#deluttering

We tend to bolster our fantasies by buying the props that go with them. I once imagined I was a great home cook, so I decided I needed a shelf full of celebrity cookbooks and drawers full of specialty gadgets. Francine Jay, author of The Joy of Less and Lightly, calls this “aspirational stuff.” These are the things we buy to project a certain image, to impress others, or to help ourselves believe we’re a certain type of person. Fantasies are fun, and they can be useful for identifying what you care about and where your interests lie. But beware of trying to buy the fantasy.