Moving has a way of putting things in perspective. When I moved from Toronto to my house in the country, I packed for weeks. We had born two children in our Toronto home and we had a lot of crap to prove we’d been in one place for a decade. While I’m pretty good at giving stuff away, I did end up taking more than of couple of boxes of stuff to the new house that I might need someday.

There were clothes that would fit me if I ever lost the baby weight I’d gained with Alex. Fat chance! There were games we had acquired over the years that we’d have plenty of time to play now that we’d be living in the country. There were videos the children had watched, that I was going to save for when little kids came to our house with weekend visitors. There were all the picture books I had lovingly chosen for my children that I just couldn’t part with. There were dishes, glasses, tablecloths, cookie tins. We could use these older blankets for all the picnics we’d be going on in the countryside. We would finally find a use for the silver punch bowl when we had parties in our new home. And that beautiful china set I’d received from marriage #2 would fit perfectly in our new sideboard, which I was buying because I needed a place to store that beautiful china set.

Someday Syndrome had reared it’s ugly head again, this time convincing me that at some point I might need all this stuff, and it would be cheaper to keep it and cart it around that to repurchase it if I actually ever needed it. Hmmm.

I found the move exhausting. Part of it was the stress of moving, managing two young children, selling a home in the city, buying a home in the country and not having a clue what would come next. But part of it was definitely dealing with all the STUFF. I swore the next time I moved it would be in a pine box!

Life does what life does and five years later I was MOVING AGAIN! This time I was much more picky about what I took with. I didn’t pack a single thing that I wasn’t going to use with some frequency… except the china set…what is it with that china set?… and everything settled into its place in my new home quite easily. I shook free of Someday Syndrome by using three simple questions to keep myself on track:

1. What will it cost to replace it? One of the biggest barriers to giving stuff away is that sense that as soon as you do, you’re going to wish you still had it because you’ve come up with a great use for it. If you’re debating getting rid of a very expensive item, this may give you pause to think… maybe that’s my china debate. But so often the stuff we keep isn’t worth the cost of moving it, the space it takes to store it, or the mental energy to keep it in inventory.

2. Can someone else use it today?  If you have a half-dozen cookie cans you’ve collected because you’ll bake cookies every Christmas and gift them to family and friends… someday… maybe… ask yourself if Aunty Barb, who does bake cookies every Christmas, could actually use those cans. Then give ‘em to her.  Give the clothes that don’t fit to friends or charity. Give the videos, DVDs, and CDs to your local library where hundreds of people can enjoy them, as opposed to them collecting dust in your house. If you aren’t using it, are you keeping it because you’re afraid you’ll never be able to afford to buy it again? Relax, you’re going to be able to have whatever you want, if you can make space in your life for new abundance. Let someone else enjoy the stuff now so you don’t have to dust it.

3.  Will I even remember that I have it? We have loads of stuff we can’t even remember we have.  How many lipsticks do you have in how many different colours? How many pairs of shoes, blouses, cake tins, plastic containers, tools, gardening implements…? Keeping stuff around is no guarantee that you’ll remember you have it (or can find it) when you actually need it. Someday items have a funny way of duplicating themselves: first you have one, then another (because you forgot you had the first one) and then another (because you couldn’t find it when you needed it so you went ahead and bought it again.) That’s how people end up with multiples of things, some of which they hardly ever use.

Letting go can be really hard. But it can also be phenomenally empowering. When you let go of the stuff you might need someday, you’re telling yourself and the universe that you’ll be able to deal with whatever comes your way… that you don’t need the STUFF to see you through. You’ll figure out a solution.