Falls Church, VA

I admit it – I think about what I’m going to sell on a daily basis.

I’ll often look around my room with an eye towards identifying what I do not use, what I can get rid of, what I can sell, what I should give to someone else that would use it more.

It is an obsession.

Buying things is difficult. Every buying decision goes through a painstaking process of initial interest, writing it on “the list”, in-depth research, careful deliberation, a pause, review of deliberation output based on new feedback, then a momentary flash of enlightenment followed by quick purchase. Of course, if it will be consumed quickly the thought process is a bit shorter than something that will be sit in my room and my life, open to my peering eyes.

This drawn-out process is necessary because I know the pangs to sell it will come shortly afterward, so everything bought needs to be carefully thought-out.

Anything I contemplate buying goes on my perpetually updated To Buy list, whatever its current status on the meandering path through my mind, with an estimated timeframe or desired purchase date. The list usually only consists of “practical & probable” items, devoid of the mere dreams that may ocupy others’ thoughts. The key to the list is that by putting it on the list and requiring some timeframe to pass before purchase, it keeps it out of my mind and limits the impulsive and unfortunate waste of my income and time.

I’ll save the psychoanalayis for another day.

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Oddly, anything I think of selling goes on the same list, with the relevant possible avenues of disposal noted.

What’s on your to buy list? What do you have for sale?