The Things We Save- The 80/20 Rule

You may be familiar with the 80/20 rule, also known as Pareto’s Principal. Originally an economic formula, it is applied to all kinds of imbalanced life experiences, such as 80 percent of the work is often done by 20 percent of the people. In our daily lives, we interact with a small subset (20 percent or thereabout) out of the many, many people we know.  A small list of priorities accounts for the majority of our spending (mortgage, food, tuition). 80 percent of our time is spent on a small number of repeated tasks (carpool, grocery, doctor, laundry, cooking, and laundryJ). So now that we understand the formula, what do we do with it? The idea is to maximize the side of the equation that will yield more pleasure and better results. We do this by focusing on those important small numbers. Let’s look at the household tasks that consumer 80 percent on average of a person’s time. We have figured out how to reduce the carpool (join a carpool). Maybe some families start having older kids do laundry (could happen). Mathematically, these time savings would raise the 20 percent on the other side of the equation, giving more time to other (more enjoyable activities). Having said all this, the topic this month isn’t time management (that will be another post), but thing management, otherwise known as “What is ALL this Stuff in my house??  The question is, “Why do we save things that we don’t use?”

Applying the formula, we use only 20 percent of the things we have. We wear 20 percent of the clothing we buy (yes, you bought it. No, I don’t know what you were thinking). We reach for the same favorite, mug, pen, skirt, set of sheets, nightgown.. You get the point.  And yet, most of us have multiples upon multiple of these very things. And no, I am not suggesting you wear the same skirt every day. We have extras for variety (t-shirts), for company (sheets) for neighbors (coffee mug) and special occasions (black flats, heels, pumps, sling backs). Even allowing for  these specific needs and wants, we still have so much of each thing, more than we can ever use.  We know why we bought it. It seemed like a good idea at the time. We thought the style would look good, the sauce would taste good, the rug would feel good, but they didn’t measure up, and we stuffed them in the back of a closet. We also have things that were bestowed upon us. We accumulate furniture from relatives, and beautiful bowls that we don’t like, given by friends that we do. We save perfectly good appliances that don’t work, beautiful broken chairs, and pictures that we don’t display (You know who you are.). 80 percent of our things never see the light of day. Why is it so hard to get rid of things we never use?

Here are some answers:

• Our stuff represents an investment of money, and the remorse and guilt that come from seeing our money literally being thrown away often compels us to hold on to the item as a way of justifying the money. The idea is that it might be used “someday.” Things in this category include objects that can’t or won’t be fixed, clothing that never fit right, souvenirs that should never have been purchased (sombrero).
• Our stuff is associated with another time and place, and often, as we get older, our younger selves. These items no longer meet our needs or interests, yet parting with them means acknowledging painful truths.  Letting go of old baby clothes is a tough thing for some people. People sometimes have the idea that they can pass them on to the grandchildren.  Ask your daughter in law if she wants to dress her newborn in your son’s infant clothing from 25 years ago. Better yet, don’t ask. Hobby and craft items bring home the realization that there is a finite amount of time, and our passion for watercolor painting did not make us a great artist. Moreover, we did not enjoy it enough to work at it regularly. Every time we trip over the barbell we know we will not be a weightlifter. Old college textbooks are very rarely worth the paper they are printed on- sad but true.
• Our stuff holds memories of people we love. The furniture, china, wads of snapshots, knick knacks, and mismatched silverware reminds us of people.  This is a hard one, because so often the people are no longer with us, yet we have their stuff.  Consider the possibility that Aunt Molly never loved the china, and that she would want you to give it away if you don’t either.  But if you keep the china, you must use it. You must use it simply because it is bad for the china to not have a purpose, and it is bad for you to hold on to items that don’t serve you.

 80 percent of the items in your home should be in active use at some point during the year. Task: Start by giving away one shirt that you have not worn in a year because it doesn’t work for you, either because of the fit, style, color or material. The shirt will not be angry, and you will not miss it.

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