The Decluttering Project: Day 4

Yesterday was a great day of decluttering.

Apart from my piano, one of the things I probably am more attached to is my vinyl collection.

Associating memories to objects

I have come to realize that the things we are more attached to are the ones that have involved a commitment on our part, especially during a long period of time.

As an example, my vinyl collection brings me a lot of happy memories… hanging out with friends in Murcia and spotting a vinyl in an antique shop, a Christmas present from my parents, looking for a concrete vinyl with my partner at the flea market…

Of course, that also explains why getting rid of my piano has been so hard for me. We associate those experiences and memories with our objects until, in case of repeated associations, they get infused with a powerful emotion that triggers these nostalgic feelings in us.

Replacing the emotional vessel

As a result, we need to separate the object from the feeling and realize that those memories, and emotions, are actually inside of us and that the vessel is not necessary at all.

One good technique is keeping digital pictures. They don’t occupy any space but serve us as reminders of those situations, maybe when we were hanging out with our friends, or the family Christmas pictures.

If we don’t have them, a nice trick is photographing everything you are selling or documenting it in a blog like I am doing here. As a result, you will always be able to get back to those moments and revive those memories by just looking at the pictures or blog posts.

Actually, that’s exactly what I did with my first album, “Trenes de Juguete”. I have almost no memories from my childhood. This album was a way for me to put the ones that I had into songs, so I could keep them with me forever. What I am trying to say here is that there’s always a creative way of saving those precious moments while getting rid of the stuff we associate with them.

Stuff I sold today

The vinyl collection was composed mostly of progressive and symphonic rock records. I was heavily into King Crimson, Genesis, Yes, Pink Floyd, and all those bands when I was younger.

Additionally, apart from my record player and my vinyl collection, I sold also a Dell UltraSharp 25″ monitor. This was also an example of how we tend to collect stuff, sometimes without a lot of common sense.

I have my Thunderbolt Display on the “office desk”, on the big table we use for work. However, I also had my music studio room with all my musical instruments. Thus, instead of trying to use what I already had, I bought another monitor for the studio to be able to work comfortably on a big screen. Given the fact that I rarely recorded music on a regular basis, this was such a waste of money and another object to clutter my life.

The lesson learned is: before buying something new, think if you positively, absolutely need that, if it’s something that’s going to enhance your life or add value to you. Most of the time, we buy things we don’t need or won’t be using just because we are lazy and don’t want to move another object we already have.

Stuff I’ve thrown away

I have decided to throw away something every day, regardless of what I sell. At first, I thought this would be easy (“yeah, I will throw away a pair of shoes, t-shirt, or jeans I don’t use anymore”). However, when you start looking at your stuff, suddenly those apple watch bands you haven’t used in years look gorgeous, those jeans are not so bad after all, and you just can’t seem to find the T-Shirt you wouldn’t be wearing any longer.

In the end, I picked three pairs of shoes I haven’t used, honestly, in years, and decided to throw away the ones you can see in the picture above.

I then realized that I will probably need to throw away all the stuff I have considered before choosing the shoes… and I know it’s not going to be easy.