Stuff. (Part 1 of 7)

"365 days of trash", a blog by a guy who decided that instead of throwing things AWAY, where we don't get to see the volume of our discards, he'd put them in his basement for a year to see how much trash he personally generated.

"Little Brown Dress Project", a woman who wore the same dress (with accessories) every day for a year.

"The 100 Things Challenge" where Dave Bruno is living with only 100 personal possessions for an entire year.

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I have plans to change a really big relationship in my life-- the relationship of me and my stuff. Expect six following posts on what it is, what I want it to be, and how I plan to get there.

Stuff and Space (part 2 of 7)

So, last night I played a number game with myself and I learned a new trick for deciding which things in my life are worthwhile.

I pay $480 a month in rent for a 900 square foot apartment in which I fit 3 people, 3 cats, 4 computers, 2 sewing machines, stacks of yarn, four stuffed book cases, almost every kitchen implement known, a 56" projection television, a couple of tables, and also this time of year a Christmas tree. No partridge in it, the cats would've et it by now.

Anyways, for those of you who hate story problems, the pertinent numbers here are:

$480 per month for 900 square feet, meaning 480/900 dollars per square foot, or in other words:

I pay 53 cents per month for EACH square foot in my apartment.

Now let's take my closet. I love my closet. I moved to this apartment BECAUSE of the stunning closets. There's one regular sized closet in the kid's room, a linen closet plus a regular sized in the hall, and the master bedroom boasts TWO walk-in closets, both 5' by 6' more or less.

It doesn't take a vintage HP calculator (h/t bikergeek for the link) or a Deci-Lon slide rule (not my pic, but I own one of these now) to figure 5 x 6 = 30 square feet...

That's 30 square feet per closet, times 53 1/3 cents per month, makes $16 a month, $32 for both closets.

Random thoughts on that:

• If I didn't need ANYTHING in those closets, I could move into an apartment JUST smaller and pay $32 a month less.
  
• On the other hand, what if someone offered me a magical increase in my apartment space of 60 square feet for just $32 more a month? I'd jump at it!
  
• I desperately want a crafting room/office/whatever space to store my stuff in AND work on it.
  
• It's best to put me in the smallest room possible, because my stuff expands to fill the available space.
  
• If I clean out both closets, move my clothes to the armoire (er, I call it that because it's French and sounds nice, it's really just a white pantry cabinet) and free up a table, I can build my own personal crafting space with a DOOR THAT SHUTS and make as much of a mess as I feel like and leave it whenever I have to stop.
  

So, well, aside from the closet-- in general, what's space worth? Let's take my bag of fiber stuffing. I paid $1.50 or so for it a couple of years ago and it's been taking up a square foot of my floor space ever since; I use some, but don't throw out the rest because I'd have to buy more the next time I wanted it a couple of years later.

A quick hand at the math will realize that a square foot of floor space costs me $6.40 a YEAR. So, in order to save $1.50 worth of material, instead of recycling it or donating it or sharing it with a friend who also makes dolls and pillows, I've used up $6.40 of space a year in storing it.

A lot of people rent storage spaces instead of cleaning their stuff out, and most people eventually realize that they're paying far more than the items in storage are actually worth. But no matter where my stuff is, I'm paying for the space to keep it in, paying to heat it and cool it, paying for the steps I take around it every day. Having an emptier place would be soothing to me emotionally, and require less upkeep (when your place is full you have to "shuffle" to get things out). And when it comes down to it, I don't want to turn into someone like this woman (warning: Fark.com thread, may be naughty words in comments, BIG pictures of very cluttered house)

I'm not saying stuff is bad. I'm just saying that before I invest more of my time making money to pay for the space my stuff is in-- I'm going to consider how much of it I really need, and whether I need the space more than I need the stuff.