Dear Car Dealers: I Don’t Want a “Free” T-shirt with your Logo
This is part of my series on Decluttering Mental Models.
Two years ago, I bought a used minivan. After I signed the paperwork and got the keys, the salesman said, “OK last thing: let’s get your T-shirts!” No joke, they had a whole bunch of shelves with T-shirts, silkscreened with the car dealer’s logo, in every imaginable size.
I politely declined, and the salesman gave me that fake “You hurt my feelings” look which perturbed me. I mean, I had just barely spent thousands of dollars on a minivan, and now you’re offended that I won’t be a walking billboard for you??? Seriously, I’m happy to buy things that I actually need, like a minivan that won’t lose power when the temperature exceeds 100° F, but don’t expect me to provide free advertising for you.
Don’t try to guilt me into storing clothes that I honestly will never wear. I have enough stuff, and I’m trying to reduce what I have. Don’t make things worse.
(And for those of you who say, “Just accept the shirt and donate it,” I have some bad news for you. Nobody who shops at Goodwill will buy a silkscreened shirt with a car dealer’s logo on it. So this T-shirt will end up recycled/trashed.)
And don’t even get me started on dealer decals and stickers. I don’t want your logo on my car or my license plate frame!
More Decluttering Mental Models:
Top 10 Favorites
- How I answer the question: “What if I need this later?”
- “The Container strategy” will simplify your decluttering
- Selling clothes is for suckers (unless you earn $15/hour)
- Wait 48 hours before buying stuff
- 21 questions to ask before you buy
- The radical way to measure wealth, part 1 and part 2
- We’re trained to be dissatisfied with what we have (and how to fix this)
- Clear clutter by zoning your home
- How screen time kills your motivation to declutter
- Dear car dealers: I don't want a "free" T-shirt with your logo
Get started
- Clear clutter by zoning your home
- How I answer the question: “What if I need this later?”
- “The Container strategy” will simplify your decluttering
- Hold each item and ask, “Does this spark joy?”
- When the “Does this Spark Joy?” fails you, ask these 6 questions
- Create your “Discard by Feb. 2022” box
- Decluttering yearbooks? Ask these 8 questions first
Shopping
- 21 questions to ask before you buy
- Wait 48 hours before buying stuff - version 1 and version 2
- How a grocery shopping list saves me time, money, and pounds
Manage your clothes
- Selling clothes is for suckers (unless you can earn $15/hour)
- Dear Dude with too many T-shirts: no one wants to buy them—just recycle/trash them
- Don't be like my friend Giorgio with his 400 Hawaiian shirts
- None of my clothes "spark joy"—so what do i get rid of?
Happiness & satisfaction
- Limit pleasurable things so they don’t lose their novelty
- We’re trained to be dissatisfied with what we have (and how to fix this)
- Craving never stops and my potato chip addiction
- Reminder: happiness levels stay consistent
Get motivated
- Want to boost your motivation to declutter? Immerse yourself in decluttering videos, podcasts, & books!
- How screen time kills your motivation to declutter
- Imagine your ideal home… Imagine all the clutter is gone…
- Feeling unmotivated? Declutter with a 5-minute time box
Manage your money
- The radical way to measure wealth, part 1 and part 2
- Save money by controlling aspirational identities
- I wasted so much money starting projects (and how I fixed it)
Manage consumption spirals
- How consumption spirals work
- Buying a house led to an enormous consumption spiral
- How craving completeness drives my consumption
Shift your Paradigm
- Change your environment, change your consumption
- 3 thought experiments to adopt a decluttering mindset
- Your home is not a storage unit for other people's crap!
- Before you buy stuff, do this little mental exercise
- Less space, less stuff
- That’s right, you and I pay for the privilege of seeing viagra ads
- Your home is an expensive container for your stuff. What’s your cost per sqft?