Nigel – Priceless Experiences… Worthless Stuff

It’s estimated that roughly 2.4 trillion euros is spent globally each year on insuring our possessions. Two-point-four trillion! You can be certain that nowhere near this amount of stuff is stolen or broken annually — if it were, insurance companies would be collapsing all over the place!

The truth is, you’d probably be shocked at how little monetary value your possessions actually hold. I certainly was. We’ve been carefully going through everything we own and listing it on eBay or Kleinanzeigen (a local selling platform in Germany) and let me tell you — nothing destroys your sense of being a “person of substance” quite like discovering your must have gadget, is now worth the price of a McDonalds Cheeseburger!

The process of selling everything is both traumatic and liberating. “Can we throw away your Bachelor thesis, Nigel?” Noms asked a couple of months ago. I was horrified. I poured blood, sweat and far too many late nights into that thing — hundreds of pages, beautifully bound, and written before the invention of Microsoft Word, I might add. But as Noms gently pointed out, I have never re-read it. Neither has she. Neither will anyone else… ever. So yes, it had to go. And when it did, I felt an unexpected sense of release — one less dusty relic for Noms to handle when I eventually slip off this mortal coil

So far, we’ve sold only about 30% of our belongings. A quick bit of maths tells me that when we’re finally done, we might realise around 15,000 euros. That’s not a lot of money for an entire lifetime of possessions. (Naturally, this does not include my precious bicycles. They are being stored – OBVIOUSLY)

Every item I’ve given away, sold, or recycled brings a surprising sense of achievement and relief. De-cluttering is genuinely enjoyable — even if occasionally a small emotional wrench. And yes, one day I might need that item again… but if that day comes, I can almost certainly buy it second-hand on eBay for the same price, or cheaper. In the meantime, I don’t have to store it, maintain it and of course – insure it.

Letting go of possessions has reminded me of a simple truth: the things we cling to the hardest are rarely the things that matter most. And sometimes, clearing a shelf clears a little space in the mind too.