I need this for the junk in my life. Like, did I even use such-and-such thing in the past decade? If not, toss it out (ideally to a reuse store).

I'm trying to get to a place where I think of all my purchases as rentals. That it's OK, if justified, that a tool served its purpose one time, and if it doesn't get used again or goes to the donation center, I have received the benefit. Something that can be reused is then just bonus. If not reused by me, then at least, someone else can benefit from the good.

Switching my mental thinking to "renting" instead of buying items has help me be able to get rid of items which I haven't used in some time, reducing my footprint. I have a long way to go, but I come from a family of clutterbugs and it's just kind of baked in.

Dots would be useful in my scenario just to capture utility of everyday things.

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assimpleaspossi 2 days ago | parent [-]

Within 24 hours, whatever you threw out and can no longer retrieve, you will find a need and its replacement will cost an arm and a leg.

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duckmysick 2 days ago | parent [-]

That's why you do a "soft delete" and move things from your main area to out-of-sight closet/attic/storage unit. A cold storage, as the OP called it. Then clean it once a year (or when you need more space) and get rid of things you haven't used.

I regretted throwing out a thing like that maybe once.

Don't do it to "insurance" items like a fire extinguisher or a drain snake.

Now, what happened to me more often was: losing a thing, doing an extensive search for it, not finding it, buying a replacement, and then finding the original item the day after.

	▲	theshrike79 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		We did this when we were moving. We rented a storage unit, took all of our stuff that wasn't immediately in use there. Then we did the main move (a LOT less stuff to move) and kept the storage unit for a bit over a year, going there to grab stuff as needed. After that we sold, donated and/or threw away pretty much everything in there. So much useless crap we were bringing along "just because".