No Spend November - Help!

Yesterday I told you about my plan for November -

No Spend November - You are welcome to join me in this at any point - here's the button:

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I'm not going to lie, it's already been a little difficult for me...it's so easy to just stop at the drive through on the way home with the kids, or order dinner when I don't feel like cooking and cleaning. To buy more stuff so I can have more stuff. Ugh, I have a spending problem!

So what can you do to make it easier? Well, here's my first suggestion:

Take stock in what you DO have.

The easiest way to appreciate what you already have is to pick a closet you store things in, and start organizing it. Trust me. 

Here's what happened to me yesterday:

I decided instead of finding ways to spend money, I'd go through C's closet.  I store clothes in there that they've both outgrown, some baby things (you know, just in case), and bedding.  I thought it was pretty organized.

Well...turns out lots of outgrown clothes have just been piling up in there - I guess when I get rushed I toss clothes there and find something that fits the child in question, instead of storing in the big plastic crates.

I went through all the crates and the extra clothes, and found everything Mr. C could wear this season, and hung all those up.  I ended up finding a whole winter wardrobe for C that I didn't know I had, since he hasn't grown much since last year.  I found some things for his brother too, that hadn't yet been outgrown. Best thing?  They both think they got special "new" clothes! 

I saved a fortune on clothes by cleaning the closet and got it organized as well.  How did I save a fortune?  One of my spending habits is to pick up clothes for the boys that are seasonally appropriate any time I'm at Target, since we're usually short of something.  Turns out I just hadn't adjusted for the season change yet this year...so I'm glad I searched.

I ended up with 2 big plastic tubs of clothing to donate, and I was able to update C's wardrobe and ditch some faded hand-me-downs. 

Score.

Find your weak spot -

It turns out being well organized is directly correlated with saving yourself cash.  

Do you have an overlooked area in the house? The garage, a closet, the basement?  Maybe you have a desk full of crafting supplies, and you don't know what you have any longer.  A yarn stash that grows and grows, a mountain of fabric, a pile of scrapbooking paper?

You can't know if you are replicating a purchase and wasting money, without knowing what you have.

For example, I have a family member who can never find anything, since it never gets put back where it goes.  His answer? Rather than look for it, and spend all that time, he spend the money to get a new one.  He spends money and now has duplicated what he already has. 

Unless you have more money than time, it makes more sense just to stay organized in the first place.  (Yes Mom, that just came out of my mouth.)

Sort it out -

Sort your problem area into piles - things to trash, things to donate, things to keep.

Trash the trash.

Drop your donate pile at your local resale shop.

Then check into your "keep" pile -

Take inventory of what you have. I don't necessarily mean writing it down, though if you want to, you should! 

Organize what you have - 

Many months ago, I did a week long series on organization...man that was a long time ago!

I covered fabric,thread, embroidery floss, and sewing areas. 

If you have a collection of craft punches, store them in a basket or box, and make a index card set (on a ring) of punched cards so you know what you have a what size.

Fold fabric neatly and sort by color and type being restoring it. If you are storing it in a bin, make an inventory list including the type, color, and length of the fabric.

If you are organizing clothing, sort by type (pants, shirts, dresses, etc) then by color.  Store seasonal clothing away until next year.

If you are cleaning out a freezer (especially a large freezer), make an inventory list to leave on the outside of the freezer.  Then you don't have to open it up and dig around to see if you have something, and you eliminate extra purchases!

Find a storage system that works for you, so you are aware of what you have!

By the time you're done?

You'll be wondering what in the world you were planning to buy anyway?! If you are like me, you had an excess of stuff, and just didn't realize how much you had.  

The acknowledgement that you have so much "stuff" helps kill the urge to buy more stuff.

And if you have a ton of "stuff" you located during your clean out that you'd like to donate, remember you can always host a garage sale and get some of your cash back.