Simplifying by NOT Buying Ahead

For years now, I've prided myself on my ability to save money by buying ahead. I've stocked up on laundry detergent, toothpaste, shampoo, body wash, juice boxes, cereal, crackers, and my kids' clothes.

But as I walked through Target the other day, I found myself reluctantly perusing the clearance rack in the boys' section. And I realized that my reluctance stemmed from not wanting to buy something just to stick it in the closet for a few months or even a year.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I've discovered that a clutter-free house is easy to clean - and that has made me averse to bringing things into the house, especially if they're not consumable but sometimes even when they are.

Don't get me wrong - I'm still a bargain hunter, and I'm still stocking up. But only on those things I am absolutely confident we will use up - things like toilet paper, facial tissue, and OxiClean, and only enough for a few months at most. I've been passing on deals on things I'm not completely 100% positive we'll use up - things like cereal, mouthwash, and even toys.

I've also been making an effort to use up what we have, and to get rid of things we don't need or won't use. I think my house feels better without all these extra things in it. And I know I feel better having less clutter around!

Image via FreeDigitalPhotos.net by sumetho.

Throwback Thursday: Tips for Eliminating Paper Clutter

This post was originally published in 2011. Although I've since pretty much gone entirely paperless, I still have a lot of old paper clutter to purge, so these tips continue to be relevant - especially the last one!


As I've decluttered the house for the last few months, I've discovered that the worst culprit of all is paper clutter. I can't believe how much of it there is. Here are some tips for getting rid of it, and keeping it from returning:

1. Know what records you should keep and what you can toss. Here's a handy list of financial documents and how long you should keep them.

2. Start purging. Not everything needs to be shredded, but I find that the type of papers I hold onto for years are the kind that have lots of personal information on them. So create a "purging station" with a wastebasket for papers that can go straight into the trash, a box for papers that need a new home, and either a shredder or a box for papers that will be shredded later. I opt for the box for subsequent shredding, since I store my shredder in a closet for safety reasons.

3. If you don't have a shredder, get one. There's no easier or faster way to get rid of documents that contain personal information, and a good cross-cut shredder is relatively inexpensive.

4. Condense and re-label your files if appropriate. For example, I'm a cover-all-bases kind of girl, so I keep copies of payoff statements and such. Rather than keep each sheet of paper in a separate file, I created a "closed accounts" file to hold all of these papers.

5. Go paperless. As I've mentioned before, I'm starting to really go paperless. I started by eliminating hard copies of documents I really don't read, like the annual reports and prospectuses for investments I've committed to holding. I download and don't print e-statements for accounts that never sent paper to begin with (such as those with ING and Sharebuilder). I've now begun the process of completely switching to paperless with all of our banking statements, investment statements, and bills.

6. Have a digital backup plan in place and use it. I wasn't ready to make the full switch to paperless until I had a plan for backing up all of my saved documents. I do this regularly, at least once a week. And I've stored a backup of my backup in our safety deposit box at the bank. It obviously won't have the most recent documents, but at least if disaster strikes we'll have something. You may want to read this article on digitally storing financial documents.

7. It's not as overwhelming as you might think. Flylady has taught me that I can accomplish a lot in 15 minutes - even just 5 minutes. You don't have to go through all of your files at once. Keep the task in front of you small, and eventually the big task will be done.

Image via FreeDigitalPhotos.net by scottchan.

The Key to a Clean House: Less Stuff

Our kitchen light had been acting up for years, but the other day it finally stopped turning on when the switch was flipped {it did eventually turn on, but it was rather unpredictable!}. So we decided we couldn't postpone the work any longer, and had an electrician out to replace the light as well as the old, rattly ceiling light/fan combo in the back half of the kitchen.

Since I knew they'd be working in the kitchen, I removed everything that I could - my back up laptop, small appliances, a couple of small butternut squashes ... everything that didn't need to stay found a new {sometimes temporary} home.

When the work was done, I walked into the kitchen - and delighted in the bright light, but marveled even more at how great the cleared countertops looked.

Although the workers were neat, there was still some cleaning that needed to be done. And normally I hate cleaning and put it off for as long as possible, but I discovered something that might just revolutionize my home: It was incredibly easy to clean the kitchen because I didn't have to move anything. It took just seconds to wipe down the counters. I used wet and dry Swiffer cloths to give the floor a quick scrub. And I even washed my dish rack and its mat - all in about 15 minutes!

Then it hit me: If I cleared out the clutter from the rest of the house, the rest of the house would be easy to clean too!

And then maybe I wouldn't put if off for as long as I do.

So now I'm on a quest: to declutter my house from top to bottom, wall to wall. I'm going through my own stuff, but also anything and everything that's in a common area, as well as the kids' room. I know it's going to take a while - I'm giving myself the year to go through everything, so that hopefully by the end of 2014, my house is optimal easy-to-clean shape.

Do you have a secret for keeping a clean house?

This post will be linked to Thrifty Thursday at Living Well, Spending Less.

Image via FreeDigitalPhotos.net by David Castillo Dominici.

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?

10 Ways Decluttering Saves You Money

This is a guest post from Tiffany, who took on a massive decluttering mission last year and quickly learned that not only could she make some money from decluttering, but that she actually loved living with less. She writes about her decluttering & organizing missions on her blog, No Ordinary Homestead, as well as how to organize your life and create more balance in all that you do.

Take a quick glance around your home. Does it seem that more and more things are going lost lately, and less and less gets put away? If your home looks to be covered in a layer of clutter and chaos, it’s time to start thinking about tackling the mess. Not only will you start to feel better emotionally and probably become more productive, but you will likely even save yourself money.

Find that hard to believe? Well, here are 10 simple ways that decluttering saves you money:

1. Find stuff you lost & stop buying multiples – As you start cleaning things up and getting more organized, you are going to find many things that you may have thought were lost forever. It’s happened to me time and time again. The great news is that once you’ve found these things again, you can create a specific home for them so they don’t end up lost again.

2. Stop worrying about late fees for overdue bills you’ve lost – Don’t you hate that feeling looming over your head that you have forgotten to do something? Or when you know you’ve forgotten to pay a bill but can no longer find it in all the stacks of paper around you? Once you create a system for your bills and other incoming mail, you’ll never have to feel like that again. Or pay late fees and higher interest rates!

3. Waste less food - When your pantry, fridge and freezer are organized, you can not only find the food you’ve purchased, but you also don’t end up wasting food because it expires or goes bad. Keep an inventory of your food items so that you can make sure to use up your food storage wisely in your weekly meal plans.

4. Discover the joy of empty spaces – Once you start getting really organized, you’ll probably find yourself being happier while living with less. And you might even end up with empty drawers or shelves. Although you could buy things to fill them up, you’ll likely discover that those empty spaces are far more satisfying than the “stuff” that once filled them.

5. Impulse buys have less control over you – We all get suckered in by impulse buys from time-to-time. But when you are more in control of the things in your home, and give some thought to where you would actually store those purchases, you’ll often find you don’t feel compelled to buy those gadgets and trinkets anymore.

6. Collections become less attractive —Avid collectors who once lived only for the next item to be added to their collection quickly find that decluttering and living organized makes maintaining and adding to your collections seem less worthwhile. You find yourself not wanting to give up more space (or money) for new items.

7. You need less living space – Clearly it’s not something you have to do, but you’ll probably find once you start decluttering that you actually need less space to live comfortably because you have less stuff. You can save a lot in rent or mortgage payments when you need less space to live in, not to mention lower heating, electric, water and other utility bills.

8. Save more on moving and storage costs – If you have a move coming up or are sending a child off to college, you will find yourself facing some unpleasant costs to move items, even if you plan to do most of the hard work yourself. The great news is, if you’ve gotten rid of all the stuff in your life that you don’t need or care about already, you’ll have a lot less to move.

9. Think about the sunk costs – I don’t recommend dwelling too long on this. But if you really want to make an impact on your brain regarding your finances, tally up the cost of things you bought but never used or only used once. I’m pretty sure that the number will be shocking – and I’ll bet it will make you think twice about your buying habits in the future.

10. Sell your stuff & make some money – One of the very best things about decluttering? Making money off your stuff! Regardless of how you decide to sell your old stuff, I’m sure you will find many things that someone else will want to pay you money for. {Ed. note: My favorite way to sell stuff is on Amazon.}

Letting Go of Sentimental Items

I shared some tips for decluttering yesterday, but didn't discuss sentimental items, which can be extremely difficult to get rid of. It's hard to let them go because it's like tossing out a part of your life, not just a thing. And the difficulty is compounded if the item(s) are valuable.

I speak from personal experience:

I had some jewelry that I no longer wanted. They had been given to me by loved ones over the years but I never wore them and they truly were clutter. They were the type of items I'd saved for years to give to a daughter if I ever had one. But it's been pretty clear for a while now that I'm never going to have a daughter of my own.

I could have sold the jewelry, but wasn't sure how to start. I didn't know exactly how much my items were worth, and I didn't know how to find a place that would pay me a fair value.

So the items sat in my donate pile for at least a few years. Every time I made a big trip to Salvation Army or Goodwill, I would look at the bag full of small jewelry boxes and think about giving them away. But I was never able to bring myself to do it so the boxes just sat and sat.

Then, a couple of months ago, a friend's house was burglarized and a lot of her jewelry was stolen. She was understandably heartbroken, as much of it was heirloom jewelry treasured in her family.

One night, as I lay falling asleep, it occurred to me that maybe my friend would like the jewelry that I've been saving. She has a young daughter and I couldn't help thinking about how my mother gave me a jewelry box filled with her jewelry when I turned 16. I wanted to make it possible for my friend to do the same for her daughter.

So I organized the jewelry - finally - and gave it to her with a card that said she should give away whatever she didn't want. That way there's no pressure on her to keep anything that's not her taste. But maybe it will help heal her injured heart. She burst out in tears when I gave her the jewelry, and that was how I knew I'd found the right place for my sentimental but unwanted items.

The moral of the story, at least for me, is that it's okay to have a hard time letting go of certain things. If you keep an open mind and heart, the right time to let go will come.

Being a Minimalist Takes Work + Tips to Make it Easier

I've been working hard the last couple of weeks to declutter my house. The concept of minimalism has begun to appeal strongly to me, and while I doubt I'll ever be a true minimalist, the idea of having less stuff is very attractive.

In addition to dropping off a car-load full of items at Salvation Army last week, I've been reorganizing parts of the house to put things out of sight (for less visible clutter). And I'm realizing how much cleaning my house needs - surface cleaning as well as deep cleaning.

All that got me thinking about the Second Law of Thermodynamics and entropy. Because without constant culling and consolidating, the clutter and dirt just multiplies.

Here are some strategies I've come up with to make decluttering and cleaning easier:

• Group things in containers. It doesn't really matter what kind of container you use. Containers just instantly make things look neater, and they're easier to move when you're cleaning.


• Establish routines. I sound like Flylady when I sing the praises of routines, but I totally understand why she's all about them. My kitchen sink and counters stay relatively clean because of my nightly routine of washing every dirty dish and wiping off the counters. My mornings have improved since I established a new nightly routine of clearing off the dining table so it's not covered in papers and toys when we come downstairs for breakfast.
  New routines are easiest to establish when you focus on one thing at a time, and stick with it until it becomes second nature. (And this is why Flylady advocates cleaning the bathroom everyday, something I have yet to embrace doing.)


• Establish rules. You'll have to find rules that work for you, but there are lots of ideas out there for keeping clutter to a minimum. For example, there's the "one thing in, one thing out" rule that requires you to discard something every time you bring in a new one. Another example I recently learned about is Project 333, which is about paring your wardrobe down to 33 items.


• Ask for consumable gifts. My wish list this holiday season included fair trade cocoa powder and green tea. These gifts will actually save me money since I would have bought them for myself anyway, and they'll get used up for sure.


• Minimize your stockpile. There are some times when it makes sense to let deals pass by and focus on using up what you have. For the last year and a half, I have had to stop myself from buying cupcake liners because two Easters ago, I bought half a dozen packs on clearance and I'm still using them up. It may be a little strange to deliver goodies in pastel liners to the bake sale in October, but I suspect I'm the only one who noticed the bunny on the bottom!

What are your best tips for decluttering and cleaning?

Getting Messages to Declutter

Maybe I'm just imposing my subconscious desires/pressures onto my everyday reality, but I feel like I'm getting a divine message to declutter my home.

It started with Gretchen Rubin's column in a recent issue of Good Housekeeping, in which she discusses the correlation between the lack of clutter and happiness.

Then I read Cheryl Richardson's email newsletter this week, and it was about how she and her husband discovered that they had way more stuff than they wanted/needed when they moved.

And finally, this morning I read I'm an Organizing Junkie's post on letting go of clutter that you're holding onto out of guilt.

You can see why I feel like there's a message from the universe being beamed at me.

Decluttering is something that's perpetually on my to-do list, but it's also something that I've neglected lately. Quite possibly because I don't schedule it, and I don't have a deadline.

I like Gretchen's project of going room by room, shelf by shelf, during the school year. So I'm adopting it and making it my goal to finish a full round of decluttering the entire house by the time school gets out on May 31. I'm already daunted by the files in banker's boxes in my closet. But I have a fast shredder now - so I can conquer paper clutter, LOL!

How do you minimize clutter in your home?

Declutter Tip: File papers as they come in

About a month ago, one of my weekly projects was to file the stack of papers that had built up on my desk over the course of several months. It took less than an hour, but it was tedious.

Ever since then, I've been filing papers as they've come in. Which means that I don't have a month's worth of papers to file right now, and that feels like a gift to myself. It helps that we've cleared away some clutter so it's easier than ever to access the filing cabinet.

It only takes a few seconds to file each sheet of paper as it crosses my desk. It takes nearly the same amount of effort to add the paper to my filing box, but this keeps the paper clutter from accumulating.

The one exception I make to this rule is papers that don't have a home. There are a few files I need to create, but I'm not quite sure how I want to organize them yet, and some papers I just need to keep for a short time and then can toss. So those pages have been added to my filing box but the pile is so much smaller than what it used to be!

Tips for getting rid of and cutting down on paper clutter

As I've decluttered the house for the last few months, I've discovered that the worst culprit of all is paper clutter. I can't believe how much of it there is. Here are some tips for getting rid of it, and keeping it from returning:

1. Know what you have to keep and what can go. Here's a handy list of financial documents and how long you should keep them.

2. Start purging. Not everything needs to be shredded, but you'll probably find that the type of papers you hold onto are the kind that have personal information on them. So at your "purging station," you'll need a wastebasket for papers that can go straight into the trash, a box for papers that need a new home, and either a shredder or a box for papers that will be shredded later. I opt for the box for subsequent shredding, since I store my shredder in a closet for safety reasons.

3. If you don't have a shredder, get one. There's no easier or faster way to get rid of documents that contain personal information, and you can get a decent one pretty inexpensively these days.

4. Relabel your files if appropriate. I'm a cover-all-bases kind of girl, so I keep copies of payoff statements and such. Rather than keep each sheet of paper in a separate file, I recently created a "closed accounts" file to hold all of these papers.

5. Go paperless. As I've mentioned before, I'm starting to really go paperless. I started by eliminating hard copies of documents I really don't read, like the annual reports and prospectuses for investments I've committed to holding. I download and don't print e-statements for accounts that never sent paper to begin with (such as those with ING and Sharebuilder). I've now begun the process of completely switching to paperless with all of our banking statements, investment statements, and bills.

6. Have a digital backup plan in place and use it. I wasn't ready to make the full switch to paperless until I had a plan for backing up all of my saved documents. I do this regularly, at least once a week. And I've stored a backup of my backup in our safety deposit box at the bank. It obviously won't have the most recent documents, but at least if disaster strikes we'll have something. You may want to read this article on digitally storing financial documents.

7. Keep it manageable. Flylady has taught me that I can accomplish a lot in 15 minutes - even just 5 minutes. You don't have to go through all of your files at once. Keep the task in front of you small, and eventually the big task will be done.

Three tips for decluttering your email inbox

I recently whittled two email inboxes down from thousands of emails in each inbox to less than 30. It took a lot less time than I expected, and was way easier than decluttering paper (more on that another day). Here are three tips that worked for me:

1. Make the most of the organizing tools at your disposal. Gmail has labels and an archiving function, so you can make it easy to find emails you you want to keep but don't necessarily need in your inbox. Other email programs offer similar functions (Yahoo uses folders, for instance). Use these tools to "put away" email that doesn't need to be in your main inbox.

2. Start at the end. I found that it was easiest to start with the oldest emails, because it was easier to decide whether to delete or archive them, using one of the functions described above.

3. Keep the task manageable. When the count at the top of your inbox tells you there are 2400 emails, it can be overwhelming. So just dispose of 100-200 at a time. It'll go faster than you think!

A Reader's Advice on Decluttering

Last month, I mentioned that I have been decluttering like crazy and listed some of the items I'd gotten rid of. Reader Harvey emailed me with a few good points that I wanted to share:

On expired medication, he said:

I hope that you removed your name from the label leaving the description of the medication intact and then returned it to a pharmacy. Pharmacies are supposed to accept expired medicine as they have procedures for proper disposal. These medicines just cannot be thrown in the trash or flushed down the toilet as they will eventually get into our water supply and food supply.

I didn't know this! I'll do this from now on.

On expired food, he said:

Expired food is still good - unless it is spoiled (bulging can and jar tops, "pasta bugs" in the pasta, etc. It appears that in the past you liked to shop (probably for bargains on sale) but then you did not make a concerted effort to eat what you bought. Unfortunately, food pantries don't normally take donations of past the use-by date food. I would have used it up. I just used a can of soup
that was several years expired and it still tasted fine and I am still here to write you this e-mail.

And on food we're unlikely to eat, he said:

Again, the product of buying something on sale, I would assume. You should challenge yourself to use up all your food on a regular basis.

I like to buy bargains - with coupons - and I like saving money. Sometimes, that becomes just a thrilling recreation. I know that if I were a compulsive bargain hunter, I would probably develop a close relationship with my local food bank. If I could buy several hundred dollars of food for a few dollars, it would all go to the food bank. Then I would make a tuna salad sandwich using up one of the cans tuna of my two year supply in the cupboard.

I can't remember exactly what food I tossed, but a lot of it comes down to now using up what's in my pantry. After decluttering, I'm more aware of what's on hand, and I can make a more concerted effort to use what we have before it expires. But I do need a better system for keeping track of what I have on hand - the rotating-old-food-to-the-front thing just doesn't work for me!

I actually end up sharing a lot of food bargains with friends, and sending non-perishable convenience food via AnySoldier.com.

Thanks for these insightful tips, Harvey!

I'm not done yet - I'll have more on decluttering later this week!

The Decluttering Continues

As I've mentioned previously, I've been decluttering the house, from top to bottom, and I've even shared ten decluttering tips that have worked for me. Much of my inspiration has come from Flylady, who has been instrumental in helping me to stop being such a perfectionist. Much of my decluttering has been done in small chunks of time - 15 minutes here, 10 minutes there, even 5 minutes just to clean out one file in my filing cabinet. But all of those small chunks of time have added up - here's just a sampling of the things I have removed from our house:

A banker's box full of papers, which have been shredded (and all of my file purging has nearly filled the box up again!)

Two bags of kids' clothing

Two bags of adult clothing

A juicer that I never used

The Aerogarden that never fulfilled my dreams

Some jewelry I'm never going to wear (I passed on a bracelet to a friend's daughter, which was so fun because she loved it!)

Unopened toys that my boys never played with

Plastic cookie cutters I never used (kept some for Playdoh, tossed the rest, and opened up space to store my waffle maker out of sight!)

A crock that held kitchen utensils (I had two crocks on the counter, but seldom used half of the utensils so they would get dusty; I put the less-used half in a drawer and donated the crock)

A TV (replaced by the one we bought from Amazon during the holidays)

Three suits (they didn't fit great, and I don't need to worry about having a variety of suits for court appearances anymore!)

A full shelf's worth of reusable plasticware that I didn't use anymore

Old plastic cups that we didn't use

Expired medication

Expired food

Food we're unlikely to eat

Extra sheets (I kept one set for each bed and got rid of the rest)

Extra towels that we are unlikely to use (in the process, I found infant towels that weren't used through two babies)

Old phone books (and man, they're heavy!)

Japanese calligraphy supplies (I haven't used them in years)

Cheap wrapping paper that I avoided using because it tears so easily

Stationery that I won't use (and I know that because I haven't used it in the ten years it's been sitting around)

What's really astonishing is that we're not pack rats, so there isn't an overwhelming amount of clutter. But when I delve below the surface, I find that there are lots of things I can happily live without. I love reorganizing as I purge, and making the house more functional. It's easier to find what's left, and it looks so much nicer!

What have you gotten rid of lately?

Ten Tips for Decluttering Your House

As I mentioned last week, I've been decluttering like crazy. But the wonderful thing is, I haven't driven myself crazy doing it. Instead, I've embraced the Flylady tenet that you can do a lot in a little bit of time, and that you don't need to be perfect. Here are some concrete tips that I've been following that have helped me get a lot done:

1. Start small, and keep it small. I want to declutter my house from top to bottom, but that's an overwhelming task. What's manageable is decluttering one shelf, one box or one drawer at a time. Even one file at a time, which is how I've been going through my filing cabinet. It also means that I can declutter even when I have only five minutes to kill before I leave the house.

2. Plan ahead on how to re-organize. Planning ahead will help you figure out what to keep, what to toss, and how to arrange the space as you purge.

3. But don't get caught up in perfectionism. Sometimes you just can't figure out what the space should look like, or how it should function as you're working on it. And that's okay. I've been decluttering boxes by pulling out the things that I know I can get rid of. Since I don't yet know what I'm going to do with the stuff that's left, I just put it back in the box and stick the box back where it was. Eventually, I'll figure out what to do with that stuff and it will be easier to put away because there won't be unnecessary extras that I have to weed out.

4. Use three groups: Keep, Donate, Toss. As you purge, separate your things into three piles: Keep, Donate and Toss. The Keep pile should be put away as soon as you're done purging, even if, as I just said, it goes right back into the space. Keep it out of the way for now and find a permanent home for it later if you need to. The Toss pile should find its way into the trash bin immediately. For the Donate pile, you'll need to find a system that works for you.

5. Don't procrastinate on the donating and tossing. As mentioned above, the Toss pile should leave your home immediately. I keep the Donate pile around for a while until I can create an itemized list for tax purposes, but I've learned not to wait too long or the Donate pile itself becomes an energy drain. If possible, plan a regular monthly or weekly run to Goodwill, or schedule a pick up so you have a deadline.

6. Set boundaries on what you're going to keep. Before you start purging, decide on the reasons something makes it into the Keep pile. Among the questions I ask are: Do I need this for legal reasons? (E.g., tax documents should be kept for at least seven years.) How likely will I need this? (I have a bunch of kitchen gadgets that I may not use often but will definitely use again, which makes them keepers.) Can I get another one? (I keep only a few extra towels and sheets, on the theory that it's easy to get more if I end up needing them.) How many do I need? (I finally realized that I don't need a hundred unmatched card envelopes!)

7. Do little projects when inspiration strikes. On the spur of the moment, I have taken fifteen minutes to clean out dresser drawers, a box on my desk, a book shelf, etc. And I felt great afterwards.

8. Shred as you go, or have a place for paper clutter. I am purging a lot of paper clutter, much of which needs to be shredded because it contains personal information. After Alex was born, I started keeping my shredder in a closet for safety reasons, so now I have a box under my desk for papers that need to be shredded. Every so often - preferably when the kids aren't home - I plug in the shredder and shred a bunch of papers at once. It's not a particularly fun task, but I can do it while watching TV, and it feels good to get all of those papers out of the house.

9. Reward yourself. It always helps to have something to look forward to, so whether it's sitting down with a cup of tea and a magazine, or buying something you love for your newly decluttered closet, plan to reward yourself when you're done.

10. Keep the end in mind. Having less stuff means your house is easier to clean, you can bless others with what you no longer want, you have less stress, your house is more comfortable and cleaner for your family, etc. I'm also finding that it makes me think twice about buying more things - even things that we will eventually use, like toiletries. I have a good stockpile thanks to The Drugstore Game, so I've decided that I can wait for absolute rock bottom prices (which often means free) on just about everything.

The Psychology of Empty Space & Saving Money

I've been on a decluttering kick for the last few weeks, and I've gotten rid of a lot of stuff. Enough that there are now empty spaces throughout the house that previously used to be occupied.

It was subtle, but eventually I noticed a subconscious urge to fill the empty space.

And I had to remind myself that it's okay to have empty space in the house.

I think this is one of those times when I have to live with the discomfort, trusting that eventually it will feel comfortable. Because intellectually, I know there's nothing wrong with some empty space. It may not be the most aesthetically pleasing, in which case we will eventually fill it with something that looks nice. But in the meantime, I have a lot more decluttering to do and it makes sense not to make too many changes until I'm done.

It occurred to me that it's a similar psychology for people who feel that if they have money, they should spend it. I don't have a problem with saving money, but I know people who seem to feel compelled to spend every penny they earn (and then some, in certain cases). Maybe they would benefit from the corollary, It's okay to not to spend money.

And then they too would have to get used to the discomfort. As time passes, they would see that nothing bad happens when they save money, and that it's actually really nice having some money in the bank.

The First Step Toward De-Stressing: Declutter

I've been feeling overwhelmed lately. My to-do list is a mile long, which is nothing new. But I'm finding my situation particularly distressing because I had found a happy place, mentally, when the whole hospitalization/illness thing hit and I just haven't been able to get back to that happy place since.

A good way to describe my emotional state right now is weighed down. And when I get this way, I find decluttering to be extremely appealing. The literal removal of excess weight helps me feel mentally lighter.

I'm at the point where I'm tempted to just pile everything into the car and drop it all off at Goodwill or Salvation Army. Without documenting or itemizing for taxes. The stress relief might be worth foregoing the deduction.

But then I think about the medical bills that I have to pay in the next one to two months, and the effort I put into saving money by shopping smart. With the amount of stuff we have to give away, I'm guessing we're talking a tax deduction that's worth a couple hundred dollars all told. I don't want to give that money up.

So posting might be light for a week or two as I make time to document the items that I want gone from my house. Maybe I'll even find some items that will make for a good giveaway :)


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The Fine Line Between Frugal, Green, and Clutter-free

I've actually been thinking about this topic for a while now. Most of the time, being frugal and being green go together. If you're frugal, you generally buy fewer items, you drive less often, you reduce, reuse and recycle. Because of this, your home is also generally less cluttered.

But as I declutter my home, I find that the line between these areas becomes very fine. There are many things that I might need someday. It wouldn't be frugal or good for the environment to have to buy them new all over again. But keeping these things around makes my home more cluttered. It also increases the possibility that I'll forget I have these items and buy new ones anyway.

I'm still finding a balance that works for me. But I would love any tips you have to share, because this is definitely an area that I struggle with.