As I've been going though our house this month, I've come up with three good reasons decluttering and organizing will actually save you money. Yep, I think getting rid of the stuff that you paid hard earned money for will, in turn, save you money! Here are my reasons:
1. You'll know exactly what you have on hand
How many times have you come home from the grocery store to discover an item you purchased is already in your pantry? I've done this numerous times because things usually get pushed to the back never to be seen again. (or to be discovered once I've already bought a duplicate item!)
Take for example the cans of tomato soup we have. I stocked up a while ago during a good sale knowing they'd last until the next sale. Well what do you know, another sale came along sooner then I thought so I bought another flat forgetting how many I had in the first place. If I have been diligent in organizing my pantry, I would have known this and saved myself $5.00. That $5.00 that could have gone towards something that we actually needed that week.
2. You'll be astonished at how much money you've wasted
This one gets me every time! As I have been going through the closets and cabinets I've been finding so many small objects and project pieces that I know I'll never get around to using. When I put aside everything I no longer want to keep, I can't help but think about how much money I've spent on those items. It's pretty gross actually. That fact alone, keeps me from buying unnecessary stuff, therefore, keeping more money in my pocket. (Although, I'm still learning!)
3. You'll find unfinished projects
Every once in a while I get an urge to do something creative. When I take the opportunity to do a declutter, I usually discover a few unfinished projects.
Just yesterday, as I was going through my fabric stash, I found two unfinished projects. A purse, which only needs to have the handles sewn on, and material for a sweatshirt I've cut out for my husband. I now have two projects to finish to satisfy my creative urge without spending any more money!
Bonus: You'll save time in the long run and lose the guilt
Let's be honest, all that stuff can weigh a person down. Not only do you feel guilty about not using an item, but it can take you five times as long to get something finished! Like getting dressed for example. When you have to sort through all the clothes you don't like and the clothes you do like just to get a decent outfit put together, you're probably already running behind in your day.
By minimizing what doesn’t work for you in your home enables you to maximize the potential of what actually does! So say goodbye to the things that are weighing you down and breathe a sigh of relief. Maybe put your feet up for a few minutes too, since you've most likely got some new found time!
There you have it, my top three (4) reasons why decluttering your home will save you money! Sure, it can feel an awful lot like you're just throwing money out the window, but it will probably get you to stop spending unnecessarily. Or at least thinking twice about a possible purchase!
Remember, in the long run, decluttering and organizing now, will save you time and money in the future.
I’m back again with my second organizing update! Again, I managed to finish what I set out to do, but partly because I cheated and did the linen closet in December :). Never the less, it’s all done!
As I just mentioned, I did the linen closet first, in December. Unfortunately I don’t have any before photos because I wasn’t thinking I’d be blogging about it in January!
Linen closet after:
The linen closet is in out main bathroom so it also holds my deodorant, body lotion, shampoo/conditioner, soap, and toothpaste stockpile. I managed to find a box full of stuff to toss (old body lotions/perfumes/makeup) and some items to donate. I did end up buying the two white containers that you see (from Dollarama) to hold my body lotions, nail polishes and perfumes. One container is dedicated to baby bath time stuff. (wash cloths, hooded towels, shampoo) The top shelf, that you can’t see, hold our extra sheet sets. The bottom shelf that you can’t see again, holds our toilet paper stock, kleenex and a fan for the summer months. Overall, I’m quite pleased with the after as there’s still plenty of room to hold more stuff. Although I’m liking the emptiness a bit too much I think!
Since jewelery organization is a fairly popular topic, here’s a picture of how I store my necklaces:
It’s a mug holder! Does a pretty good job! (The Winnie the Pooh lunch box is something I’ve had for years that I’m holding on to for the kiddo)
My second project was to organize the recipes that I tore out of magazines or had printed.
Recipes after:
The recipes that were small enough went into my handy dandy recipe box.
The recipes that were too big to fit into the box, went into my recipe binder/household notebook. The recipes either went into our “favourite recipes” section or “recipes to try” section. I’d actually like to make a section for freezer cooking as I found a few recipes while I was purging magazines that would be great to freeze. A note on the household notebook end of things. I don’t really use the binder for that purpose! Maybe if I revamped it, it would better suit my needs, but for now I’m quite happy with my day planner that has plenty of room to jot down each day’s to-do list/shopping lists… etc.
For those of you that have a household notebook, how do you make it work for you?
Lastly, I worked on my coupon binder and ended up with a big stack of coupons to give away! If you’d like to see how you can win some coupons, visit the Simply Frugal Facebook page today!! (January 14, 2012)
I didn’t take any other pictures of the binder because I covered it in this Coupon Binder post. I still organize it the same way.
For those of you still joining me this month, how did you do this week with your projects?
You don't need expensive, fancy bins to get organized. All you need is a little creativity! Transform old jars, shoe boxes, cereal boxes and more into instant storage. Frugal organizing is just smart organizing.
As I'm going through my house this month, my goal is to use things I already own, to store the items I need to store. After all, I'm trying to declutter the house, so I don't want any new containers! In my mind, using what I have already is what makes my living more simple and frugal.
Here are some frugal and creative organizing ideas to help inspire you to be frugal and creative with your organizing projects:
Use mason jars or pasta sauce jars for pantry items.
Buy a couple packs of Magnetic Bulldog Clips and clip all of your winter hats and gloves to your magnetic back door. Now there is no last minute looking for these items!
Keep a bag or a box somewhere in your house and anytime you find something you're not sure if you need to keep or not, throw it into the bag/box. When the bag/box gets full it goes to a second hand store!
Scan your children's artwork, then save each year to folder on your computer of that year.
Empty shoe boxes can hold a lot of different items.
Use empty soda pop boxes to hold canned goods.
Empty and clean tin cans make great pen and pencil holders.
Cereal boxes make great magazine holders once they're empty
Use empty egg cartons for Christmas ornament storage or jewelry storage
