I’ve already told you that one of my goals for 2012 is to waste less in order to save money. We’re already into the third week of January and I’m pleased to report that I’m doing pretty good! ;) I’ve made some great progress in wasting less in the kitchen (more on that next week) and have been doing pretty good at not purchasing more stuff.
One of the other things I’ve been doing to waste less is to get rid of stuff. Yes, you heard me right: I think that getting rid of stuff – stuff that you’ve paid hard-earned money for – is key to wasting less and saving money.
Don’t believe me? Here are five reasons that I think getting rid of stuff will help you save more by wasting less:
→ You’ll be disgusted at how much money you’ve wasted.
Image from Flickr
Go through your closets, drawers, and cabinets and throw away everything that you aren’t using and will not use in the next nine months. Be honest with yourself and admit that you really don’t even want to start/finish those craft projects you bought the supplies for a year ago.
While you’re doing it, keep a tally of how much you spent on all that stuff. (Feel free to not count the cost of anything that you really did get good use out of for awhile but isn’t serving a purpose anymore.)
Trust me, you will be absolutely disgusted at the amount of money you spent on things that you never used, and you’ll be seriously motivated to not waste money like that again.
During my recent cleanouts I found a bunch of birthday and Thanksgiving-themed ribbon that I had purchased at 90% off at the Target dollar aisle. Yeah, great deal, but it added up to a few dollars and I know that it’s been sitting in that drawer for at least three years. I donated almost all of it to Goodwill, knowing that if I haven’t used it in three years, the odds of me using it in the next three years are slim.
I’m super mad at myself for spending even just a few dollars on it, and the memory of that Goodwill donation is likely to quickly come to mind next time I’m faced with a 90% off sale on ribbon.
→ You’ll discover unfinished projects.
Feel like doing something creative or sprucing up a room or two? Do a major cleanout and you’re likely to find more than a couple of projects that you have most or all of the supplies for. Finish those projects – you’ll not have to spend any money and your desire to make something will have been met!
→ You won’t need to buy organizing containers.
Image from Michael's
This tip comes from my friend and Facebook fan Paula, who pointed out that by doing a good, honest decluttering before you try to start organizing, you will likely need fewer organizing containers and storage solutions. Why waste time organizing things that you’ll never use, and wasting money on storage solutions for those items? Get rid of stuff and you’ll likely save yourself a trip to the storage container aisle at Target!
→ You’ll know what’s in your stockpile.
How many times have you bought something at the store, only to come home and find that it was already in your pantry – just hidden behind so much junk that you’d never seen it! My friend Amy’s post reminded me of this today:
It seems I was rather ambitious on a shopping trip in the weeks before Christmas, because I found lots of unopened, unused baking supplies, in addition to duplicates that I never needed to purchase in the first place. Arg!
By getting rid of stuff, you’ll not only have more room to organize what you have, you’ll also have a great chance to visually survey everything that’s in your pantry so that you can hopefully recall whether or not you have something.
→ Your head will clear so you can make better use of what you have.
There is something powerful in getting rid of stuff that you know you will never use. Not to be overly dramatic, but having stuff in your home that you know you should use but in reality know you never will can really weigh a person down.
I can’t tell you how much more inspired to cook I felt when I finally got rid of the rice paper wrappers and rice noodles that I’d purchased three or four years ago in anticipation of a Japanese friend teaching me and a few other friends how to make spring rolls. That event never happened and the supplies have set in my pantry since then, taunting me every time I opened the door. (Yes, I’m being a little dramatic – but only a little!)
Image from Flickr
My friend Jen has encouraged people to minimize what doesn’t work in their wardrobe so that they can maximize what does. Oh, she is so spot on!
I have way too many clothes, and with that excess, I miss out on quickly putting together great outfits because I spend too much time weeding through things that are just “maybe’s.”
We have so much junk in our homes that’s taking up space in our heads and preventing us from being creative with the stuff that’s not junk! We put ourselves on a guilt trip for purchasing something that we didn’t use, and that guilt trip turns into an extended vacation when we keep the item in our home.
Those extended guilt trip vacations take up time in our lives – time that we could spend being joyfully thrifty and making wise use of our resources.
If the item doesn’t work or you can’t muster up the courage to use it for its original purpose, free yourself by getting rid of it. Don’t forget the memory of it – that memory will be powerful in keeping you from making similar mistakes again – but clear your head and start new!
Getting rid of stuff will save you money.
WIth my life getting busier (I’m eight months pregnant with baby #5!) and prices of just about everything rising, I’m focusing on ways to make better use of my money that require little time investment. While on the front end, getting rid of stuff does take a little bit of time and does feel a bit like you are throwing money away, ultimately, it saves money and time and is well worth the effort.
Have you found freedom and savings in getting rid of stuff? I’d love to hear where you’re at on this issue!
$1.25 for Lucerne (half gallon) at Safeway, Fri-Sun Only
I don’t know much about it yet, but a Facebook friend had the link for a free ebook posted yesterday, Organized Simplicy. Seems to fit right into this theme! This is definitely what our year is going to be about too.
http://www.amazon.com/Organized-Simplicity-ebook/dp/B004AM5IJW/ref=sr_1_sc_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1326836350&sr=8-2-spell
Wow, I’m shocked that it’s still free! We posted it to the Freebies section on the homepage yesterday but I didn’t think it would be free very long! I’ve skimmed it and it’s a great book so far!
It’s free on the NOOK, too. I just downloaded it.
I’m nesting with Baby #5 coming in the next few months, too, and working at getting rid of stuff and simplifying. It seems the more our family grows, the less each individual person needs…or at least I can’t keep up with managing it all. How many outfits do my kids really need when I am doing laundry every day? Cooking is more of a pleasure when my cupboards are not packed tight and I can get to what I need quickly. I’m also finding that by getting rid of things, we are able to feel like living in our current home is reasonable, even though we’ll have added 4 since we moved here. Less space taken up by stuff = more room for people without upsizing our mortgage. And I think you are absolutely right, the pain of the purging and realizing the money down the drain does make me think twice before bringing more stuff into the home.
Congrats on your baby, Rachel!
I, too, have been motivated to simplify as our family has grown. We are planning to stay in our house for a good amount of time and I will be honest that it is starting to feel tight at times, so I’ve been purging in an effort to make it feel bigger (I even got rid of my piano – just don’t have time to play it anymore and it was taking up so much space in our living room!). We’ve really started to thing more long-term about what we bring home, knowing that even if we don’t have any more kids, they are going to be getting *bigger*. It’s made me more thoughtful about purchases, that’s for sure!
Thanks for your comment!
Yes, we were planning to move to a roomier place, and in preparation I have been going through things, throwing out/donating/selling. Now we find that we will have to stay here instead for another year, so I’m focusing on eliminating everything we don’t need/use/etc, and organizing what is left as cheaply and efficiently as possible.
You are right, its great to clean out the 60% of clothes that I’ve never really used/won’t use; and at the same time its a painful reminder of all that wasted money.
Good luck to you, Hannah! Sorry you were above to move to a bigger place, but it sounds like you have a great attitude about it! :)
I was shocked by the resale value of a couple of broken electronic devices I listed on Ebay. My trash was a computer builders treasure. I made a ridaculous amount of $’s on some old ski’s and a laptop that the charging port had burnt out. I never thought either of those would interest anyone. I got about $90 for ski’s/poles/bag and then $125 for what I considered a broken laptop that had been sitting in a corner for a year. After selling the laptop I realized that I had a extra cord and battery. I got about $25 for those! I thought all of it was trash or too expensive to fix. I figure it is worth a 50 cent post to ebay to find out if you have a hidden treasure. Speaking of which, I have a brand new pair of Brown Metro Dockers, sent to me in error. (size 8P)
Selling those cheap too!
I have been on a de-cluttering kick for the past several months. But, it’s slow going because I am posting as much of the stuff as possible on eBay. It takes time for things to sell, but I have been very pleased at things that sold that I never thought would. And especially when they sell for a lot more than I expected them to. I love to see an empty space where something once was just taking up room.
I found this “declutter calendar” and have been using it this month… so easy to fit it in without taking whole days or weeks to do the whole house… she gives one little project each day, like “go through your spices”, “clean off your nightstand”– I printed out January and I love it so far!
http://www.mysimplerlife.com/2012.htm
I saw this a couple of months ago and printed it out. And then lost it on my desk somewhere. I’m glad you mentioned it, Jen, I’m gonna have to dig it out and get to work. One small thing each day is definitely doable.
Sharon–I saved the decluttering calendar to my desktop. That way I knew I wouldn’t lose it in a pile somewhere. (I tend to pile my papers–never to look at them again.) This way I can just open the file and see what I should be decluttering. Needless to say, I haven’t actually USED the calendar yet. 8-/
Does this mean I have to get rid of all my craft supplies? And all that fabric? And the answer is……YES! I keep bringing home other things to use in a craft idea. And there they sit. With the other craft orphans. Thanks for this reminder, no matter how painful. I’m going to be in the process of finding adoptive homes for all these little fellers, soon and very soon. I do appreciate the advice from your post, and from the other people who shared their journey to the neater side of life. On my way – wait for me, y’all!!