ding interest in ideas and pursuits that keeps one up and night and makes it worth leaping out of bed in the morning.
    * Recognize and Share Beauty – There is beauty in kindness. There is beauty in the unexpected smile of a stranger. There is beauty in the flower growing on the rubble of a war-torn district. Being able to recognize that beauty and share it with others always makes me happier.

Notice that none of those things directly involves tangible things. Money and high-tech gadgets might be extremely helpful in my pursuit of usefulness or sharing. But there’s no direct necessity for most of the stuff I had kicking around my house just a few years ago.

What belongings allow you to pursue that happiness?

Figuring out what I truly needed in order to pursue happiness was much easier once I figured out the things that made me happiest. As I went through my belongings I asked myself a few questions that made simple work of deciding what to keep and what to push away.

   1. When did you last use this?
   2. Can you find another one of these easily?
   3. Could somebody you know use this more than you?
   4. Would any of your relationships suffer if you got rid of this?
   5. Would you run back into a burning building to rescue this?

I enlisted the help of a trusted and mildly sarcastic friend to help me in my stuff-busting adventure. Just like shopping with somebody else’s money is fun, getting rid of another person’s stuff seems like a good time, too. At least she seemed to enjoy it! It was very helpful to have a friend nearby to cut through the fog of the inexplicable emotional attachments I had to some belongings. She also helped scan in a lot of the necessary but bulky paperwork I’d been towing around for years. Now that I had an idea of what made me happy it was easy to get rid of extra stuff. It had all gone from being a part of my life to just being stuff I lived near. I felt free.

What will you do with the rest?

If you don’t have friends willing to snap up your extra belongings, you might consider one of the following options:

    * Craigslist - Sell or give your stuff away to willing locals.
    * eBay - Sell your stuff.
    * Freecycle - Give your stuff away.
    * Yard Sale – Sell, Give, raffle. Up to you!

If you know of another website or have an idea I should add to the list of ways to get rid of extra stuff, drop me a note in a comment and I’ll update with it!

How much stuff do you need to feel happy?

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