My Frugal Year

I love lazy Saturdays, don’t you? It didn’t start out lazy. There was an early board meeting for a non profit group I’m involved with, but the rest of the day was just hanging out with the family. I like days like that. We didn’t go out or do anything really. We were just all at home doing our thing. Reading, playing on the computer, watching a movie. It was nice.

No spending today, which is good since I made the Costco run the other day. Since today was a lazy day that means tomorrow needs to be a productive day. I plan to do some de-cluttering in the basement. It’s my plan to be nice and ready for a good weather weekend to come along and finally do this garage sale I’ve been meaning to do. Garage sales are a great way to get rid of stuff that’s just clogging up your home and to make some nice extra cash. Nice way to beef up the savings account! The only problem is that it’s January in Colorado. This means any given weekend there could be a blizzard or 70 degree weather. Makes it tough to plan. The best I can do is get everything organized with price labels and when the weather cooperates, throw a Craigslist ad up and a few signs and get it done.

So, we’ll see how much I actually get done tomorrow!

Some deals and coupons for today:

Betty Crocker Coupons

Nestle Toll House Coupon

Enter to Win $100 in Grocery Money – Carnation

$10 off at Old Navy – Expires 1/20/09

I decided not to fill the tank today. I realized I already had half a tank and I’m not doing all that much driving this week, so I’m holding off.

No real spending for the day. My husband had to spend $3.50 on parking for work. No real way to save on that. It’s the cheapest one can find close enough to where he works. This problem will be fixed when we can get him that scooter because he’ll be able to park for free 99% of the places he works.

I was thinking about “stuff” today. The new year is always a good time to get rid of stuff you don’t need anymore. I have a lot of that. There is some stuff I will put up on eBay (though I’m not thrilled with eBay like I used to be…things have changed there!) Most of it, though, I think will end up being donated. There is a lot of clothing my children have grown out of. Some of it I will take to a local consignment store, but the bulk of it I will donate.

Having a house full of useless “stuff” stresses me out. I’m weary of clutter. Even so, from time to time I still get that urge to go get more stuff. This baffles me. What is it with that human urge to buy things? I am really going to make an effort this year to only buy what we absolutely need. “Need,” of course, is subjective. I have felt many times that I needed something that truly was just a want. I like to have a lot of books around. Do I really need to buy them, though? The library is a great, free option. Read all the books you want, and when you find one you absolutely have to have to keep forever, go buy it. I won’t be buying any books this year that I haven’t first read for free to make sure it’s something I really want to keep and potentially have to store and/or haul around when we move.

Now is a really good time to really consider what things in your home are just laying around, getting in the way, not providing any particular use or pleasure. If it’s pure junk, just throw it away. If it can be of use to someone else, give it away or sell it. It’s amazing how much more peaceful a home can be when there is less “stuff” in it.

I wonder how many boxes of stuff I can unload in the next week. Stay tuned for more on de-cluttering.