Getting Rid of Clutter by not Cleaning

I read a story in the newspaper or the other day about a big group of people around the nation who were giving up buying new things for old year.  They could of course buy food and medicine, but they couldn’t buy anything new from the stores or online.  If they wanted something they would have to bargain for it, buy it at a yard sale or do without.

This sounds like a really good idea, and, of course, I would like to try it.  When I think about it more and more, I realized that I couldn’t go a whole year without going shopping.  The reason: my house is a mess and I wouldn’t be prepared for it.  I’m sure if you wanted to do this you need to know what you have and what you don’t have.  For example, if I look into my closet I see a mountain of clothing.  But if I’m looking for something to wear to a formal dinner, I probably don’t have that in there.  If I had a good basic wardrobe, I could do that.

In that same article, they’d also described a group of people who were trying to buy only local things.  So, if they wanted to eat a certain fruit or vegetable, it would have to be grown locally.  This is a romantic idea, but in reality, if you don’t live in an area that has a warm winter, you wouldn’t be able to eat anything.  Sure, you could can vegetables and fruits for the winter, but I would definitely be afraid of getting scurvy in the winter months.

The way that I handle getting too much stuff is to wait one week before I buy something.  For example, I saw a beautiful china citation gold Lenox platter that would match my set, but decided after a week that I really didn’t need it.  So instead of having to take it back or just keeping it, I didn’t buy it.

If you want to reduce clutter in your life, you can try one of these methods.  I don’t know if any of them will work for you, but you could give it a try.