De-Clutter BEFORE you shop

I have been reading "It's all too much!" by Peter Walsh lately. I'm on a de-clutter kick right now. My husband says the books I have been reading are over-motivating me....I don't think that's possible. ;) (Truth be told my house is not bad at all. But the more I get rid of, the more open it feels....so why not, right?)

I also recall an article in Good Housekeeping that has stuck with me over the years. The title was "Could you survive a year without shopping?". In the article, a lady and her family decide that they can "Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do...or do without" for an entire year!

A few examples she used were:
• Her girls discovered that vitamin C bottles came with cotton balls inside the bottle, so they could remove fingernail polish without tissues.

• Her daughter needed new shoes. She wore a 1/2 size smaller then the shoes the mom wore. The mom gave her a tight pair of her old shoes.

• For Christmas her and a friend gathered things around the house...unused notebooks, fingernail polish, rubber stamps...and traded with each other for stocking stuffers.

• When she needed things she would normally buy, she cleaned areas that she would usually store them, and found a stash she had stocked up on last time it was on sale.

This is me to a "T". I find awesome deals, stock up and forget I have them. As I stated in my school supply shopping post, I do not need to buy school supplies this year. I have found a plethora of pencils, pens and a grocery sack full of glue sticks.

I have had experience with "finding" stuff that I wanted to share as inspiration. I have found the following in my house since reading the article:

• I bought new school shoes for my son at Ross for $14.99. I cleaned out our front closet 2 days later and found 2 new pairs of shoes I had for him already that I bought on clearance...so I took the Ross ones back.

• I knew we were out of paper plates, it was on my list for Walmart. My husband went down to the food room and found a new package I had already purchased.

• We needed some medicine that I didn't think we had. I cleaned out under my sink today, and found an unopened bottle.

• Bandaids were on my shopping list too. I cleaned out where my first aid supplies are kept, and found 2 boxes.

• Yesterday I cleaned out the "junk drawer" in my kitchen and found a $20 Walmart gift card, and an old Blockbuster gift card that had $4 left on it. We went to Blockbuster yesterday and rented a movie for free!

Do I think this article is extreme?...yes. Am I going to do the "year without shopping"....no.

However, I am going to look before I buy to see if we already have it. You will be surprised at what you stocked up on a while ago that you stored and forgot you had! You can save a ton of money by not re-buying stuff you didn't know you already had.

What "treasures" will you "unlock" while De-cluttering? Have you already had experience with finding treasure in your home? Tell us about it! I ♥ comments! ☺