You’re ready to use your stuff, you’re excited, and you’ve given yourself permission, but why can’t you do it? Perhaps the reason is Show Pony Summer Series Method #6: What’s The Problem? Perhaps you don’t yet have what you need to use your stuff. Let me walk you through a few examples of how figuring out the problem helped me start using my stuff.  

I had a beautiful hydro flask water bottle that I never seemed to reach for. It was the nicest bottle I owned, kept all my drinks super cold, but I didn’t ever reach for it. So I asked, ‘What’s the problem?’ I didn’t like the wide mouth. When I went to drink I often spilled, I prefer drinking from a straw, I didn’t like the huge wide mouth. So I went to fix the problem by buying a lid with a straw attachment. Now you won’t see me sipping from anything else. It’s my workhorse, I use it every day and have never drank more water. Seriously I leave it at work and drink at least 2 litres of water a day. Straw for the win!

I had a beautiful bracelet that was dangly, and delicate and all things sophisticated, but I never wore it. What’s the problem I asked? I could never get it fastened. After 5 min of struggling with it, twisting myself into knots to get it on, I would put it back in the box. What did I need? An extension to make it easier to get on. I bought an extension and now I wear it all the time, I even wore it on my wedding day. Once I could easily put it on myself it became a regular item.

My fabulous, functional, fancy Timbuktu backpack sat in the closet instead of going on adventures. I never reached for it even though it was grey and goes with everything and is the perfect size. What’s the problem? It was from a company and had an ugly company patch on the front. I loved the backpack but didn’t like the advertising, or the questions that would come with using it (It was a Google patch, don’t ask). What did I do? I bought an iron patch, off Etse, on a night shift (I remember because my coworker helped me choose), covered it up and it’s become my workhorse. Seriously, this thing has been to Paris, England, Ireland and all over Vancouver.

I never seemed to light my candles or use my bath bombs. I knew I wanted to set a mood or relax after a long day, so why was I not lighting them? I asked myself ‘what’s the problem?’ The location! I didn’t have everything I needed in one spot. My matches were not stored close to my candles. When I spotted the candles and was inspired to light them I would think about digging out matches and skip it. To fix this I found a convenient place for my matches near my candles and now it’s easy peasy. Another common problem is storing your bubble bath or bath bombs out of the bathroom and not at the ready for when the mood for a bath strikes!

When it comes to using your stuff I stick to the method that it shouldn’t require a credit card. You already have more than you need, you just need permission to use it. However, today is the one exception. If you need to buy something small to fix a problem with an item, that’s an OK time to buy. All of the items I purchased to make my items work for me were not expensive, and definitely cheaper than the cost of the item. I figured out the problem, decided on the solution and bought the one thing that would solve it.

Do any of your items have problems? Can you think of an item’s problem you can fix with an easy addition? Imagine how much more you could use this item if you fix this small problem! Share below what you discover!

Photo credit Jen Newman Photography