Dejunk Your House to Save Money
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One of the best ways to save money is to realize how stupid you’ve been about money and then to make some changes in your habits. Last weekend I shared with you how we are “staging for living” and rearranging, cleaning, and dejunking to make life be more of what we want and less of what it will be someday. We want to enjoy the now — and so downsizing is necessary.
Over the last week I’ve touched every school book and supply we own — it was like cryptonite. It took me four days to complete the job. And I’ve carried box after box of “stuff” out to the van so that we can donate it. I’ve sold over 20 books online and donated another 20.
And I’ve paid a stupid tax. Major. big. time.
Not only have I realized how I’ve become a slave to stuff, but I’ve also had to come face to face with the fact that I wasted money to buy that stuff in the first place.
Will I do it again? Probably. But, I think, hope, pray, that I will get better at saying no to superfluous stuff.
Notice that I say superfluous stuff. Stuff, in and of itself, is not bad. But owning and maintaining things that you don’t use or need is not the best way to live your life.
I’m going to be 40…. someday.
Actually, next year. I even have my first mammogram next week. And I don’t want extra junk to waste my time and money. Amen?
Here’s my office, shown off for no other reason than for you to know that I am not a fictional person, but rather a very messy, distracted one. Please note that all those boxes of stuff have been sold or donated! (And I did clean my room this week, too.)
So, let’s make a deal, K? Next time one of us wants to go shopping, let’s first fill a box full of stuff to get rid of. Either we will:
- Make room for new purchases and maybe earn some cash to pay for them.
- Realize that we’ve wasted money on past purchases and we can probably live without the X, Y, or Z that we are so desperate to go buy.
I am turning 40 next year too. What more can I say, you have said it all.:) I always tell my husband when we see something we like, we have maxed out our house, we need a new house before we can buy anything else. Of course not buying those things helps us get closer to the goal of being able to buy a new house. I don’t even like to shop because it makes we want things I don’t need. Thanks, you always have good insights.
Oh boy! Do I feel good about that second photo?! LOL
We did this exercise once a few months ago when moving house and know I have a bag that I just dump things in which are outgrown, or no longer needed and then, just give the bag away at the end of the month. Sometimes there is a lot of stuff- when DD goes thru a growth spurt, other times there isn’t.
This is just a small way of making sure that some of the clutter finds it way out of our house to people who may actually need it.
I think I got this idea from your blog or someone else’s but it is a lovely one. 🙂
Love this post and the vulnerability, Jessica. And LOVED the photo. I am digging through piles here slowly. I have been struggling w/ what appears to be fibromyalgia and so things aren’t even as sorta messy as they used to be. And I have 3 messy men in my household. So I need to be easy on myself, but we need to make progress.
Two weeks ago we sold an old A/C . I hope to sell some gift cards today and list some furniture on Craigslist. Thanks for the encouragement!
I love this! We have been busy “blessing” (in Fly Lady’s terms) many people over the last month. It’s a gradual process, and even if I’m not making money, I’m feeling rich in the process 🙂
My organizing project this week was my clothes. I was a little disgusted with myself as to the amount of clothes that I had and really didn’t wear. Clearing out so many of them was really a good feeling, my goal is to be better and not let it get so out of hand. Congratulations on getting through so much!
Thanks for hosting.
book swap party, getting together with some friends and swapping books. No more buying books.
I am borderline to hoarding! I have the hardest time letting go of things. Things that aren’t even mine. Kids toys for instance. They don’t play with them, I know this why can’t I get rid of them? I struggle with this daily and I’m trying to throw away more things every day. Another thing I struggle with is magazines and catalogs! Am I ever really going to read them again….haven’t yet! UGH!
Okay you’ve officially made me feel better with that second picture.
Sigh. If you can clean up your mess then maybe I should put on my big girl panties and wade through The Closet (yes it gets caps because it is that scary.)
oh, honey. The second picture was the least of my messes, but it was the last. 😉
I have a “Dont’s Ask, Don’t Tell” room (my sewing/crafting room). Haven’t really been willing to go through things in there since I quit working 5 years ago, then my mother passed away a month later, my father’s health declined and then his passing, etc. It is now on my “Must Do” list for next week!!! The community yard sale was last week (did well – $370) and my husband and I just packed some things in his truck to take to the auction house on Monday. At least we are starting to make a dent on our “collection” of things.
I like your “deal”. Stuff really does steal energy and peace. I LOVE getting rid of it.
Are you doing the link up today or do we just comment our response?
It’s fixed. Thanks for letting me know the linky was missing.
No problem. Thanks for fixing. I can’t tell you what link ups mean to me as I try and start a blog :D.
It’s easy to collect stuff when it’s cheap isn’t it? It’s something I always have to watch with myself. We came to the conclusion that if we decided we should buy something and then chose not to buy it we can put that money straight to our student debt :D. So, that is fun.