Sequestration and Denial

What I really need to do now is to identify all the things I really don't need and then get rid of them.

Really.  What do you actually need?

I get up in the morning and use my toiletries...I'll spare you the details.
I grab something really quick to eat...not cooked...
When I leave I have some kind of bag with my computer.
Go to work using my car, and once there I need coffee.  (This work stuff will be replaced by going to school, but it should look pretty much the same.)
Eat lunch, which I may have brought and is usually stored or packaged in something disposable.
After work I go home.
Walk...need clothes for some kind of exercise...which I do less frequently than I should.
Rehearsal...uses my computer and whatever printed stuff comes with the show.
No rehearsal...reading books from the library or on my iPad from the library...in my chair.
Dinner if at home is rarely at the table...which may not be good but it's what it is.
Sometimes I sit in the chair on the balcony and enjoy the outdoors.
I use the internet at home.
Golf in the summer.
Travel sometimes....sometimes its camping.

I have a house full of stuff that I mean to use, that I want to use, that I may have used once...but really, all I need is the stuff to do the things above.

Wanna buy some stuff?

Because a lot of the stuff you have is there because you think you should have it, not because you use it or need it.  I have a piano and a guitar...I like using them, but I don't.  I have a tv...but I really don't use it.  I have an ironing board...well, you get the idea.

But I want to use these things.  I think I should use these things. 

What are the things that you own and don't use?  I bet there's a lot of them.  And you keep them because you might use them some day...and pretty soon you think you need a 2,500 sf house to keep all the stuff that you might use because you should.  It's a kind of denial.

Not that a big house isn't nice.  Space is nice.  It's a luxury.  It's luxurious.  I wouldn't mind having space, but it would be nice for it to be more spacious because there was less in it.

Our stuff also provides some of our sense of identity.  When someone comes into my home, they can see who I am (or who I wish to be) by looking at all the stuff that is in my home.  When I move through my home my sense of who I am is reinforced...by the bookshelves and the art and the clutter.  All of it defines me in a way that is comforting.  If it were all gone, would I notice?  I think so.

Now to find the balance.  How much stuff do I need to have in order to have an identity while still clearing enough space to have a sleeker life?