Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
Everybody Makes Mistakes
We’ve all done it: Bought something, gotten it home and realized it’s a complete mistake.
The gold shoes that seemed so comfy and fun in the store that feel stiff and look tacky once you get them home, the knapsack-purse that was supposed to save your back but is too deep and annoying to use or the pretty wicker file box that was supposed to keep your desk clutter-free but instead just became a deeper dumping ground.
Making mistakes is part of life. We all tell our children that it’s okay, that it’s part of life, so why can’t we admit our own mistakes and move on?
It drives us crazy when we make a mistake because it costs money. As annoying as it is when your kid spills milk, even organic milk, the cost is pennies, or maybe (if it is a big glass) a dollar. Your gold shoes however, might be fifty times that—or a hundred, or two hundred. And you feel guilty and bad about that, as though you had stood in the middle of Broadway tossing ten-dollar bills into the wind.
But it was a mistake. And keeping them in your closet when you don’t wear them doesn’t change that. You could try to convince yourself that someday you’ll wear them, but in your deepest heart you know it isn’t true.
The first step to stop—or at least reduce—shopping mistakes is to make the painful admission that it is a mistake. Giving brand-new, expensive stuff to charity is painful, but pain is an opportunity for growth. Whenever the experience is painful, I tell my clients that it is good because they will remember and not want to repeat the experience.
So, go ahead, give those shoes or shirts or file-sorters or crepe makers away. Forgive yourself, but remember what I tell my kids: Making mistakes is human, but making the same mistake over and over is annoying.
Weekly challenge: Share pictures of your shopping misfires on my Facebook page so we can take comfort from knowing that we are not alone.