There is another friend who has bought three super-sized paper boxes, put them on the corridor outside her apartment, and is determined to fill them up with stuff that should be thrown away also by the end of September.

She has sneaked into the corridor several times in the middle of the night and got back something that she put into the box during the day.

I know I have many unnecessary things because I buy too often online. Somehow I have developed the habit of logging onto an online store and looking around it, when I get home and huddle myself up under my heartwarming blanket in the sofa. I do it especially when I feel much pressure.

I have more than one friend who buys at least one item every day. I am just a little better. Our online store bills are probably our biggest secrets. I have always been scared at the thought of telling someone about it, until my cousin told me hers several months ago. The number she said really made me feel better.

It is easy to persuade oneself that we are using shopping or maybe hoarding to fight off the loneliness in the evenings. Many scholars have said that consumerism arises in our times because people feel isolated.

It is also easy to say that we hesitate to throw things away because we are not confident of the future, so we cling to the past.

But confidence can be the explanation to almost anything. One of the best-selling books online here has long been a self-help psychology guide titled How can you prove that you are not a psyche? The fact that so many people buy it shows only a few are perfectly confident of themselves.

Maybe it is really difficult to stop buying and to throw away stuff. Maybe they are as difficult as some other things that look like much bigger issues in life. But one can only get in life what one works for. Time for me to treat these "smaller issues" seriously.