It's All Too Much Quotes

“You only have one life to live. How you live that life is your choice. As far as I know, no one has ever had 'I wish I had bought more stuff' inscribed on their tombstone. What you own can easily blind you to who you are and what you can be.”
― Peter Walsh, It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff

“If you choose a craft or hobby, then make sure it's something you really enjoy. Do it because you want to, not because others expect it of you or because it's something you once liked or because you don't want those materials you bought to go to waste. just as you should choose the life you want, it's also your choice how you spend your free time.”
― Peter Walsh, It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff

“When clutter is sentimental, you need to figure out two things: first, how to separate the memory from the item, and second, how to preserve the memory in a way that honors and respects it. This process takes the power away from the object in a way that is really liberating and enables you to live your life without the sense of fear and worry of future loss.”
― Peter Walsh, It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff

“More than a marketplace to sell used goods, eBay is one of the best reality checks out there when you’re having trouble letting go of something because you think it’s worth a lot of money. Going on to eBay tells you exactly what your possessions are worth on the open market. If that “valuable” figurine you inherited from your grandmother is selling for $9.99 on eBay, then it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee.”
― Peter Walsh, It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff

“NO ROOM IN A HOME should be more important to a couple than their bedroom. Disarray in the master bedroom has more impact on family life, on peace and harmony, on love and respect, and on a relationship than it does in any other room.”
― Peter Walsh, It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff

“Don’t let your stuff be a battlefield for your relationships. Instead of focusing on whose mess it is, think of it as a group problem that you’re going to solve together. Don’t use words like “yours” and “mine.” Talk about the clutter and challenges surrounding it as “ours.”
― Peter Walsh, It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff

“Your home is within your control. It should be the place where you escape all negative forces in the world. Your home should be the antidote to stress, not the cause.”
― Peter Walsh, It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff

“Lots of kitchens have a “catch-all” drawer. What’s in here? It’s always a surprise. Soy sauce packets from carryout, rubber bands, pennies, matches, pushpins, a stray refrigerator magnet. I’m only going to say this once: No. Junk. Drawer. Do I make myself clear?”
― Peter Walsh, It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff

“Not sure what you use and what you don’t? Here is a tried and true way to find out. Empty the contents of your kitchen utensil drawers into a cardboard box. For one month, only put a utensil back into the drawer if you take it out of the box to use it. At the end of the month seriously consider discarding everything that’s still in the cardboard box. Face it: If it’s still in the box after four weeks, you don’t need it!”
― Peter Walsh, It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff

“Keeping flat surfaces clear is perhaps the single most important thing to keep in mind for your kitchen—as it is for any room in the house. A clear countertop makes any kitchen look more organized. Once the flat surfaces start to disappear under clutter, you lose your motivation to keep the area organized and you open the area to attracting more dust and dirt, further compounding the clutter problem. Consider flat surfaces your preparation area—not your storage area!”
― Peter Walsh, It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff

“Goodwill receives a billion pounds of clothing every year. Ultimately, they use less than half of the clothing they get. Clothing is cheap, and the cost of sorting, cleaning, storing, and transporting the clothes is higher than their value. If you wouldn’t give an article to a family member, it’s probably not good enough for charity. Sure, it’s great to get the tax deduction and it makes you feel like you didn’t waste money buying the clothes, but if you’re truly charitable, be sensitive to the needs of the organization. Charities aren’t dumping grounds for your trash.”
― Peter Walsh, It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff

“one very effective way to identify what should go and what should stay is the Reverse Clothes Hanger trick. Turn all of the clothes hanging in your closet so that the hangers face back to front. For the next six months, if you wear an item of clothing, return it to the closet with the hanger facing the correct way. No cheating. If you try it on but decide not to wear it, make sure you put it back with the hanger turned backward. Be prepared for a shock, because after six months you’re going to look at which clothes are on hangers that are still facing in reverse. These are the clothes you have not worn. You should seriously consider getting rid of them all.”
― Peter Walsh, It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff

“Flat spaces are the first battlefield you lose in the war with your stuff.”
― Peter Walsh, It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff

“The health problems caused by clutter aren’t just physical. In 1996, psychologists defined compulsive hoarding syndrome as a psychological disorder. In homes with severe cluttering, the residents nearly always suffer from anxiety or depression or both.”
― Peter Walsh, It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff