This Simple Rule Will Keep You From Buying Stuff You Don't Need

Flickr / Rob HollandNot buying things you don't need is much easier said than done.

Luckily, blogger Bridget from Money After Graduation has a simple guideline that helps her exercise a little more control: The 45-Minute Rule.

"If you will not use an item for a least 45 minutes per day, you do not need to own it," Bridget says.

The rule, the origin of which she can't remember, and which doesn't apply to things like food or toiletries, is handy both for buying ("How often will I really wear these novelty sunglasses?") and closet purging ("Oh wow, I don't remember the last time I watched this DVD").

As Bridget tells it:

You'd be surprised by what items you use for way more than 45 minutes per day: your furniture, television, coffeemaker. And you might be surprised at what you don't: DVDs you've already watched, a fancy food processor, etc. Once I started looking at things, I couldn't believe how much I owned, or rather how much I wanted, that wouldn't serve any real purpose in my home.

45 minutes a day works out to 11 full days per year. And when you put it that way, it seems obvious: If you're getting less than two weeks of use out of it per year, it probably isn't worth your money.

H/t Rockstar Finance.