I spent quite a bit of time yesterday browsing Unclutterer. I was immediately drawn to the site because I love organization and organizational tools. I might not be all that great at staying organized, but I love the idea of it nonetheless. And I’m working towards becoming more organized.
One fun tip I saw was to “use it up.” Find yourself with a stockpile of consumables of some sort? Don’t buy any more until you’ve used up what you have. In my efforts to save money, I have created myself a giant stockpile of body wash. I’m not even sure how many bottles I have, but I know they’ve been with me through multiple moves. I’m pretty good about not buying more, but every so often, I’m just drawn to a new scent or a great sale. But I’m going to do my best to not buy any more until it’s gone. Even if it’s on sale. Stocking up is one thing, but stocking up to extremes is unnecessary.
I also love all the pictures of workspaces. It makes me want to do a lot of work on my home office! But first things first – I’m still continuing to declutter my home, one small space at a time. After that’s done, then I can think bigger.
Megan is a 40-something government employee in the Washington, DC area. She got interested in Personal Finance when she got out of college and realized that her paycheck wasn’t going to go as far as she had hoped. Since starting this blog, she has managed to buy a house and make a solid start on her retirement goals, and hopes to help others do the same. Here is her story:
In 2007, I was a gainfully employed 20-something with no debt but not a lot of knowledge about personal finance. It was a co-worker’s comment about Roth IRAs that sent me to the internet, searching for information. It was then that I realized that I really didn’t know a whole lot about personal finance and that my current financial situation was due a lot to inherent frugal tendencies, generous family members, a fear of debt, and good luck. While that was working for me, clearly I needed a better plan.
While I had no debt, I was also pretty much living paycheck to paycheck and not worrying about going over budget (I say this as if I had a real budget) because I had an emergency fund set aside to cover any overages.
Except that’s not what an emergency fund is for.
So I did a lot of research, read a lot of blogs, and decided that I needed a plan. I needed to budget. I needed to know what I was spending my money on. I needed to prepare for the future.
I decided to create a blog not only to make myself accountable to others but also to share the knowledge that I gained along the way. I’ve learned so much from my fellow bloggers, and I hope that my readers can find something useful in what I have to share as well.
I love the “use it up” method of being frugal. It’s amazing how much longer we can actually go before having to buy more of something if we just put our mind to it! 🙂 Good work!
“Use it up” is such an easy way to save money. After going through all of my stuff, I realized I had a pretty nice stock of lotions (some half empty, others never opened) and body wash. Now, I only use my stock (before, my husband was buying soap that we were both using), and I try to use it throughout the day. I did the same thing with candles that were wasting away in my closet at home. I brought them to my office and have one lit at my desk every day. I’ve been able to almost use up all of my candles this way, and I’m actually enjoying them. Good luck!