Less Stuff, More Time
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Our society has come to a rude awakening of sorts in the last couple years. So many people had been brought up to think that more is more. We buy huge houses, cars we can’t afford and fill our homes and offices with stuff we don’t need. Abundance for abundance sake was an overriding theme, and strangely, we don’t seem any happier for it.
Carving out a corner.
You may have experienced this is a very tangible way when setting up your home office. Whether you carved out a corner or cleared out a room to start your business or new work at home job, it may have been a struggle. For many people, having a home office is a sort of afterthought, and a lot of times involves some clearing out to get it accomplished. The home office is a pretty common place to dump the “life leftovers” because you just can’t think of another place to put it. Then, you have to deal with it to make the space usable. Suddenly, all that stuff seems like a burden.
It takes time & resources.
If you think about everything you own, and how much if we really need, it’s a real eye-opener. If you only have one computer, here’s an example of the work and time it takes to own it:
- A place to store it
- Energy to run it
- Repairs when (not if) it needs them
- Maintenance
- Cleaning
- Insurance
- Services to backup your data
- Software to use
- Internet access
Get the idea? The cost of ownership is much more than just the purchase price. What really costs is the maintenance and usage to make it something you can utilize. Now, what if you have two? Do you need two? How much more time to maintain, repair and use them will it now take?
Do I really need that?
Of course, there’s more to your office than just the laptop. There are supplies, paper, storage, furniture and other various creature comforts. The more things we have, the more time it takes to maintain ownership. Here’s some questions to think about as you look around your office (and even your home or calendar) and think about how much you really need:
What if you pared it down to what you really need?
What if there was some “white space” in the office to give your mind and eyes a place to rest on?
How much time (and money) could you gain back if you scaled back your office belongings 25-50%?
If you had less stuff, would you have more time?
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“Our society has come to a rude awakening of sorts in the last couple years. So many people had been brought up to think that more is more.”
Let me confess – I too believed this theory until I started my own home business. I am not from an affluent family and had been struggling with my colleagues in catching up with them. But when I started my own business, I realised that this abundance theory is not the way to go… Cut down and get practical… You will find that you can save a lot and this will help you becoming successful
Hi,
First of all, I would like to say that this is one topic that I say more people should be writing about. I mean, not all of us would willingly admit it but it’s a commonality that for most people, we tend to be “hoarders”. If only we take the time to sit down and check the stuff that we own, you will be amazed how much of these that we have accumulated in a short/long period of time – we don’t actually need anymore.
I would definitely like to say that if you had less, you would have more time. I have read an article just recently that says – if you simplify the things around you, there is a correlation to the increase and improvement of your productivity. If you think about it, this may actually have a lot of sense since when you see clearly around you, without all the clutter and the mess and the unnecessary pile, you are able to think more clearly and a lot of creative juices get flowing when you are able to see clearly.
Thumbs up to this article!