Jun 5, 2013

Balancing Decluttering vs. Stockpiling

As you may already know, I'm a huge fan of decluttering, but I'm also a big fan of saving money. And lately I've been finding that these two priorities are clashing more than usual.

Partly it's because I've been on a big decluttering kick. I am trying to get rid of and use up as much as possible. There really isn't much left to donate, which puts more weight on "using things up." But, to some extent, the whole point of stockpiling is to not use things up - because by buying things at their lowest price, you never have to pay full price.

So ... I've been thinking that I have to decide which I value more: stockpiling or decluttering.

How do you resolve this dilemma?

8 comments:

chyk said...

My mom always said a sale was only good if it was something u needd. I try to keep it in mind. If i have no more room for another sale item, i wojld rather run out and pay full price then stress day about the clutter. My sanity is woth the extra couple dollars i will spend. Therapy and overall fustration and anger cost more then regular piced shampoo.

Troy said...

I think it's more a matter of how much money you have and what postion in life you're in. Since I'm single and 27, I'm more of a declutterer - I don't want to many belongings that attach me to any one place. I wanna be able to pack up all my stuff on any given day and move.

Chief Family Officer said...

I like your mom :)

Chief Family Officer said...

Good point! Money is definitely a finite resource, and I'm definitely not 27 anymore, LOL :) Enjoy this season of your life!

adrienne said...

First some disclaimers, I live in the space-rich Midwest where real estate is cheap. We have a family of five living on a single income. We won't be moving soon and there are some goods that we consistently consume.

Stockpiling and decluttering don't seem mutually exclusive to me (but I have a kitchen pantry and additional storage space in the basement).

As long as I only buy goods we'll consume before expiration (and in quantities we'll consume within a year) and put everything away in an organized manner where it can be easily located, I don't think it's clutter. But I only stockpile goods I know we'll consume well before expiration dates; wishful thinking and outright speculation are not allowed.

If I had to give up space in my living areas to stockpile, it would be a much harder decision.

Chief Family Officer said...

You make a great point, Adrienne - and you hit the nail on the head for me. I *don't* have that much space for my stockpile, so it's becoming a question of priority ... although the decluttering has created space for my stockpile :)

Linda said...

I have been thinking about this question a lot lately. I currently live in a 3 bed room apt in Santa Clarita with my fiancé and his two kids. We do have a deep freezer in the garage. But no real pantry or other storage space. I have created storage behind our kitchen table that does not feel cluttered with shelves for canned goods and things like that. For toiletries we stock what we can fit under the sink in our master bath. I have bins for organization. We keep what we can store and if nothing more can fit in the space allotted nothing more comes in. We are tired of living in a cluttered messy home. We spend too much money on nice things not to enjoy them :-) also we do not want to be embarrassed to have family and friends over. I know I may not get a rock bottom price when we run out of things but I will still search for the best deal and use a coupon. So I don't feel too bad.

Chief Family Officer said...

You make great points, Linda. I am going to try to find more clever, uncluttering storage in my home - that would solve both of my problems :)