Notes on Letting Go: A Phone, a Keyboard, a Cushion, a Water Tank...

This past week, I logged seven discarded items in a Notion table. The habit lets me look back clearly at things that once sat in every corner of my home.

1. A broken keyboard from a friend

When I went back to Chongqing last month, Lao Yang, who loves browsing flea markets, gave it to me.

He said at the time, "There's something a bit off with this keyboard. Take it home and tinker with it."

I tried it at home, and sure enough it was broken. I couldn't fix it either.

So a kind gesture turned into a gift I couldn't use. A bit of a shame.

But because the gold switches on this keyboard felt so good, I bought a brand-new one of the same model.

I once thought about keeping the broken one, so if the new keyboard ever broke, I could swap in parts.

But then I thought, these days it's rare to actually wear something out. And even if it did break, most people wouldn't think of repairing it first.

Maybe it's because my job involves a lot of repair work that I think about "spares" like that.

But in the end, I'm never really going to fix a broken keyboard.

So I threw it out after all. Even though it was broken, I'm still sincerely grateful to Lao Yang for the thought.

2. A retired Decathlon backpack

This Decathlon backpack was actually pretty good: 20 liters, 89.9 yuan when I bought it.

Apart from being a bit dirty, it was in perfect shape when I let it go.

I used to carry it out all the time, because I always needed to bring tools.

A while ago I decided 20 liters wasn't enough, so I switched to a new 25-liter backpack.

After that it just sat in a corner unused. I thought it over and decided to let it go.

3. A new seat cushion that sat around for six months

This was a brand-new seat cushion that had been sitting in my home for more than six months.

I figured: if I hadn't used it in six months, I probably wouldn't use it in the next year either.

It took up way too much space, so I just opened it and swapped it in for the old cushion, then threw out the packaging and the old cushion together.

I wrote about the details a few days ago, if you're interested.

4. The water tank from my Xiaomi S1 water dispenser

This Xiaomi water dispenser is one of the appliances I use most, and I love it.

It's small, doesn't take up space, and gives me hot water anytime.

It originally came with a 2-liter tank on the back, but to save myself filling it every day, I took it off and connected a hose straight to a big water jug. So the tank has been sitting unused, for about a year now.

If I didn't use it in a year, I probably won't use it next year either.

So I threw it out too.

5. Bike inner tubes left over from an upgrade.

I love cycling.

I bought my bike last summer, and so far I've upgraded it only once: new tubes and tires.

The tubes and tires I took off were actually fine. I'd thought that if the new ones ever failed, the old ones could fill in for a while.

But in reality, when I really did get a flat later, I put in another new tube, not the old one.

Inner tubes are cheap, ten or twenty yuan apiece. As for tires, unless they get a big gash, small damage doesn't affect riding at all.

So keeping them wasn't really about having spares. It was more that I couldn't bring myself to throw them out.

In the end I threw out the tubes.

The tires, you ask? During my last move I shoved them under the bed. I don't see them day to day, so they haven't gone yet.

But it really is time to deal with them. You might see them in next week's post.

6. Sony XC

This is a small Japanese-market phone that can do a little of everything, but nothing particularly well.

It sat on my computer desk for a year, mainly to hold my third SIM card.

Recently I bought a Redmi Turbo 4 Pro as a backup phone, so the Sony was officially out of a job.

So I listed it on Xianyu. I'd bought it for 100 yuan, and to my surprise it sold for 250.

Do the math, and it actually earned me a few jiao a day.

7. Decathlon RCR helmet.

This was my second helmet. I bought it for 599.9 yuan and wore it for a year.

This July I switched to a new helmet with a cooler look, so this one was left sitting around.

I don't like switching between two helmets, and my younger brother rides too, so I gave it to him.

This helmet has MIPS protection, so it's safer.

Better for it to keep being useful for my family than to gather dust at my place.

After Letting Go

Dealing with one item a day actually gave me a full day to hesitate over whether to really throw it out.

But in practice, I didn't agonize much when I dealt with them.

Most of these things had one thing in common: they still worked.

That's right, they weren't broken. They'd just ended up unused for one reason or another.

And the only reason I hadn't dealt with them was the feeling that "it'd be a waste to throw them out."

But think about it: isn't leaving them unused at home a waste too?

They take up space and give nothing back.

Throwing them out or passing them on frees up space, and lets them be useful again somewhere else.

Once you actually let them go, you'll find it isn't nearly as hard to accept as you imagined.

You might even forget about it the next day. After all, you hadn't used it in a long time.

So anything you haven't touched in more than six months (seasonal items aside) is worth thinking about letting go.

If something has gone unused for six months for a special reason, because you just can't use it right now, then the things that have gone unused for more than a year, clothes you haven't worn included, are almost always being kept only because you "can't bring yourself to throw them out."

In that case, let them go where they belong.

If you haven't used it in more than a year, you really can let it go.