Ah yes, one of my ever present struggles. . .
I know that one of the best ways to be frugal is to use what you have. Occasionally I have trouble finding what I know I have, or-much more frequently- forget about the things that I’ve already bought.
Like the box of buffalo chicken mix I found in the cupboard.
Where did it come from? Was it a gift? Did I buy it on sale? Was I craving chicken wings while I was in the store one day? I have no idea. I usually shop at Aldi’s and Save a Lot, where they don’t even HAVE this sort of thing. . . so who knows how long it has been languishing in my cupboards. Lucky for me, this sort of dry mix doesn’t go bad, so we’ll be having buffalo chicken some time this week. . .
But the point is, most frugal people need to be organized in order keep track of their stuff-maybe even more so than their non-frugal friends. We tend to stockpile food, toiletries and gifts when they are on sale-but these things do you no good if you forget that you have them. Has anyone besides me had the embarrassing situation of going out and buying at full price something that you couldn’t put off purchasing until the next sale, only to find a few days later that you already had that item stockpiled somewhere in the house?
Then there is the data we need to keep track of. Not only do we want to keep track of our lives, kids/spouses lives and the masses of paperwork that entails (without buying a $100 Franklin Covey Planner thank you very much), but then there is the paperwork that a frugal family might accumulate. Receipts kept so items can be returned. Price book information. Recipes printed off the internet. Frugal craft ideas to keep the kiddos from driving you insane on some rainy days.
And last but not least, the real life clutter that everyone has to deal with, but that want to deal with in a creative and frugal manner, rather than running out to buy some plastic bit or bob to deal with the problem.
So I’m going to start something of a weekly feature, and concentrate each Tuesday on organization. Stay tuned!
Great ideas. I find those Space Bags work great for clothes and linens to organize. I also find if I use less and use only what I really need things cost less. Annette
The best organizational tool I have is our huge paper shredder. Paper is the worst offender in our home. Thanks for the great blog! CAP
I can’t wait to follow along with you! We have the same issues in our home. I’ve found that my husbands long lost skills as a box boy in high school have been paying off lately. LOL!
I’m there with you! Even with the paper shreader in the “office” and the recycle bin right by the front door for junk mail and assorted papers, we still get taken over by paper. Stock piling is necessary byt takes up room. TIME in my house is hard to come by, and really, that is what we need. I need the time to get “given” stuff organized. I have bags of hand me down clothes in the basement. Have no idea, really, what is in them or the size. I need room and time. For me, that is this summer when I can spread everything out in the back yard and not worry about rain (it usually does not rain in the summer in Portland, OR). Got any organization ideas that do not involve room or time? (or maybe just less room and less time :)) Evelyn
We too have bags and boxes of clothes in our basement- on special shelves. Now what we do when clothes find their way into our house is to label the bag or box with the sizes and gender of what is in it. The unlabelled mess is another story…
Wow, looks like I hit on a popular topic. I don’t claim to be the most organized person in the world, but we’ll share ideas and all work through this together.
Also, this will force me to get some areas organized myself 🙂
I’m often on a different computer where the pop-up blocker prevents me from making comments so I’m late in commenting that I’m very much looking forward to your postings on this topic.
On other subjects, thank you for the suggestion of caramel corn as a frugal gift (I made some for everyone on my Christmas list) and the referral to recipezaar, which is by far my favorite source for recipes now. I’ve been finding terrific soups there this winter. -Mac
Mac-Thanks for commenting. I’m so glad the caramel corn worked well for you-it is so yummy! Isn’t Recipezaar great? It is my top resource for recipes too. I always thougth it was funny that I don’t see it mentioned too much around the blogosphere.