It’s that time of year when many of us feel the call of the sponge, cleaning solution and boxes full to the brim of donated items all waiting to be dropped off at the local charity shop.
That’s right, it is spring cleaning season. It is also the ideal opportunity for frugal folks to maximize savings and cost.
The math is simple; the more stuff you have, the more time, money and effort you have to spend to maintain it.
This is not to say that you cannot have your favorite collections, but the rule of thumb should be that if you are frugal and still an ardent collector?
Resolve to collect one thing. Just one. Glass, figurines (a real cleaning time suck by the way), puppets, stamps…it honestly doesn’t matter, just don’t dilute your efforts and clutter your home. If you narrow your focus, you also will spend far less time, money and effort collecting.
I am not sure I am an ardent collector that way. I do buy the occasional trinket at a thrift store, but it usually has high sentimental value or is something that complements things I already have. I once found two bowls that were a near-dead ringer for the pattern I had inherited from my parents and our days living in Hong Kong. Since I’d already gifted the collection to my daughter, I could not wait to gift her the two additional bowls. It was a great moment.
I think the only thing I really collect is green depression-era glass. Since this can be pricy, I am forever on the hunt at estate sales, charity and thrift shops. Unless there is a huge tag sale, antique stores tend to be too expensive.
But back to spring cleaning, I like to embrace the one-drawer-at-a-time approach. While making a meal, I’ll pull open a kitchen drawer and clean it out. I also follow the if-I-haven’t-used-it-in-a-year strategy. This means there is a very good chance I’ll donate the item if I have not used it in a year or more.
One of the ironic finds in my kitchen this spring cleaning was a complete set of blades and support equipment for a food processor. The irony was it was all for a food processor I no longer had. The new one had just two blades and a fitting device. The old one was much smaller and did not have that equipment. The old blades had been taking up a lot of real estate for years. Years! Into the staging box they all went and I moved on to the next drawer. I do keep silicon baking molds that may or may not be used annually and I’m overly fond of my cookbooks (which I do use all the time), but anything else is open season.
One really fun strategy for clearing out clothes can be found in recruiting one’s family. My partner, after hearing the grandkids scampering back and forth upstairs with me asked what the noise was all about. I calmly explained that my tee-shirt drawer was over- stuffed and I needed to edit down. I therefore gave each granddaughter permission to pick six or so tee-shirts which they eagerly did. My only caveat was to leave my Boz Scaggs concert shirts alone. Because they actually asked who Boz Scaggs was (feeling pretty old after that), those shirts were not in danger. After freeing up my tee-shirt drawer of a dozen or more shirts, that chore was done. Explaining this to my partner was a funny moment because he looked me in the eye and responded, “Well played honey, well played.”
Unleashing the grandkids on the rest of my closet didn’t net the same instant results but it did help lighten the load. Take what you want ladies. Take what you want. Since we are all about the same shoe size, that is where they had the most fun. I am retiring in a few short months, so power high heels are no longer necessary. The kids can have them. I’ll keep one nude and one black pair for special occasions but the rest of them can go. There, lighter already.
If it all seems overwhelming, take the one-drawer-at-a-time approach. Just do one drawer a day. One cupboard a day. Don’t over think it. Just go through each drawer and cupboard and slowly you will have lightened the load, your load. Clean as you go, spray, wipe, tidy, reorganize. Hang your clothes back up by type and color. Tops and blouses together; skirts all grouped together and then pants, all by color. There, one more step toward being organized.
Resolve to donate anything you have not worn in the last year unless the item is of very high emotional value or a specialty item like something you might wear for a holiday or formal event. Note, every item cannot be of high emotional value. I once gave up helping a then-friend clean out her crammed clothes closets because she literally could not part with one single item and this when many of them were decades old. I quickly realized she was a hoarder of sorts and said I had somewhere else I to be. It was nothing personal as I am always glad to help out a friend, but clearly, she had serious mental issues parting with things, and it was going to be a total waste of my time. To her credit, she later was able to part with two full closets full of old clothes because her fed-up husband forced her apparently. And I know this because I’d lined up several charities that were willing to take women’s business clothes as a donation and he wanted to know where he could drop off her old stuff and get a receipt for tax purposes. I was glad to not be a part of that because hoarders can have extreme emotional issues and often need the care of support of fully trained and licensed, mental health professionals. Way out of my area of expertise. If you are a hoarder, I’m told you probably already know it.
But back to just being frugal old us. If you end up parting with a collection, you may be able to sell if for a tidy sum. There are many ways to sell but one of the safest is a neighborhood garage sale. Everyone within yelling distance opens their garage and sells a bunch of items at the same time. I find this approach a whole lot safer than selling things online. My city even has an annual event where local residents can rent a space for a few dollars, and everyone sells their wares. This is another great way to make a few dollars on collections or items that may have some value. Please note that used kids toys and clothes are often not very valuable. My daughter is part of a loose collective of moms who stuff all out-grown clothes in bags and trade ages/sizes kids clothes. They simply text the group that they have bags of clothes for a specific age/size/gender and somebody comes and picks them up. They have a couple of rules; first come/first serve and they leave the clothes in bags on their front porch. Taker takes everything, no questions asked and this way, she has been able to clothe her two youngest very inexpensively. Yes, she has to dig through everything and she launders everything judiciously but it is a great system. Her group does the same with gently used baby gear as well and the occasional doggy gear and equipment. It is a great system. They also put out text messages when in need of something and more often than not, somebody answers the call.
When my daughter first came to visit my new home, she brought her toddler with her of course. I knew we would be needing a pack and play (what we call in my family, ‘baby jail’), a lightweight, foldable stroller and a few other baby items. Nearly everything I needed I got at the local charity store for a song. A friend of mine now is expecting a visit from a gaggle of grandkids (four of them under the age of six!). I offered to loan her all my baby gear. It should be used after all and any way I can help, I will. Loaning costs nothing and helps out a friend. Once my daughter’s toddler is too old for the gear, I will be donating it all to charity. I am going to miss the baby swing most of all.
So, find a few minutes every day in your busy schedule and hit a drawer, or three, spring clean your way to a more organized, frugal you.
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the house behind 