Frugality vs clutter?

[mommymath]

Hi all! I'm new here and have to tell you that I looooove the forums!

How does everyone balance keeping-stuff-because-you-can-use/reuse it vs getting rid of clutter? It is something I'm constantly struggling with and I'm curious about how folks find a balance.

[AmyBoz]

Welcome, Annie!

I try not to keep anything. Things that I do keep in order to re-use (ie: bread bags, ziploc bags, etc) I keep organized in a drawer or in a box. The trick is always storage. Also, decide how much use you can REALLY get out of something before keeping it. Keeping it because you "think" you'll use it is different than keeping something because you ARE using it.

My personal feeling is, if you aren't using it now and haven't for awhile, then get rid of it. It's not worth letting it clutter up your space.

[midwestgal]

Often I use the "one in, one out" method. If I pick up a new top, I look through my closet for one I haven't worn for a while or doesn't fit anymore. If I find two, that's even better. These go in a Goodwill bag. How many pairs of shoes or slacks do we need? How many dishes? Do we need to keep all the books we have already read? Mail seems to be a big culprit. Sort through it right away. It seems that 80% of it today can go to the recycle box immediately. Over the years, I have become more and more vigilant about the stuff floating around our home. Life is so much more peaceful without the clutter!

[canadian gardener]

I find that it's easier to pay attention and time to frugal pursuits like menu planning or doing things to lower the heat and light bill when I'm not tripping over piles of stuff.

So I dejunk regularly and try not to keep stuff I'm not using.

If I'm not using it, it's not helping my frugality efforts either. which is a thought. If I release it to someone else to use, then everybody wins.

I hate garage sales with a passion. Most of the stuff I've bought in them is stuff I hand on a year or two later to the charity. So I just dont junk myself up with it. And I loathe having a garage sale, so I just give stuff away and the charity benefits the homeless so again, everybody wins. (plus they do pickups)

Keeping a set point of how many of an object you want on hand.

I save grocery bags till the holder is full. NO MORE than that. I have washable reuseable plastic containers that are "disposable" that I don't dispose of. I use them rather than so much plastic wrap. But when they've had the biscuit, I trash them.

I use washable cloth stuff (sanitary pads before my hysterectomy, cleaning cloths, dh's hankies) but I also have paper towels on hand for occaisional use.