Thursday, August 12, 2010

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! ☺
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2 comments:

  1. I like this post. I am not thrifty, but you are motivating me!!!! (hope you like the comment!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. thanks for linking up this great post to AP Tuesdays! You were one of the most clicked on links, so you are featured this week!:)

    ReplyDelete

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