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Here’s a example of how excessive possessions can cause unnecessary stress.

I was at Uniqlo just the other day, and chanced upon a pair of black pants I’d always been eyeing but quickly went out of stock online when the price dropped. There it was, in all its sales price glory of $14.90, beckoning me over.

“Hi, it’s me! You saw me on your screen. Don’t you want me?”

I hesitated for a moment. I have plenty of pants, do I need another one? But hmm, I had always been considering it. And now the price has dropped. It’s the best opportunity to get it now, because I doubt I would be leaving the house again anytime soon.

So I grabbed it and headed to the casher.

—-

Once back in the safety of home, I took the pants out of my bag, glanced at my wardrobe and promptly facepalmed.

Sigh.

I already have so many pants.

The metal rod in my wardrobe is already overloaded.

I have no more hangers for trousers.

Well, I could always rearrange my things to make more space but that will just open up a rabbit hole wouldn’t it?

I was aiming to reduce my possessions, not increase them.

Besides, I don’t need more clothes. I barely step out of the house these days because of the pandemic. At most once a week, or even once every two weeks. And I’ve been working from home since 2019.

The pants was discarded in a corner of my room until I had the mental capacity to evaluate what I wanted to do with it.

A couple of hours later, I found myself getting annoyed with how that randomly-placed pair of pants was cluttering up my minimalist space and decided I should get it out of the way.

Visual clutter.

I rolled it up and stuffed it into a corner of my wardrobe.

It then dawned on me how $14.90 had not just landed me with yet another totally redundant item, but plenty of agonizing on “where am I going to put this?” and “what am I going to do with it?”.

Mental clutter.

—-

This year, I had embarked on a massive clearout of my room because of my recurring asthma, as I vowed to get rid of dust bunnies for good. Less possessions/loose items on display also meant easier-to-clean surfaces so my room looks significantly more empty now, with the remaining items neatly organized into boxes and drawers.

I’m definitely breathing easier, and I find myself feeling immensely happy looking at all the clean, clutter-free surfaces around me. I’ve always been a neat freak at heart and this is the kind of space I always envisioned having. (Previously, my room has always been generally neat – but clutter free? Not really.)

I always look back at 2015/2016 when I had clothes overflowing out of my wardrobe (and even hanging from my floor lamp) and wondered “how on earth did I even put up with that?”

Anyway, the deed is done and I have a new pair of pants. But I hope I don’t find myself dropping my resolve like that again, especially with Black Friday just round the corner.

And how did one $14.90 pants spawn an entire blog post? /scratches head