and being lazy.

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_03]: This is the reason I use the same board every time I go surfing.

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_03]: It's just easier.

[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_03]: It's less stressful.

[00:03:27] [SPEAKER_03]: Declutter wins.

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_03]: Owning multiple sets of the same thing doesn't just apply to sporting goods and hobby equipment.

[00:03:34] [SPEAKER_03]: After a quick scan around my house, here are some of the duplicates I found.

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_03]: Eight yoga mats.

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_03]: My wife only uses one.

[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_03]: Ten bottle openers.

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_03]: We only use one.

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_03]: Four cheese graters.

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_03]: Don't even eat much cheese.

[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_03]: Three sets of silverware.

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_03]: We only use one set.

[00:03:53] [SPEAKER_03]: Thirty-eight mugs.

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_03]: Max we use is maybe six at a time when guests come around.

[00:03:58] [SPEAKER_03]: Other than that, I only use my favorite two to three mugs.

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_03]: Fifty-six t-shirts in my closet.

[00:04:04] [SPEAKER_03]: I only really cycle through about 15 of them regularly.

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_03]: The list goes on and on.

[00:04:11] [SPEAKER_03]: Over the next few months, I plan to get rid of as much as I can in my house.

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_03]: Craigslist, eBay, Goodwill, re-gifting to others.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_03]: It's all gotta go.

[00:04:19] [SPEAKER_03]: Sure, we might miss some stuff.

[00:04:22] [SPEAKER_03]: There might be times when something breaks and we wish we had a spare.

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_03]: But my guess is we will survive just fine.

[00:04:28] [SPEAKER_03]: Our lives will be just as happy if not happier than before.

[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_03]: Less decisions, less clutter, less stress.

[00:04:36] [SPEAKER_03]: Other reasons why I have so much clutter.

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_03]: There are a few other reasons why I think my wife and I have accumulated multiple sets of the same thing.

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_03]: Number one, because we have space for it.

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_03]: Number two, because we can afford it.

[00:04:49] [SPEAKER_03]: Well, looking back, both of these reasons are complete BS.

[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_03]: We don't have space and can't afford it.

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_03]: These are just lies we've told ourselves so that we can feel better about having and buying more stuff.

[00:05:01] [SPEAKER_03]: The truth is, we should cut down on our space footprint.

[00:05:05] [SPEAKER_03]: We live in a two-bedroom place and only need one room.

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_03]: And if we want to retire early in life, we definitely can't afford to keep collecting stuff.

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_03]: I have a theory.

[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_03]: The bigger your house is, the more you collect.

[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_03]: Before moving to our current house, my wife and I lived in a very small studio apartment.

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_03]: We kept it neat and clean and only brought home the necessary stuff.

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_03]: We simply didn't have space to store more.

[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_03]: Then when we moved into our larger two-bedroom place, we over time started to collect more.

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_03]: And my guess is if we continue on like average Americans, we would eventually upgrade to a three, then four, then four, then four,

[00:05:42] [SPEAKER_03]: then five-bedroom house and fill it all with .

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_03]: I know many people like this.

[00:05:48] [SPEAKER_03]: Do you agree?

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_03]: Moving forward, how to maintain the declutter.

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_03]: So moving forward, how am I going to keep from growing the clutter back up?

[00:05:57] [SPEAKER_03]: I can think of a few methods.

[00:06:00] [SPEAKER_03]: Number one, have an annual spring cleaning.

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_03]: Let's say my wife and I brought home an average of two things per day for a full year.

[00:06:08] [SPEAKER_03]: Some would be small, like a pencil or a magnet we got for free somewhere.

[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_03]: Some would be larger items, like a small chair or lamp we pick up at a garage sale or something.

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_03]: Anyway, at the end of 12 months, we would have a total of 730 new unnecessary things to get rid of.

[00:06:23] [SPEAKER_03]: I can only imagine it would take an entire weekend, if not longer, to clean out and remove 730 things.

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_03]: We would then lead a less cluttered, less stressful life for a few days before the building started all over again.

[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_03]: Number two, institute a one-in, one-out declutter policy.

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_03]: Whenever we bring home something new that we like, we throw out a similar or equally unnecessary old item.

[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_03]: Out with the old, in with the new.

[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_03]: The second method would be hard to get used to at first, but eventually it would just become our new lifestyle.

[00:06:57] [SPEAKER_03]: We would think twice before picking up any new thing and bringing it home.

[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_03]: We would constantly live in a clean and uncluttered house.

[00:07:05] [SPEAKER_03]: There would be no annual cleaning, no large cleanup days, and no buildup of crap we can't even remember getting in the first place.

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_03]: Conclusion.

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_03]: I think I'll institute the one-in, one-out policy.

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_03]: You just listened to the post titled, Why Do I Have 7 Surfboards? Operation Declutter by Joel of 5amjoel.com.

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_03]: And I'll be right back with my commentary.

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[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_03]: I totally agree with Joel here.

[00:08:38] [SPEAKER_03]: Stuff has a tendency to creep up on us, especially when we have the space for it.

[00:08:42] [SPEAKER_03]: I think when you have something in your possession, even if you don't need it in the moment, you'll tend to keep it just in case you might need it in the future.

[00:08:50] [SPEAKER_03]: And that will pile up over time.

[00:08:53] [SPEAKER_03]: What if we implemented expiration dates for our stuff, just like we have for food?

[00:08:59] [SPEAKER_03]: One way I've done this in the past is with my clothing.

[00:09:02] [SPEAKER_03]: I would go through my closet and organize all my clothes once per year.

[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_03]: And when I put everything back in the closet, I would turn the hangers around so that the open side was facing out.

[00:09:13] [SPEAKER_03]: Then when I wore that piece of clothing and was putting it back in the closet,

[00:09:17] [SPEAKER_03]: I would put the hanger back the right way so I could see that I actually wore that thing.

[00:09:22] [SPEAKER_03]: After a year, all the hangers facing the wrong way showed me everything I didn't really wear.

[00:09:29] [SPEAKER_03]: So then I'd donate that clothing.

[00:09:31] [SPEAKER_03]: I think the other benefit to having less stuff is that you're more conscious of what you do have and you're less likely to buy duplicates.

[00:09:39] [SPEAKER_03]: When you're in need of a yoga mat, for example, and you can't find the one you think you might have stowed away somewhere,

[00:09:44] [SPEAKER_03]: you're more likely to buy eight more.

[00:09:48] [SPEAKER_03]: And that should do it for today.

[00:09:49] [SPEAKER_03]: Have a happy rest of your day and I'll see you on the Tuesday show tomorrow where optimal life awaits.