This is why Marie Kondo’s approach is personal and about getting in touch with your feelings. No one is going to deny you your collection. One of my pet peeves is when someone is trying to help you get rid of “stuff you don’t use,” and they pick up an object and say, “When’s the last time you used this? I’ve never seen you use this.” You’re allowed to have things you don’t use very often, if they are the sort of things you want to have around. Yet, this permission doesn’t necessarily prevent getting rid of tons of stuff.

One thing I’ve noticed is that if I can’t find something, its utility is basically zero. If I forget I have it, even more so. Also, things cluttering up a room (visually and in terms of physical space) feel like clutter. So, ideally a collection would be organized enough (which could mean stuff is just piled in boxes, but I’m sufficiently familiar with the boxes), and stored in a suitable place.

I think there’s a lot of power in encouraging people to get rid of stuff that they actually would be happier if they got rid of, by helping them make their own authentic determination.

Earlier this week, I accidentally dropped a box full of old computer parts that hadn't been touched in almost a year. Some old hard drives flew out and crashed on the floor.

I thought "good thing everything on those drives is backed up, and nothing critical was lost."

Yesterday I got a call from one of the former owners of one of these drives. They lost the USB stick I gave them a long time ago with their software license key that I pulled from one of those drives.

The drives I had been hoarding could have saved us $500 on Adelo POS software. One man's trash really can be another's treasure.

Sure, but a realistic possibility of a future need for the item is already a pretty strong reason. There are a great many items in America's basements and self-storage units that don't even have that.