Haha. We do that with our kids’ old toys - rarely comes into play, but saves much heartache when it does.

There’s a similar trick for papers covering your desk; without looking, shove them all in a Manila folder, date, and seal. If you haven’t felt compelled to open it in three months, throw it away without opening.

Admittedly the utility depends on how much you/your office likes paper. Or if you go to an office.

> without looking, shove them all in a Manila folder, date, and seal. If you haven’t felt compelled to open it in three months, throw it away without opening.

This needs to be ~1 year, to make sure there's nothing important for taxes in the pile.

This was specific to work-in-the-office desks, which I never bring my personal papers to. But yes, don’t try this with your home office!

> There’s a similar trick for papers covering your desk; without looking, shove them all in a Manila folder, date, and seal. If you haven’t felt compelled to open it in three months, throw it away without opening.

My family moved into our house when I was 3. Around age 9 we were going to finish the basement and a stack of boxes from the move came into discussion. When I proposed the idea, it was not really considered by my parents.

I've proposed it again to my wife after a move or two, and again she didn't take me up on it.

Maybe someday I'll get to give the method a shot.

I thought about that

Just put random crap in a box with a date in it. You can take it out if it is useful but you can't put new stuff in. Once the date is up, toss/sell it.

Basically expiration date for stuff.