Getting up the nerve to throw everything out (cold turkey) is the answer.

I can offer a little bit of insight about that...

Many years ago I lived out in the boonies, two miles from the nearest paved road, 15 miles from the nearest fire service area. So it was somewhat of a shock when my wife and I returned from the laundromat to find a smoldering pile of ashes where our house had been. (Don't feel sorry about the house -- the property value probably went up 20% when the house burned down.) So there I am, sitting there in my snow plow truck, everything I owned in the whole world literally up in smoke except for two garbage bags full of clean laundry.

Being an organized sort of person, I sat down and made up a list of the things I would have to buy immediately just to keep on going, figured I could borrow a couple thousand dollars from my mother to somehow see me through. Imagine my surprise when the total list came to less than $40. A razor, couple toothbrushes, a pair of shoes (I was wearing heavy winter boots)... spent the night with friends, next morning rented a furnished apartment, and never, ever, not even one time, missed any of the things that were gone.

It was an amazingly effective lesson to me about what is and is not important.

If the same thing were to happen to me tomorrow -- I would replace my TiVo and my empeg (but wouldn't lose any sleep over having lost them) and the rest of my stuff I would buy new ones only as I needed them.

tanstaafl.