Frugal Living and Clutter

What's the connection, you may ask. Why should I bother telling you my two cents worth why clutter is everything but frugal? Because there is a direct link - you'd be surprised.

Anyone who knows me personally knows that I am not exactly the most organized person on this planet. And, yes, my husband and I have suffered a few times from "CHAOS" - Can't have anyone over syndrome (definition by Flylady - www.flylady.com). This doesn't mean I try to keep the clutter to a minimum.

In today's world at least 90% of us have too much stuff (I am talking about the countries that are defined as developed/western/industrialized/rich - could someone please enlighten me what the current politically correct phrase is). And still we always seek more. OK, and now to the whys (yes, there are more than one reason):

1. In order to "organize" your clutter, and trust me, there is no way you can organize clutter, you need storage space - boxes, shelves, cupboards etc. They all cost money. If you don't have clutter, you don't have to waste money on storage equipment.
2. Of course you also need the place for it. Just imagine you could rent a smaller space (or buy something smaller). I am not necessarily talking about the amount of rooms you need, that may actually be fixed, but the square meters. Of course, you may not want to go for a smaller space (unless you really have to save money), but it is much nicer to live with space, then to have all walls filled with shelves, cupboards and the like.
3. Since clutter cannot be organized you may not know what you have or don't have. So you just go out and spend money unnecessary on stuff you actually have.

Here is a true life example. When I moved in with my (now) husband, I found that he had purchased at some point or the other several liters of floor cleaner (different brands). I don't know if they had been on sale or if he had forgotten that he owned them, but there you had it. Now, when we moved places (twice) we actually took them with us - and I am allergic to two of them!! At some point I just through them out - we were not going to use them up anyway, and my husband, bless his cotton socks, had just bought a new type, as he thought we had run out!!!

So, how do I try to keep our clutter down? First of all, I go through my cloth twice a year and sort out what I still like and wear and what can be donated (I don't through clothing away - just because I don't like it anymore doesn't mean that someone else can't enjoy it). I then make a list of those things that I need. I hardly ever impulse shop on clothing - well, not for me anyway.

Another thing I do is that I stopped purchasing books - well, I reduced it to nearly 0. What's the library for anyway? Like this I also don't waste money on books that, in the end, I find out that I don't like it. I just return it and get something else.

I am not telling you to declutter your home in one go - you'd go crazy, will be disillusioned and just give up - hating yourself and me in the process. Not even to do it a bit every day. But if you go to one area once a week, work on it for, lets say, an hour (or even half an hour if that is all the time you have), you will be clutter free in a few month.

And the stuff you may not want anymore could either be given away to charity shops (blessing someone else with it) or turn it into cash by selling it online, in a yard sale etc.