How to Save Hundreds & Increase Square Footage While Doing Less!

Save hundreds of dollars? Yes, please!… but not if it means eating spaghetti every night and never leaving the house. Increase square footage? Would love to, but who the heck wants to move? Do less chores? Um, yeah… most of us are already so stretched that increasing is certainly not a palatable option!

So how do you do it? It’s simple! And I am here to tell you that I do this at least once a year, sometimes twice, and it works like a charm every time!

The summary: Use up everything single thing in the house before buying anything more. Anything you can’t bring yourself to use, throw out. Do not do this doggedly, like a cleaning project. Instead, do it day-by-day as you prepare meals, take showers, or do your normal housecleaning.

Kitchen example: Think about what’s in your pantry, freezer, etc. What’s in there? I’m willing to bet plenty of readers are thinking, “I have no idea.” The truth is, we often have that one package of frozen chicken at the back of the freezer, the four bags of rice that each have only an inch left in them, etc. If you have kids, I would put money on the mega-box of granola bars you bought at the wholesale club—right before they decided that they don’t like those anymore.

Use up every single solitary molecule of food in the house before buying anything else. (You will get to a point where you need to fill in on perishables before you’ve used up all the canned goods, etc.) The result? Tons of increased space, no expired food, teaching your family not to waste, and when you do a new shopping (see below), everything will be fresh, organized, and you’ll know what it is!

See this related article: “I Refuse to Buy Groceries For My Family.”

Bathroom example: If your toiletries get anything like mine, chances are that you have a whole bunch of extra hair gels, lipsticks, and whatnot. Perhaps you decided to try a new one but the color isn’t just right or your hair doesn’t come out as good. Use it up or get rid of it. Believe me, if you still haven’t used that peacock green eye shadow you’ve been saving since high school, you’re not going to use it at all. Either use up the hair gels, etc, or just toss them… they’re only taking up space anyway. After about a month or two, you will have identified the products you actually like and use, and only those will be replenished.

Cleaning supplies example: Look in the place where you keep your cleaning supplies. What’s in there? Chances are, it’s like a near-avalanche of things you’ve bought but don’t use because they didn’t turn out to be as good as your favorite. Use them up or get rid of them. Yes, there might be that special cleaner that was supposed to be so great and was kind of expensive. Push comes to shove, that money has already been spent. Either use it up or toss it.

Preparing to re-stock: Eventually you will get to the point where things are used up. You’ve already pushed yourself to the point of creating a dinner out of one packet of brown gravy mix, three one-inch amounts of different kinds of rice, and a can of corn. You’ve made a granola bar pie. Your toilet bowl has been subjected to a multitude of different products and the thing is either extraordinarily clean or crying out for your fave. Here are some simple tips to save and improve when restocking:

• Make a list and stick to it. Do not be wooed by alternate products that are on sale, etc. You’ve just proven to yourself what you will or won’t actually use.
• Even if you don’t normally use coupons, use them now. This is going to be a big shopping and since you haven’t really shopped in months, it’s no big deal to spend a few minutes gathering some now.
• Go to the cheap store for restocking on things other than fruits and vegetables. Even if you’re not normally a “multiple-store” shopper (I’m not), do it for this trip… you’ll save a ton by purchasing canned goods, cleaning supplies, etc, at the cheaper store.

 I hope you enjoy this article and if you decide to try it, I hope you will share by commenting below!