2019-07-04. I have started to go through my things to find out how to get rid of them. I can either give things to family, or to strangers. I don't want to give things to family that they don't really need, or can be considered a gift. The upside of giving to family and friends is that there is some chance of getting it back, and the social cost of getting it back is inversely proportional to how badly I need it back.
So what things are safe to give away to strangers? Things that can be easily replaced is one good category. Specifically, things that can be replaced without urgency. Example: small side table. Even in the worst case of shortage of places to put away stuff, I can live without it for a couple of weeks, which is the comfortable time to acquire a new one.
2019-07-06. I sorted out a pile of items and gave them away to a christian second hand store:
Small ironing board
Small side table 2x
Waste bin for bathroom
Magazine collecting basket
Shirt hangers 15x (kept 3 or 4)
Hanging closet 2x
Living room curtains
Shower storage hanger
Christmas candelabra
Desktop lamp (kept 1)
Wall clock (had disabled it in my old apartment because it made a noise)
Serving tray
Tabletops 4x
Small weaved storage basket
Pots for plants 5x
Set of screws
Blanket 2x
Woman's woolly winter hat
Spandex pants + shirt
Beach sandals 2x
Woman's backpack
Thermos 2x
Power strip
Microwave oven
All in all, I'd say this list contains a lot of things which are used to store other things. There is a compound gain to getting rid of stuff, apparently!
When I dropped the things off, I saw the rest of their inventory. I wasn't impressed - even knowing that it's junk. Now I feel less bad about giving them more of the things that I want to get rid of. I should have expected this, because in my current mindset, I'm inclined to undervalue Stuff.
Women's things (left behind by my ex fiancee) are difficult to decide on because I don't know how to properly value them.
The toughest things to decide on are gifts that are still in good condition, especially recent gifts. What is the social convention here? I want to be so moral that even if the person who originally gave me item X, would hear about what I did with X, he/she would understand. So supposedly selling the Stuff is bad form. It is a narrow passage to walk between a weird (anti-)material need, environmentalism, and customs in this country.
I am going through the clothes, and other things made of fabric such as bedspreads and towels. I manage to decide on giving away over 70% of it. About one third of the donations is things that belonged to my ex. There is a lot of towels.
When making the decision on which item/items out of a group of items to keep, I always elect to keep no more than two. For things such as bedspreads and shower towel, I wish I had the guts to just keep just one of each. After all, there is no real need for variation in these things, and they can be laundered and replaced within one day. Still, I can imagine a situation where one gets soiled, and I'm not able to go to sleep or shower comfortably before I've done laundry. And if they break, I'm in a pickle until I can obtain a replacement. No, it is good to have one spare of things that are required for sleeping, hygiene, and eating. Doing otherwise can lead to situations which are needlessly uncomfortable, and could make me question this lifestyle internally. So one spare is a good balance.
Every now and then, as I take a look at the pile of possessions that are to be given away, and the shrinking pile of as of yet remaining possessions, my heart makes a little skip of joy. When choosing between two items of the same kind, and picking the one I know I like best, it doesn't feel like I've lost an item. It feels like I've gained one.
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