Some Nuggets are Dirt Clods
Monthly ColumnBy Daniel A Barnes
I changed my life last month, I got rid of half of my “stuff.”
How does it feel?
“It feels great!”
I feel lighter. Sheepishly I must admit, I’d become quite a pack rat or in my mind, a collector of quality or utilitarian “stuff” including a library.
My decision to purge began with the search for a new home. I wanted to force myself into a more European style of existence, to have everything thing I need and nothing I don’t.
Perhaps I’d had pretty good reasons for keeping some stuff, at least at one-time there were. But how much was that still the case? I wanted room in my life to let in new things. But there wasn’t any room for anything new amidst “my” clutter.
I needed to move, and I wanted to shed my “archival” past of academia for more minimalism. I sought a home with room enough and nothing extra. And I found it! But it was 40% smaller than my old home. There was no way that everything would fit.
So I pledged to let 40% of my “stuff” go.
I found that purging stuff is really hard work. But it’s worth it, because clearing your “clutter” allows you to apply how you’ve changed to a new physical existence. Just keep what you love, and “shed” the rest.
I was inspired by Karen Kingston’s book Clear your Clutter with Feng Shui. Adopting Kingston’s approach, I tried to shed everything that I didn’t “love,” or that was no longer “very important” to me.
So how did I start? I started with clothes, and I got rid of every item I no longer liked (or never liked), I managed to reduce my clothes by 40-50%.
If you start in the kitchen, give away all the dull knives, pots and pans, and duplicate items. See how much better you’ll like your kitchen. I probably managed a 40% reduction of my kitchen stuff.
If you start in the backyard, toss the broken, weathered, and unwanted debris (This is much easier to do if you are moving).
If it’s your garage, God help you! My garage was the vessel of my books, games, academic and dot com archives, and sports equipment. I think I managed a 40% reduction.
After uncounted trips to the donation center and many Craigslist sales, I successfully shed, “camping gear, stoves, sleds, dining room tables, old desks, broken lamps, ugly lamp…”
It was time to let it all go, and I did.
In portfolio management, clearing clutter also applies. Portfolios are rebalanced and new portfolios are constructed from the best securities at that moment in time for the given situation. Selecting securities anew allows me to account for changes in values and in clients’ lives and construct the portfolios accordingly.
Last month I shared some of the “nuggets of wisdom” I’d received from my Grandma Barbara. Well, she didn’t pass down only nuggets; she also passed down some dirt clods, clods that I found clogging up my garage and my life.
For me, this was about shedding a “Depression Era” mentality. That’s right, Depression Era! When I pass down my values to my kids which I got from my parents, who got them from their parents, I’m passing down the values of my kids’ great grandparents! Have you ever done the same? And we wonder why our kids say we’re “clueless”!
Some of the Depression Era values are needed again today, but most are not. In a world of overcapacity and overproduction, the value in hoarding has been eclipsed by the value of minimalism.
Remember the saying “Your body is a temple?” Well it’s from biblical times. Back then the Temple was the center of people’s social, public, and sometimes spiritual lives. A friend of mine, who is a pastor, recently shared with me that today it’s as if your life is in your garage, and God is the car, “Is there room for the car in your garage?”
Happily de-cluttered, Daniel A Barnes, CFA