I’m currently reading a book called Material World: A Global Family Portrait. It documents the lives of average families in thirty nations around the globe. Each family was photographed outside their home surrounded by all of their possessions – something I can’t even imagine trying to do. While the book is old, written in 1995, it shows how simple some people lived. That has made me consider the things I own and why I own them. Of everything I own, what is really necessary? What is enriching my life? How much of my time is spent taking care of those things? How much more could I accomplish outside of taking care of those things if I didn’t have as many?

More Time to Accomplish the Important

Having less means having less to clean, clean up, maintain, etc., and more time to do what’s important to you. Since I’m a bit of a nerd and like numbers, let’s say you got rid of enough to save you 15 minutes a day not having to take care of that stuff. Doing so would give you 91 hours and 15 minutes (almost 4 days) worth of time to work on more important things!

Unfortunately the math is the easy part, getting rid of the stuff is much more difficult. Consider the reasons we hold on to the things we have and how to let go, then decide if the things you have are worth the time they take.