So you just set up that new DVD player you purchased. You test it out and everything looks great. Actually, it looks better than great because you also decided to buy those high quality audio/video cables as apposed to the inexpensive ones that came with the DVD player. It’s time to sit back and watch your favorite movie. But first you want to quickly clean up from the DVD installation. You think to yourself “What should I do with those audio/video cables that I didn’t use?”. I better keep them. So you go ahead and put them in the box labeled ‘extra cables’ along with the other five or six identical cables already in there.

How often do we experience this scenario in our lives? It might not be with audio/video cables. It may be with those little hex wrenches that come with ‘some assembly required’ items. Or maybe it’s the extra bolts or screws which are left over from those ‘some assembly required’ items. Better yet, is the old DVD player now packed away somewhere in a box in the garage just in case the new player goes out? I mean the old DVD player still works just fine right?

The point is, why do we find it so hard to let these items go? Why do we have to keep all of these ‘odds and ends items’, and save things which we already have multiple backups of in the first place? Why are we letting all this extra stuff get in our way and allowing it to cause us stress and anxiety every time we trip over it in the garage, or can’t find what we’re looking for because of all the little wrenches and nuts and bolts in the drawer?

Most of us are guilty of having just in case items. Sometimes it’s simpler to just throw it in a drawer or store it in the garage as apposed to making the effort to donate the item or simply just dispose of it. It will take a conscience effort to break the instinct to keep everything we have whether it’s needed or not. Trust me when I say it feels liberating to rid yourself of these items. You no longer feel imprisoned to manage and keep track of all this extra stuff just in case. Start with one room in your house, or a closet, or just a drawer. Go through it with the intention of ridding yourself of the just in case items. I know, it’s hard, so be strong. You will be happy you did!

In closing, I want you to be aware that Just In Case has a twin sibling who is just as good when it comes to making us accumulate stuff we really don’t need or things that simply just get in our way. His name is ‘I Might Need It‘.