Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
Your Money or Your Life
I remember a conversation I had with my friend Hie Jung shortly after we had graduated from college. I think I was expressing disapproval (imagine!) at the way some of our friends spent money. I was a poor starving actor with more time than money, while many of our friends had thrown themselves in the full-on 80s rat race and had money but no time. Hie Jung told me, “You either have money or time, and if you have money, you pay for things that take time.” I’ve thought about that a lot over the years, (especially when my kids were young, and I had no time and no money—how did that happen?) but now, I ask myself if the money is worth my time.
Even people with plenty of money will hang on to things because they don’t like the idea of throwing out something that could be worth money. I get it. But I also think our time is valuable (no matter how much money we make) and our space is valuable. And there’s also the hassle factor.
Is it worth the hassle to try to sell the $200 shoes I bought right before my feet failed me? I wore them a handful of times, so I can’t return them, but they are still in the box. For the half-hour of effort, I might net $50. Maybe I can get my daughter to post them on Poshmark tonight, since we already have an account there. If they sell, great- otherwise they are headed to Housing Works.
On the other hand, returning the printer that doesn’t work properly—and that I didn’t really like in the first place—involves schlepping it to Fed Ex a mile away and being without a printer for five days. I hate to say it, but I saved myself a week and put it in electronic recycling in the basement and bought a new one. I only wish I hadn’t wasted 45 minutes on the phone with Epson in the first place.
If I lived in a doorman building where Fed Ex could pick up the printer, and if it wasn’t the end of the school year and my children didn’t have a lot of projects due, I might have been willing to send the bad printer back and wait for new printer. But it is today, and I live where I live.
The important thing is to be honest. If you say you want to sell those Prada shoes or that antique chair, then do it. Neither is likely increasing enough in value to hang onto. If it isn’t worth the hassle of photographing and posting on line or contacting an auction house, they aren’t worth holding onto, either.
Ask yourself which is more important: time or money or space. There’s no right answer, but you have to ask the question in order to act.