A few weeks ago, my friend Melanie suggested that I should set a date and challenge myself (and other Second Life residents) to delete their entire inventory. We have too many old things. Dated things. Things we didn’t even open or wear. And in my case, too many (nice) things in general. The date to delete my entire inventory would be by January 1st, 2014, that’s just two days from now!!
I’m a wuss. I’m really nervous about it, and I want to do it cos I also can’t bear with the thought of possibly deleting something I might need or worst of all, something I might miss. I’ve blogged since 2007, my inventory could be ~300K like a few bloggers that I know, but it’s not, it’s under control. Currently I have ~76K. I’m doing okay with that number, and I don’t have anything older than 2011 (or 2010) in my inventory. But still, even things older than a year old, I simply don’t want to keep anymore, cos I know I’ve probably blogged them too many times already (or won’t ever wear again).
My biggest reason for wanting to do this challenge, is a fresh start. I want my blog to feature the latest, newest, etc., I really shouldn’t keep digging back into my inventory and wearing things that are a year or older. This will also help me showcase NEW designers, and NEWER releases, if I’m not falling back into my comfort zones of “old favorites.”
There are some things I won’t ever be able to delete, so Melanie and I came up with a way to cheat. We’ll have a list of things (let’s say it’s 10) that will survive the purge. For example, for me that is my Pink Fuel skin folder, my shape, my lashes, my body parts, my ao, those are my essentials. The rest? Not that attached. I might miss them, but they’re all replaceable. That’s the point of this challenge, to replace old favorites, with new favorites and showcase NEW things.
Do you think I should go through with this challenge? Will you join me? Is this crazy? Let me know, Second Life!!!
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I could do a massive purge if I just psych myself up I think but never all of it. I’m way too sentimental! I could do it with my alt maybe though. Most of her stuff is really dated and was free anyway, haha.
I wouldn’t delete your shoes and boots, especially your slink add ons. When you are creating an outfit to blog, you always need shoes. Also jewelry. Any type of accessory that you can use in a blog post that will highlight the outfit you are blogging, you know? You aren’t really blogging that item, but you are using it to pretty up the outfit, imo. And hair! Ugh. I can understand getting rid of things over a year old, but it seems like a real waste to get rid of perfectly good mesh hair. Why spend the money to replace perfectly good shoes/boots/accessories/hair?
Yes, Delete. I already started, my inventory goes back to 2006, there’s things I wouldn’t or couldn’t wear anymore. Like Quincy said, I’m keeping my SLink hands. & feet (and SLink shoes, I love them!) Good Luck 🙂
No, I couldn’t do an entire delete.. some items have too much meaning to be deleted. Even if maybe I don’t wear them for months it’s just comfy to know they’re there and I can access them at any time. I’d say really get rid of what you don’t need anymore.
I don’t think I could do an entire delete, but I’ve gotten really close. I’m a neat freak! When I go through and ‘clean’, I always just box anything I think I might want. I rename the box to include the date I boxed it. Then if I haven’t rezzed that box by the time my next cleaning spree comes around – delete.
I do always keep at least one layer outfit. There are those times when SL glitches right in the middle of changing clothes and just won’t let you wear mesh. Since I live in a community RP area, being naked isn’t really an option. Layers come in handy for those times.
No I could never delete everything. Too sentimental. I have a Willow Pack of hair Elika named for my avatar back in 2006 and a limited edition outfit Ginny Talamasca (Last Call) named for my avatar the same year. I have a custom made wedding ring Jackal Ennui made for my SL wedding to my rl husband, who I met in SL, which looks just like my rl wedding ring. I have things friends made for me, and some of those friends have since passed on in rl. These are not just things. They are fond memories. My avatar and her inventory are my life story over the past eight or nine years.
This seems silly and overtly dramatic.
Why not just throw everything into a folder labeled, “OLD THINGS” and keep a new batch of folders for the purpose of your blog? If it’s out dated then it’s out dated–toss it. If it’s not out dated, there’s no reason to toss it.
Let me clarify, I’m not against doing some spring cleaning, but this challenge is like burning your house down in real life just because you don’t want to dust it.
Is there a way to sort by date so that it’s easy to just delete old stuff?
Delete? DELETE? Delete is a dirty word that does not belong in the vocabulary of a fashionista. How can one ever catch up to Willow in the amount of stuff that one has acquired if one “Deletes”. My stuff is Precious to me.
Besides, if you like something and wear it, it is useful to you and there’s plenty of good non-mesh stuff out there. I even wear non-mesh hair now and then and you’l pry my G Field Willow packs from my cold dead avatar hands.
I can’t do an entire delete, because I have a feeling I would end up re-buying a lot of the shoes/hair/jewelry. Everything else though I may join you on. It would sure help me re-organize my closet. Because I know I will most likely not wear anything again I have already blogged. That means I am with you 85% of the way 🙂
A couple of years ago I started adding ‘YEAR’ folders to my category folders, e.g. 2013. I make a pass every now and then deleting old stuff I don’t wear.
My concern is the Outfits. I make them all the time and rewear them from time to time. The Outfits are seemingly difficult to organize. Outfits cannot be organized into folders in the Outfits panel. Outfit folders setup in inventory do not show in the Outfits panel. Awkward. Outfits seem most easily organized by naming conventions.
Removing inventory items can break Outfits. I see the possibilities for problems.
I think that would be a bit overboard! If you do it don’t forget your Donna Flora jewelry folder! That might be irreplaceable and I know you would miss it. What about setting a number like 20,000 and getting it down to that? That seems more reasonable. Don’t delete your slink add on shoes either!
Ive done it before long time ago it was actually nice, that is if you can afford to get new things after you do it. Which is something i cant do anymore to be honest lol! So GL!
I know several years ago there was concern about many avatars deleting things all at the same time because it put undue stress on the asset server. I’m not sure if that’s still true, but it’s something to consider. If you’re going to delete everything, consider doing the deletion over a week, rather than all in one day.
Honestly, I don’t see a point in going such a drastic route. Maybe I’d be willing to trash all casual outfits which have piled up by now, but even in such a limited wipe, I’d make exceptions for specific stuff for special occassions.
The tone of the post suggests to me that you aren’t entirely comfortable with the idea either. In such a case, I’d fear that I could easily lose all interest and joy in SL, if there’s the very likely thought of “if only I had item XYZ now…”.
Frankly, might just as well start on a new avatar and use that one for blogging. Same effect nfor showcasing, no inventory loss.
Very good point!
Nooo…. I can’t do it, my 40,000 plus things. I need them, those old primmy skirts and that ugly hair… for something!!! I am a sl hoarder. I know stuff is old and ugly… but… I just can’t do it cap’n!!!!!
I have started to categorize my inventory almost since I started in SL… always pretty organized and neat by garment… style and then color… now I have moved to year and I have made myself put all stuff older than 2013 in one folder. I will now start again for 2014 but most probably wont be as cluttered and when I have time to waste check the old folder for what else needs to go in the bin. Some items are still really doing well for their age and can compliment an outfit. Usually jewelry is harder to outdate and not finding nice original pieces is extremely hard.
Oh gawd nooooooooooooooooooo!
Still, mad props if you decide to go through with it. I can see the appeal of a blank slate, but I couldn’t do it myself!
Eeeek. Don’t do anything drastic that you might later regret. Having said that, if somethings there that you never wear, then why keep it? (Unless it has sentimental value like a few ladies have suggested)
I only have about 25k in Chantel’s inventory, and even then I find that too much for me to tolerate at times, lol.
Mistake.
Why not just make a new account? Go ahead. I challenge you to Test Drive what it’s like to have NOTHING. Start a brand new account in SL, and after one or two days of that, you will see if it’s truly folly or smart to delete your entire inventory. … What should do imho, is ARCHIVE your inventory (the things you don’t use that often). Bundle it up in boxes that easy to search. My inventory is twice the size of yours, and I am fully prepared almost any situation to the delight of all my friends.
i think its a good idea to delete old things and things never use I love my homes and such I think i would do like you said say I well keep a few things my very fav and make folders I so need to be more organized I have been doing very slowly but I see a good point on just deleting not sorting so much. we all have our favorite things and we know them well lol.. and just like RL well feel so much better after its all done. good luck all and happy inventory to all
Maybe for things you have that are transferable (gachas) put them up a yard sale for cheap then the income you receive from it goes to charity? It feels silly just to delete everything. I can’t even get myself to delete some of my favourite freebies from back when I started sl- so many things have a memory to them. Maybe I’m more sentimental then you? Who knows. To buy some of your basic essentials over again would be a little bit of a nightmare too. As anyone who seriously tried to create a good alt would know. Any wardrobe has staples needed, though I see your point about blogging new things… Keep slink hands, AOs/animations for such, top 10 hairs (I really like my hair inv personally xD), usual skin, lashes (some of these you listed I know), top 3 shoes (and the slink feet), good alphas (as some alphas that come with clothes are faulty for different AOs), anything that reminds you of something dear- somone above spoke of Donna Flora jewelry and I remember your post on that- keep those! And also house things, are you thinking if deleting everything rezzed on your property too? Sould save essencials in that too. Also if you have any pets (I have a KittyCatS cat roaming around my property and if I lost her I would be sad), keep pets. But long story short, make sure you really want to do this, keep more than 10 things, maybe 100-150 things would be perfectly sufficient instead? And anything transferable don’t just delete!
I’m going to roll with a New Years Inventory clean out and ditch everything except my accessories!
Thanks for the inspiration.
Challenge Accepted 🙂
Seems a bit silly to me. I’m all for going through and deleting anything really old, stuff you like but never wear, stuff you never even opened, freebies, that kind of thing. But deleting perfectly good stuff that you like and use? That seems like a not very wise thing to do to me. What’s the point? So you can showcase new things? You can do that anyway, without deleting an entire inventory!
These are digital things, for goodness sake. I can see deleting RL things but there is no need to delete an SL inventory. Just make a folder section and call it “Old Stuff” and put everything there, then make new folders for new stuff. Categorize and label things better so you know that you have blogged them. I make notes and take photos of my different clothing. It’s all a part of history and fascination to see how things change. Is the inventory limited?
AAAAAA!!! NOOOOO!!! lol Deleting old stuff you’ll never EVER wear? Yes, do it! I do have some older things that hold very good memories and I will never part with them. My wedding dress is one. Yes, it’s an old prim heavy Utopia gown from 3 years ago, but I married my husband in it (we’re an RL couple as well). So that ol’ thing has gotta stay lol.
It’s time consuming to go thru stuff. I guess that’s why peeps mass delete. All the L$ spent, I would not do it. But I have deleted or boxed lots of old stuff and its kind of sad, all those lindens down the drain. Now when I buy I try to think, is this really worth it? How much usage will I get out of it in the long run? Do I really love it or is it just a fad? Of course for a major SL change of prims to mesh then all bets are off lol.
No, I would not. Never. My inventory is a hopeless mess. I delete stuff often, but I don’t find enough time to organize it all. The sad fact is that my top folders is a lot of old stuff, since I had fewer items many years ago, and so I had more time to organize.
I have around 40 000 items and wish I could cut that down to 20 000. I am sure I would have 250 000 if I didn’t trash stuff. It does creep up on me. Those panic purges has made me loose some stuff I really wish I still had. The first gown I got who wasn’t free. A whole no copy kitchen from The Loft. Other stuff. My New Year Wish is that I don’t have to log into SL to sort inventory. I could do so much work on it then.
Some stuff is necessary for me to keep, so I can’t get rid of everything.
Could never delete everything but I do see the value in a clean out. So many items have improved in quality over the time I have been in sl, it seems silly to keep hold of old items when newer ones are so much better looking. However, some things do have sentimental value, even if you know you will never wear it again…a piece of jewelry, a special dress…also there are staples that you need in any avatar, things like animations, poses in particular never age really, jewelry often doesn’t seem dated though i admit these days I only buy jewelry that comes with color change options, i also like the idea of boxing and dating the box, if you haven’t been through it in six months or a year, then the stuff in the box should be deleted, i think skins and hair over a certain age can go, shoes made before alpha layer and so on… but there are also things made by designers/creators no longer in sl, truly irreplaceable… that i might be tempted to keep, this is so hard!