My wife and I are in the midst of paying off our debts. We’re trying to become more “gazelle intense,” so one of the ways we’re looking to do this is to sell some Stuff.
I have a lot of Stuff. I like Stuff. Stuff is fun. Stuff is fun to buy. It’s fun to own. It’s fun to lend. “Oh, you haven’t heard/read/watched this certain bit of Stuff? I happen to own that Stuff. It’s in my vast Stuff library/discography/cabinet.”
But Stuff is Stuff. And Stuff is heavy, when you have to move. So as the prospect of packing up and relocating to another place in the neighborhood looms over the next month, I’m finding myself a little more eager to get rid of some Stuff so I don’t have to pack it into the HaulStuff truck.
I took a bin of Stuff to Half-Price Stuff. I got $30 bucks for a large bin that I was hoping would bring more than double that. Frustrating. So now some audio Stuff is up for sale on Facebook, so I can maybe get a little more value out of my Stuff. (Let me know if you want the link.)
A friend of mine commented on that post, “But 4thDave, you’re selling your college self!”
Which I am, in a sense. All the musical Stuff I fought so hard to keep, or to repurchase after having to sell it the first time–I’m letting it go. Maybe, in some small way, I’m letting a bit more of my college self go, too. The boy-man who graduated from college and listed to the bands of my younger years is no longer here. He’s been replaced by an older, hopefully-wiser man-man who is embracing a new life with an amazing wife and some important goals ahead of him. A life and goals that are only complicated and crowded by a lot of unnecessary Stuff.
Maybe I’ll miss one or two of the Stuff I’m selling, once in a blue moon. But I doubt it. When I decided what to sell, and I divided my musical Stuff into the “Keep” and “Sell” piles (the sheep on my right hand and the goats on my left), there were several items I had forgotten that I even owned. They didn’t mean anything to me. And if they don’t mean anything to me when I own them, they won’t mean anything to me when I let them go.
Lots of things to slim down in my life. My Stuff pile is the first.
The tower of boxes of BookStuff in my closet, however? That’s not going anywhere. Even I have limits.
The4thDave Blog 
Good work. My wife and I did Dave Ramsey and went through the sell our stuff phase and it was a wonderful feeling when we got to a point with no debt except mortgage. It hasn’t been perfect since, but I’ve learned a lot and we are doing better every 6 months than the previous. A couple links for you:
1. YNAB – You Need A Budget Software. This is the BEST computer program to help you budget and actually succeed. http://secure.youneedabudget.com/aff/E19786A6463591013590D08CD3051400/index.html
2. And if you sign up for YNAB (it’s free for a month to try), you might want a dropbox account, click here for one of those: http://db.tt/kqPfp8o
Michael
Awesome, thank you! I got married in June, and my wife and I committed to becoming financially disciplined from the outset. It’s been a challenge, but we’re growing from it.
A few thoughts:
1. When you accept the fact that the root of any money problems you have is either covetousness or a failure to trust in God’s sovereignty (or both), you will see growth and find stewardship easier.
2. Make policies like “never spend over $50 w/o discussing it with my spouse, first.” It’ll prevent impulse buys, and, if you set the bar low enough, you can shoo almost any pushy salesman away by honestly saying, “I must speak to my wife about this first, and we prefer to pray before a decision such as this one.”
3. Always be stricter in your spending on “your stuff” than you expect her to be on “her stuff.” She’s your treasure and she deserves more stuff than you for putting up with you. (same applies for me and Web, too).
4. Big stuff is easy sometimes, but watch the little things. Here’s some tips. I’ve become a practical expert on getting free stuff on FreeCycle.org
http://michaelcoughlin.net/blog/index.php/2014/04/a-little-adds-up
Even 8 years into being a man-man married man, I still have boy-stuff that clogs up my life. By God’s grace, I married a woman who is patient with my boyness and loves me for my man moments, and also by His grace, I’ve also let go of a lot of my boyish things.
Great post, bro!
Will you come purge my Stuff? It probably in a box and I won’t even miss it because I haven’t used the Stuff in years. Specificially, in the extra bedroom we use as a home office/Stuff holder.