GOLDEN RULES

Some possessions are wealth Some possessions are a waste of money

Learn to distinguish between them

Bursting cupboards, empty bank accounts, big credit card debts, repeated trips to Bummings to look at storage solutions, going on ‘‘shopping’’ trips when you don’t actually needing anything, and owning items like clothing and kitchen appliances you barely use are all warning signs.

But needing to hire space to keep stuff in is many instances the neon-lettered king of all warning signs.

AA Insurance’s interest was in whether people had enough insurance to cover those possessions.

My interest was in what was being stored, and how long it was stored for.

This was the list: Furniture/ household items (67 per cent), sports equipment (34 per cent), tools and equipment (30 per cent), baby/kids gear (9 per cent), vehicles (6 per cent), documents, fabric, art, coin collection and movie props (13 per cent).

Six in 10 of these people had had stuff in storage for more than a year.

It’s very a very human trait to find it hard to part with stuff you’ve bought.

It’s explained by ‘‘sunk cost fallacy’’.

When you spend money on something like furniture, it can seem to be more sensible to keep paying smaller amounts of money to keep it, than it is to sell it for less than you paid. But it is a fallacy. Owning too much stuff leaves you financially drained, low on savings and investment.

It is better to be rid of it, and learn the lesson to keep your money for spending on the important things.

Having enough stuff, and the right stuff, is a form of wealth.

Good clothes are wealth to someone who has to earn a living, for example, but having uber-fashionable clothing is frittering.

Having a car is, for many, unavoidable.

Having too much car, or a driveway jammed with many of them, is burning money.

Bikes are wealth to the father who wants to take his daughter on a pheasant-spotting trip around Cornwall Park at the weekend, but having top-end bikes you could compete in the Tour de France on is a waste.

Paying to store clobber is often a waste of money.