What’s the cost of keeping stuff stuff around vs discarding it and buying it back again?
When you have some infrequently-used items, you have to decide between keeping them around (default, typically) or discarding them and buying them again later when you need them.
If you keep them around, you clearly lose use of some of your space. Suppose you keep these in your house / apartment. The cost of keeping them around is then proportional to the amount of either surface area or volume they take up. Volume is the appropriate measure to use especially if you have dedicated storage space (like closets) and the items permit packing / stacking. Otherwise, surface area is a more appropriate measure, since having some item on a table kind of prevents you from using the space above that table. The motivation for assigning cost like this is simple: you could (in theory) give up the items that take up a certain size, live a house that is smaller by exactly that amound, and save on the rent differential.
The main levers are:
the only maybe non-obvious one is whether you think 2d or 3d the fair measure. 3d gives you a lot more space (since items are not cubic, and they typically take up space on one of their long sides, so they take up a higher fraction of surface area than volume). In my experince it’s hard to stack too many things while still retaining access to them so I weigh the 2d cost more.
cost (per sqft) of real estate in your area
how expensive the item is
how long before you expect to need the item again
There’s some nuance here like perhaps having an item laying around has higher cost than just the space it takes up because it contributes to an unpleasant sense of clutter. On the other hand, having the item “at the ready” is perhaps worth an immediacy premium on top of the alternative scenario of having to order and wait for it when the need arises. We are also ignoring that when you discard and rebuy, you end up with a brand new item, and potentially in some cases you can either gift or sell your old item, which yields some value to yourself and/or others. I think on net these nuances nudge in the direction of “discard and rebuy” vs what the math itself suggests.
I made a spreadsheet to do the math for some examples here, so far it seems like for some typical items I checked (such as a ball or balloon pump) you should sell and rebuy. For very expensive items that pack away easily (like a snowboard) you probably want to hang onto them.
What’s the cost of keeping stuff stuff around vs discarding it and buying it back again?
When you have some infrequently-used items, you have to decide between keeping them around (default, typically) or discarding them and buying them again later when you need them.
If you keep them around, you clearly lose use of some of your space. Suppose you keep these in your house / apartment. The cost of keeping them around is then proportional to the amount of either surface area or volume they take up. Volume is the appropriate measure to use especially if you have dedicated storage space (like closets) and the items permit packing / stacking. Otherwise, surface area is a more appropriate measure, since having some item on a table kind of prevents you from using the space above that table. The motivation for assigning cost like this is simple: you could (in theory) give up the items that take up a certain size, live a house that is smaller by exactly that amound, and save on the rent differential.
The main levers are:
the only maybe non-obvious one is whether you think 2d or 3d the fair measure. 3d gives you a lot more space (since items are not cubic, and they typically take up space on one of their long sides, so they take up a higher fraction of surface area than volume). In my experince it’s hard to stack too many things while still retaining access to them so I weigh the 2d cost more.
cost (per sqft) of real estate in your area
how expensive the item is
how long before you expect to need the item again
There’s some nuance here like perhaps having an item laying around has higher cost than just the space it takes up because it contributes to an unpleasant sense of clutter. On the other hand, having the item “at the ready” is perhaps worth an immediacy premium on top of the alternative scenario of having to order and wait for it when the need arises. We are also ignoring that when you discard and rebuy, you end up with a brand new item, and potentially in some cases you can either gift or sell your old item, which yields some value to yourself and/or others. I think on net these nuances nudge in the direction of “discard and rebuy” vs what the math itself suggests.
I made a spreadsheet to do the math for some examples here, so far it seems like for some typical items I checked (such as a ball or balloon pump) you should sell and rebuy. For very expensive items that pack away easily (like a snowboard) you probably want to hang onto them.
The spreadsheet is here, feel free to edit it (I saved a copy) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oz7FcAKIlbCJJaBo8XAmr3BqSYd_uoNTlgCCSV4y4j0/edit?usp=sharing