It’s amazing what we’ll do when something is free. We’ll stand in line for an hour for a free burrito or Italian ice. We’ll buy tickets to sports events we wouldn’t otherwise attend because there’s a free trinket involved. We’ll pay hefty fees to enter running races in large part to get an ill-fitting “free” T-shirt cluttered with sponsor logos and/or a medal that will go into a box and be forgotten the day after the race.

Sometimes the lure of a free knickknack is enough for us to subscribe to a magazine, which not only creates the clutter of a knickknack but also the ongoing clutter of magazines we don’t need or want. We go out of our way to accept “buy-one-get-one-free” (BOGO) offers when usually we don’t need more than one of the item and sometimes not even one.

As I’ve purged clutter, I’ve discovered much of the clutter I received for free but never used. There are the never-worn free T-shirts, never-displayed ballpark giveaways, and never-used free product samples or the so-called “premium items” received for subscribing to a magazine.

When it comes to “free” clutter, just say no. That free clutter is costly, taking up time, space, and focus.

Over the years, I’ve participated in a number of endurance sports races – running events, triathlons, obstacle races, stand-up paddleboard events – and I’ve often turned down the free T-shirt. Most of the time the shirt is a generic, ill-fitting, unisex shirt cluttered with sponsor logos on the back. I also decline the “goody bag” since it’s usually a sack full of advertisements and paper. Occasionally there’s something useful buried amid the clutter – like a packet of sunscreen or an energy gel – but I find it’s rarely worth the time to go through the clutter. Inevitably I feel like Charlie Brown on Halloween, hoping for candy but getting a rock.

I’ve learned that if the race itself isn’t worth the entry fee from a strictly experience standpoint, it’s not going to be worth it because of the T-shirt, goody bag of advertising, and a finisher’s medal or trinket.

The ballpark freebie is the brainchild of Bill Veeck, the Hall of Fame baseball owner who from the late ’40s to early ’80s owned the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns (now Baltimore Orioles) and the Chicago White Sox (twice). Veeck, who died in 1986, pretty much created what’s now known as sports marketing. He introduced names on the backs of uniforms (so fans could identify players), planted the iconic ivy on the walls of Chicago’s Wrigley Field (his father was once Cubs president), was the first to shoot off post-game fireworks, and believed in adding value to the ballpark experience. (His son, Mike, has introduced similar media-generating promotions as a minor league baseball team owner. Mike and I even wrote a business motivational book together years ago.)

Unfortunately, the ballpark giveaway is now a clutter giveaway. When in doubt, say no to free stuff. Most everyone knows to ignore the clipboard-wielding marketers at shopping malls and sporting events looking to “give” us something in exchange for signing up for another credit card.

But why take free paper handed to you on the street? Or commit to something because of a “free” T-shirt or knickknack?

If something isn’t worth buying for the experience or value it provides in its own right, it will not be worth it because of the “free” item thrown in as incentive.