It’s that time of year when we start going through our cupboards to try and start afresh.
But while a ruthless declutter can make you feel great, you could be wasting cash in the long term. Follow these tips to make sure you’re being savvy about your decluttering, and learn how to reduce clutter without also reducing your bank balance.
Take your time
This might sound obvious, but for many of us once we get the need for a ‘stuff purge’ and declutter, we try to speed through the task, desperate for it to be done. This can result in hasty decisions that you later regret! Set aside an evening or a few hours each weekend for several weeks.
Focus on one area each time: your wardrobe, the cupboard under the stairs, your kitchen cupboards, under the bed, the attic, or the garage. You might need to break bigger areas down into a few sessions, too. Taking your time helps you think hard about what you’re trying to get rid of, as well as consider other options for items instead. Could you donate to a friend who needs it, or repurpose it around your home to prevent yourself spending on other items?
The other bonus to taking your time is that you can form an action plan. What will you do with the new space? There are lots of ways you can make money from your home – and your unwanted clutter – so making a plan can help you treat it more like a money-spinner than a chore.
The hanger turn trick
One example of how to take your time when decluttering is the hanger turn trick. Take everything out of your wardrobe and put the hangers back on the rail the opposite way around, so the hook edge is facing you. Over time, as you take items out to wear, when they go back in the wardrobe put the hanger the usual way around.
In a few months’ time, you’ll clearly see which items you have worn and which have stayed unused. Of course, there are some exceptions here, such as your formal suit or dress you wear once a year to weddings. But in terms of things like jeans and tshirts, you might be surprised that your ‘favourite’ top you couldn’t part with hasn’t been worn in months!
Find free collections
If you want to get rid of a large amount of furniture or bulky items, take stock before you think about renting a van or paying the council to come and remove them. For furniture that’s in good shape and still has any fire tags on soft furnishings, your local charity is likely to have a furniture warehouse with a pickup service. Check what’s available in your local area and find out if they will collect for you.
If you’re decluttering a lot – such as clearing out a probate property – call around house clearance companies. They will come and take everything for free, because they make a profit by selling items on instead of charging you a removal fee. Make sure you’re very clear about what should be taken and what should stay, to avoid losing great-granny’s Ming vase by accident!
If you’ve only got one or two items that you want to get rid of but can’t get to a charity shop or sell it online, pop on Freecycle, NextDoor, or Facebook Marketplace for free. People will be willing to collect items if they don’t have to pay for them, so be prepared for your email inbox to quickly fill up if you offer lots of things for free collection!
Think longer term
You might really not want those skis – but even if you haven’t gone skiing in the past couple of years, is there a possibility you will? When it comes to expensive kit, furniture, or even record collections, think about the long-term usage rather than what you have used in recent months.
For example, if you have young children, and your own sports kit from your adventuring days, it could be worth holding onto for now. It would mean your child could try out the sport or hobby before you spend a lot of money, when they’re old enough.
Of course, storage space does impact your decisions here. So, rather than keeping hold of everything ‘just in case’, dedicate just two cardboard boxes to this type of item. Write on the side of the box what it contains, and that’ll make it easy to review without unpacking it all every few years.
Consider co-ordinating your declutter
You’re not the only one who wants to declutter at this time of year. There are often big-ticket items in our homes that we only use once or twice a year, which take up storage space but we need to keep for those rare times they are actually used. Camping kit for summer festivals, for example, or a wet-dry upholstery vacuum to keep your sofas clean.
Coordinate your decluttering with friends. Share the items that are sometimes-but-not-often used, with one of you keeping the item and other friends getting rid of theirs. Between your family or a small group of friends, you will be able to create an item library where you can each share the thing you need without everyone keeping hold of a duplicate that takes up space.
Find alternative uses
Before you get rid of something in your declutter, think about whether it could be repurposed another way in your home to save money on other items. Old containers and boxes can be great flowerpots for the garden, for example (in fact, almost anything can be used as a planter if you’re creative!).
Furniture might have a new lease of life in a different room – that occasional chair in the spare room could be a useful addition to create a reading nook in your kitchen, for example. Think laterally about any object you want to get rid of before you throw it away. There are loads of ways you can be creative with repurposing furniture, hardware, storage options and more. If you’re stuck for ideas, check out this list of 76 repurposing hacks from the Family Handyman.
Sell what you can – consider downgrading
The final way to save money is to firstly make money and then buy a simplified version of the item you don’t use. Hear us out! How often have you bought something but then avoided using it because it was too fiddly, difficult to wash, or had too many functions? There are often items in our home that we want to get rid of because they feel like clutter, but their use could mean saving time around the home (and, as we all know, that means saving money).
Get your unused items like this up on eBay or other online marketplaces to raise some cash – and then look for the simplified version that you could use instead. Use the cash to buy it – bonus points if you get a second-hand one or find a great online deal to save more money.
Some of the brands and websites we mention may be, or may have been, a partner of MoneyMagpie.com. However, we only ever mention brands we believe in and trust, so it never influences who we prioritise and link to.
