Everyone needs an extra pair of tennis shoes, right?
It only makes sense.
Right?
Right.
Yard work, muddy camping trips, the (very real) threat of falling off the boat while on a fishing trip. Life happens, and it’s good to have an extra pair of tennis shoes.
But what about an extra extra pair?
Every time I buy new tennis shoes I feel like I’ve made a HUGE purchase. Like, comparable to buying a car or a house. Part of that is because my frugality doesn’t exactly match my extra-wide, high-arched footsize. Cheapo workout shoes aren’t worth it. (Especially since I’ve actually been working out.)
As I was getting our gameroom back in order after the summer, I had to work on the Sea of Shoes in there. And that was when I realized I now had two extra pairs of tennis shoes. No, this didn’t occur to me when I bought my new shoes and started wearing them instead of my old (but not old OLD) ones.
But as I filled up the shoe-shelf (a CONTAINer), I realized my space available hadn’t increased with the purchase of new shoes.
Duh.
Only the number of shoes in my house increased.
Double duh.
Oh, don’t worry, I came up with all sorts of scenarios where I’d be glad to have that extra, extra-nasty pair.
But then I realized that in all of the time when my now-old pair was my new pair, I never once cried over not having an extra extra pair.
Which means I don’t need to keep the extra extra pair.
Extra is fine. Excess isn’t.
Does even the thought of decluttering overwhelm you? Sign up for my newsletter and get my reality-tested decluttering solutions delivered to your inbox for free.
--Nony