Spent 4 hours trying to find a place for my old bread maker and ended up just putting it back in the closet

I finally decided to declutter my kitchen cabinets yesterday, and that stupid bread maker that I've used exactly twice in 3 years took me an entire afternoon to decide what to do with, only for me to give up and shove it right back where it was has anyone else wasted a whole day on one single item?

3 comments

3 Comments

murray.jana1mo ago

betty_wells said something that really clicked for me about how we turn objects into decisions. I read this article once that talked about how our brains get stuck on stuff we don't use because it feels like we're admitting failure if we let it go. That bread maker isn't just a machine, it's a reminder of the time you thought you'd be making fresh bread every weekend. So you're not really deciding about the bread maker, you're deciding about that version of yourself you thought you'd become. And that's way harder than just finding a spot in the closet. I ended up reading this whole book about decluttering after I finally gave away my juicer, and it basically said you have to forgive yourself for the past purchase first before you can let it go.

betty_wells1mo ago

Jump into thinking about how we treat these objects like they're decisions we have to make, not just stuff. Maybe it's just me but I've noticed we do this with everything now, like when I spent 30 minutes picking out a new phone case because the color didn't feel "right" but then just went with black anyway. It's like our brains lock onto one thing and turn it into this huge deal even when it's totally not. I mean, that bread maker could probably sit in that closet for another three years without anyone caring, but you still have to feel like you made the "right" choice about it. idk, maybe it's just how we avoid actually getting rid of things because then we'd have to admit we wasted money on it.

daniel1401mo ago

My sister made me keep hers for 3 years before I finally put it on the curb with a FREE sign. The guy who took it looked REAL happy about it. You should try that.