You Don't Have to Keep Things Forever

  (Tips to keep from being overwhelmed #5)

5. You don't have to keep things forever

For me the hardest thing to declutter is gifts. For some reason I feel like it's rude not to keep them forever. It feels wrong to give away something that was given to me. But I have learned that I don't have to keep gifts forever! People give me gifts to show their love. They don't give me gifts to fill up my house and make me stressed! So if gifts are no longer useful and have become more of a burden, then there is nothing wrong in passing them along for someone else to enjoy. It is the the love and thought that is the real gift.  So if I get given a gift that I can't use or I don't like, it doesn't matter, because it is the love behind it that is the real gift! Birthdays come around every year, and so does Christmas. If I keep every gift I'm ever given, I'll need a much bigger house! I LOVE to get given gifts, but if I feel like I have to keep every gift forever, then I start to dread gifts!

This lesson applies to everything really. I don't have to keep any object forever. If it is not useful to me anymore, there is no reason to hold onto it. I may aswell pass it along so it can be useful for someone else.