Sharp insight and life wisdom from the astute (and funny) Jerry Seinfeld:

“All things on Earth only exist in different stages of becoming garbage.”

“Your home is a garbage processing center where you buy new things, bring them into your house, and slowly crapify them over time.”

This, by the way, is from one of the richest people in the entertainment business, a man who can buy more things than most of us could even imagine. (And I find that comedians have some of the wisest insights. They seem to observe life and its absurdities much more intently and honestly than most.)

Few things retain real value in your life over time. That shiny new awesome gadget is just future garbage. Same with that new piece of clothing or jewelry or furniture. Look through your stuff and consider what has remained valuable to your over a long period of time. I have some great things that have endured and remain useful and don’t have me itching to replace them. But most of my stuff has a pretty short shelf life.

I’m a “thrower-outer” and don’t feel overly attached to things. But I let too much clutter – future garbage – hang around in my life for too long. This is a great time of year to scan my surroundings and accelerate the garbage creation process for the inessential things in my life.

Contractor bags, those over-sized, super tough trash bags, are the ultimate tool for quickly culling the clutter. Just throw your unwanted stuff in the bag. Don’t think about having a yard sale or giving your future garbage to someone else. If it doesn’t make you happy or offer some useful value, put it in the bag.

Everything is going to go eventually. Let me expedite the process for the unnecessary stuff so that I can better appreciate the great things I do value. And I will be left with more energy for experiences and people that matter the most.

ht becomingminimalist.com