Do You Suffer From (SAD) Stuff Attachment Disorder?

Photo Credit: paalia

Have you made the smart resolution to work on becoming debt free in 2011? If so, congratulations!

As many of you know, making the resolution is just the beginning. Resolutions are easy to make, but unfortunately they’re even easier to break. I’ve broken resolutions myself as I’m sure you have too. In the beginning, you’re pumped up about your decision to do whatever it is that you’ve decided to do, but once life, time constraints, and a lack of discipline get in the way, that motivation wanes and we find ourselves giving up on our desire to complete our once STILL important goals.

Your goals do not become less important, which is why your situation will generally get worse if you give up. That’s why I will continue to do what I can to keep you motivated. Not to mention the fact that I need to stay motivated myself in order to reach my own weight loss goals — a struggle I have given up on many times before. ๐Ÿ™

One of the things you have to remind yourself of is the initial reason you decided to make the resolution. There must have been a reason and that reason came from you realizing that “something” needed to be fixed or changed in order to make “something” better in your life.

Your Resolution to Become Debt Free is Very Possible!

So stick with it. YOU CAN DO IT! In 2008, we stuck to our desire to become debt free and it paid off more than we could have ever imagined. It will for you too.

If you have a mini emergency fund in place, have organized and figured out your financial position, the next step is to start attacking your debt with a vengeance. For some of us, in order to do that, we must find creative ways in which to make extra money, which is the topic of today’s post.

One of the things that seemed to keep us fired up in the beginning was our decision to let go of our stuff. Not an easy decision to say the least, but once we made it, our journey became so much easier.

  • We were able to knock out our debts much, much faster!
  • It inspired us to look for other ways to increase our snowball.
  • It taught us that our “stuff” was most of the reason we were in debt in the first place.
  • It introduced us to contentment, which was intoxicating, not to mention liberating.

Like many people out there (maybe even you), we suffered from Stuff Attachment Disorder, and it was SAD!. We attached an irrational amount of worth to our stuff which made it very difficult to part with it.

Do you have a lot of stuff? WAIT! Before you answer that, let’s start by defining A LOT OF STUFF as more than you actually need to live comfortably.

To illustrate my point, I want to give you an example. Have you ever watched the television show Clean House? What about Hoarders? Both shows deal on a psychological level with people who have problems letting go, and in doing so cause even bigger problems for their families. Your debt is doing the same thing to you and your family, even if you haven’t yet realized it.

They are faced with choices that mean they have to decide what’s more important — their stuff or their family. Still, they stubbornly give in, but by the end of the show, they end up experiencing that feeling of liberation and realize that they made the right decision. The decision to let go of their stuff is worth the end result and they seem to feel better about their decision to finally LET GO.

Of the people I have tried to help locally, the biggest struggle seems to be with letting go of their crap, even if that crap is costing them dearly.

So now I have to ask you.

What’s more important to YOU — getting out of debt and improving your financial situation or keeping the stuff that is giving you a false sense of security, stuff you can definitely do without?

Getting out of debt you say? AWESOME! That’s what I thought you would say. ๐Ÿ˜€

Now it’s time to go through your house with an extreme sense of urgency and decide what you’re willing to part with. DO IT! It feels wonderful, trust me! Let it go!

Now you’re ready to:

  • Sell some stuff on EBAY or CRAIGSLIST.
  • Have the mother of all yardsales.
  • Pay off as much debt as possible with the proceeds! WOOHOO!

It will give you your first taste of freedom — a taste that gets increasingly better with every debt you pay off. The taste is SWEET! If you are looking to gain momentum, this is one way to get the traction you need.

Do this and I guarantee you (if you really want to get out of debt), this will fire you up and give you a new level of intensity. For us, it ended up being a pivotal point AND the motivating force behind the toughest part of our debt free journey.

Make the choice. Choose your family and get out of debt in 2011! Sell your crap!

Need inspiration? Perhaps, Martin Luther King Jr (determination and resolve) and Oseola McCarty (frugality and contentment) can provide the inspiration you need to continue this hard, but worthy journey.

Good Luck! ๐Ÿ˜€

About Brad Chaffee

8 Responses to “Do You Suffer From (SAD) Stuff Attachment Disorder?”

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  1. Personally, selling my “stuff” does not work for me as I tend to hang onto it, thinking I might make some money from it, whether that be selling on eBay or at a yard sale. I know it won’t help me pay off debt, but if the goal is to get rid of stuff, then my best course of action is to load it up and take it to the nearest thrift store. And that’s even hard to do. I tend to drive the stuff around in my car for weeks! The other thing is I don’t know that my “stuff” holds much value. For example, I wear my at home clothes until they are pretty shabby and only worthy of being turned into rags. I quit having yard sales years ago… every once in awhile I get the thought that I should have one, but it’s just so much work and since I live in the boonies, not much traffic, although I do live on the main road and would probably get some visitors… naw, better to just donate it asap.

  2. You’re absolutely right about having to remember why we decided to have a goal, this will keep us moving towards it.

    And YES!!!! I have Stuff Attachment Disorder! I’ve started about 6 months ago going through my offices and started throwing stuff away that we didn’t use anymore. No more clutter.

    The only things I’ve been keeping are books but I do reference back to my library of books a lot.

    As for my house we get rid of things we don’t use every spring but that has been limited due to our don’t buy it if we don’t plan of using it. But there’s always something that was bought that wasn’t used that much.

  3. Jane Sanders says:

    Great advice. I think most people have way more stuff than they need. Most of it just takes up room in your house unused. Anything that can help you declutter and pay off your debt at the same time is a great move in my book.

    • Brad Chaffee says:

      exactly Jane! We’ve been working on this process since 2008 and can’t believe how easy it is to accumulate stuff. We recently TOTALLY purged MOST of our things and it was the best thing we ever did…besides becoming debt free that is. ๐Ÿ™‚

  4. Kiki says:

    Wow. There are so many disorders and a lot of them have the accronym of SAD. Probably because disorder starts with D. You do offer helpful advice ๐Ÿ™‚

    • Brad Chaffee says:

      LOL Yeah there are plenty of disorders to go around for sure. As far as I know I made this one up, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it actually existed, but I bet there is a more scientific name for it. ๐Ÿ™‚

  5. I love to get rid of “stuff.” I’m constantly looking around looking for stuff I can throw away, or sell on Craig’s List. My wife always gives me a hard time about my pricing…I price to sell so it will get out of my house. I get just as much enjoyment from getting rid of it as I do getting some cash. Thanks for the great article!

  6. I did suffer from SAD but it’s so easy to become detached when you get money in return that helps to pay down the debt! Selling on eBay for me was also a good lesson in value… You buy a $400 dress or a $600 pair of shoes and the reality is that you’re lucky if someone gives you $50 on eBay. I don’t define myself by the number of overpriced luxury goods I have anymore and my sales on eBay provided the hard slaps in the face I needed to really understand cost vs. worth.

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