5 Ways Decluttering Saves You Money

We're knee-deep in an intensive declutter of both of my boys' rooms right now. After years of sharing a sleeping space with a bunk bed setup, they are moving into separate bedrooms. This means that we have to clear out some excess furniture from the second room, rearrange other furniture, move some from one room to another, and most of all, get rid of a lot of junk and items they've outgrown (we're trying to eliminate an entire beaten up old bookcase from the second room, one that stored lots of bins and baskets full of toys).

This is what my older son's floor looks like right now:

And my younger son's looks like this:

Currently, we're at the point right where I almost feel like throwing my hands up in despair; decluttering always makes things look worse before they get better! So, to make myself feel better, I've been reminding myself of all the ways decluttering can help save money:

1. You find things you've lost that you were going to spend money replacing. Those errant scissors, stray tools and missing craft supplies magically seem to reappear during major decluttering sessions.

2. You discover items you forgot you had that you can reuse/repurpose. This is one of my favourite decluttering rewards: unearthing a long-forgotten object for which I suddenly have the perfect use.

3. You eliminate the need to buy organizing supplies. Forget that trip to IKEA or The Container Store - once you get rid of the stuff you don't need, there's not a whole lot left to organize, and the containers/bins/shelves you already have are likely up to the task.

4. You realize you didn't really need half the stuff you bought in the past.This can be a really big eye-opener for some people. All those items that never got used, or got used once then tossed in a heap somewhere, are a real money drain (not to mention all the wasted resources that went into their manufacture.)

5. You can sell that unwanted stuff to make some cash. Yes, it's every declutterer's favourite hobby: listing items on eBay, Craigslist and Kijiji. It's great to make some money while getting rid of unwanted items, but it's also worth remembering how much more you paid for it than you're selling it for - did you get your money's worth out of that item, or learn a lesson about what's necessary and what's not?

As for us, we'll have a lot of toys and books to pass along on Freecycle, and we'll be listing a mighty big box of Bionicles and some Transformers on Kijiji. I can't wait to see the floors again.