The One In = One Out Game

brokestminimalist:

This is a great way to make sure your household inventory doesn’t grow as the years go by.  Whenever you buy a physical, non-consumable item, you throw something else out.  Preferably something in the same category.  Examples:

Clothes: If you buy a new sweater, choose an old one to donate. Pro tip: recycle or donate extra clothes hangers so you won’t have any extra spots for new items without ridding yourself of an old one.

Shoes: Toss a pair when you buy a pair, but also avoid buying a new pair until you’ve got a pair that’s ready to toss.  

Furniture: You guessed it, sell or donate an item when you buy a new one.  Bonus if your new piece of furniture is used instead of brand new!

Ok, enough with the examples.  This isn’t exactly rocket surgery, here.  The trick is making a habit of it.  As soon as you get home with your new swag, make a point of going through your old stuff and finding something for your donation box.

One big complication is gifts.  People give gifts, and we are of the opinion that if someone gives you something and you didn’t actively decide to purchase it then you don’t need to sacrifice something else you own unless you just want to.  Example:

Grandma’s 2nd cousin five times removed gives you an ugly sweater for Xmas.  You feel bad throwing it out, but you know you’re never going to wear it, and you don’t want to toss any of your own things to make a spot for it because it’s not like you went shopping and picked this monstrosity.  So just don’t, it’s fine.  Keep the sweater a couple months, take a pic of yourself wearing it so you’ll have something to remember it by, and then donate the sweater.  It’s really ok.

Now, sometimes you get a gift that you really like and want to keep.  In that case, if you like it better than some other item you’ve got, we’d encourage you to go ahead and donate something.  But hey, if you don’t then that’s ok too.

At holiday times a good way to discourage this problem is to tell people, when they ask, that you’d like consumable items as gifts.  (If you say that you don’t want anything some people will accept that, but a lot won’t.) Chocolates, soaps, bath bombs, candy or other food items, perfume or cologne, candles, etc.  Anything that can get used up, in other words.  That way people feel like they’re still getting you something and you don’t wind up with weird stuff you don’t want or need.