“Getting organised to save you money” is the theme of this year’s National Organising Week (#NOW2022). NOW is a campaign by the Association of Professional Organisers and Declutterers (APDO) of which I am a member. In this blog I will talk about how YOU can save money by getting organised. Keep reading till the end where I’ll share some brief details about how getting organised can even earn you money, and how to organise on a shoestring budget (forget about all those expensive storage solutions!).
No more buying duplicates
Has it happened to you that you buy a new nail clipper, because you can’t find the one that you already own? Or perhaps you buy duplicates without being aware, because you’ve forgotten that you already owned a certain item? You’re not the only one. This happens to many people, but you can make an end to this by decluttering your home, and organising it in such a way that you can always find what you’re looking for.
The secret to never wasting time anymore on searching for lost items? Store all your items by category and keep each category in one place, so keep all your medication together rather than having some in the bathroom, others in the kitchen and yet another stack in your night stand. Also, put each category in a separate container, so that categories don’t mix with each other. If you keep sunglasses, batteries and pens in the same drawer, put three containers in the drawer, one for each category.
Try it now to save money!
No more money wasting on yet another clever storage solution
It’s very tempting to think that your home will finally get clutter-free and organised by buying a new cabinet with just the right size drawers, or containers that fit your kitchen pantry perfectly, or those pretty hikidashi boxes. However, it’s much better to first go through all your belongings and decide what you’d like to keep, and what you’d like to let go of. And then consider buying boxes, cabinets, and storage containers.
In her book Soulful Simplicity – How Living With Less Can Lead To So Much More, Courtney Carver puts it like this:
When you need to buy things for your things, it’s time for fewer things. When we start talking about organisational bins or extra storage options, we know it’s time get rid of stuff instead of accumulating more things to store it in.
Another fitting quote in this context is from Melissa Camara Wilkins:
If your stuff isn’t serving you, it won’t be serving you any better packed away in a box somewhere.
You’ll save money by not buying yet another storage solution. Declutter first and then look at storage. You might find that you don’t need to buy anything, because you’re left with so much less stuff. If you do need some storage solutions, read on to find out about cheap options.
No more monthly storage fees
Save money on your monthly storage fees! If you have anything in storage, invest some time in decluttering your storage unit and you might discover that there’s no need for it anymore, or that a smaller and cheaper storage room will suffice.
More mindful and intentional shopping
Pre decluttering, it happens to lots of people that they buy things for the wrong reasons, both in-person and online. Once you’ve purchased something, it’s usually quite an effort to return the item and get a refund. When these unwanted items stay in a home, they turn into clutter. People tend to feel guilty about these items, because they’ve spend money on it and feel that they should really use it.
People who have decluttered their home, usually become much more mindful and intentional consumers. Once you’ve gone through the effort of transforming your home, you don’t want to undo all your efforts by filling up your home once again with stuff. I see it with people I work with that they start buying less, and only buying things they really need and/or like.
You can save money too by becoming more mindful and intentional about spending your money through the process of decluttering!
Discover free things you enjoy
What might save you even more money than becoming a mindful consumer, is discovering that you get more joy out of other things in life, rather than shopping. Henry David Thoreau tells us that “all good things are wild and free.” Find out what wild and free activities you enjoy, and save money!
I know that a lot of things in life cost money, so even if you can’t find something that’s completely free, you can probably think of cheaper ways to spend your evenings than online shopping. When we make a purchase, our brain releases dopamine. Try to find less expensive activities that release this happiness-boosting hormone.
Earn some cash
You can save money by decluttering your home, but you can take it a step further and even make some money! If your unwanted items are still in good condition, you can try and sell these items to other people.
You can do this online. Vinted and Thrift + are popular sites to sell pre-loved clothes. You can also sell your unwanted items IRL at for example a carboot sale, local market or fair.
There are many more options for selling your items, including very specialised and niche items, and if I don’t know already where to sell something, I’d happily do some research for you.
Organising on a budget
There are many items you can buy to help you organise your home, but some of these storage solutions can cost quite a lot. However, storage doesn’t need to be expensive. You just need to be resourceful.
When you start going through all your stuff, making decisions about what to keep/discard, keep an eye out for anything that you can use for storage. The words “sturdy” and “rectangular” are key.
Shoe boxes, the packaging that mobile phones and tablets come in, jewellery boxes. Empty food containers, tupperware, (biscuit) tins, flower pots (despite usually being round).
Put anything you might be able to use for storage to one side. But remember, once you’re done organising your home, and you’ve given all your items a space to live, get rid of all storage containers that you haven’t used. Otherwise these storage boxes might turn into clutter!
If you haven’t got anything lying around, go to your local shoe shop and ask if they’ve got any spare shoe boxes, or ask your jewellery store if they have any jewellery boxes going spare. I did this, and I was never met with strange looks.
Share your story
I hope this blog will inspire you to start decluttering and organising your home, and I’d love to hear your stories about how this is saving you money!
Free Consultation
If you’d like to have a chat with me about how I can help you to get your home organised, please book in a Free Consultation, a 30-minute video call during which you and I talk about what and why you’d like to tidy and how I can help you to achieve a Tidylicious home.
On my services page, you can see what type of sessions and packages I offer.
