I Might Need That One Day

In your attempts to get organized, do you get tripped up by “I might need that one day”? I’ve worked with many clients throughout the years that often grapple with the thought of letting something go because they may need it at some point in the future.

By hanging onto things simply because you may (or may not) need them in the future, you compromise your quality of life.

When you surround yourself with “one day,” you sacrifice your “here and now” for some event that may never take place. Not only do these “just in case” types of items take up limited space that could be allocated to those things that are relevant to your current life—those things you do use and love—“just in case” things cause us stress. Stress because our space is cluttered, stress because we can’t find what we need when we need it, and sometimes stress because our “just in case” things impact other relationships in our life.

A few years back, my widower dad was getting remarried and moving to the West Coast. The job my siblings and I had was to help him empty out the family home that contained 35 plus years of “treasures.” He had a whole 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath home filled with “I might need that one day” items. Outwardly, dad's home appeared immaculate, every closet, drawer, nook, and cranny—including the garage and attic—was filled to capacity with “just in case”.

There’s nothing wrong with keeping something that has a specific purpose and you have a definite plan for its use. However, hanging onto old margarine bowls, plastic grocery bags, empty tissue boxes, old phones, broken radios and other items only results in clutter.

Most of the time when we have these “just in case” items, we can’t find them when we need them anyway. As my siblings and I helped Dad clear things out, we regularly heard him say something like “I forgot I had that” or “I was wondering where I put that.”

If you have things you can’t let go, place them in a box, close the box, mark it, and put it away. Circle a day on your calendar as “one day” and if you haven’t used any of the items in the box by that date, let them go—donate, toss, or recycle—because “one day” finally arrived and you didn’t need them after all!