We have all seen advertisements for product that enticed us into believing that “I just can’t do without that!” and “I must have one!”  We have fallen in love with the idea that the advertisement is selling. I say idea because even though the idea is great that doesn’t mean that the product is going to live up to the expectation that you have drawn up in your head.

The tip today to save you money and wasted space is to get on your computer and look for product reviews for these “must have” items before you rush out to buy them. Granted you can’t always believe the reviews either but if there is any doubt that the item won’t live up to your expectations and is probably just going to become a dust collector in you home, then you need to think twice about buying it.

I need a new mixer at the moment but the one that seems to suit my need the best doesn’t have good reviews so I am taking my time looking for alternatives that may work better for me. Lets face it if it is something you don’t need immediately you can take a bit of time to shop sensibly.

My item for today is an old pair of reading glass I have kept “just in case” but the nose rest are broken off and that causes irritation to my skin. It is time to go.

I have a part-time job selling furniture and quite often I encounter people who are wanting to buy chairs to go with an old table that great aunt so and so left to them. They are looking for chairs because even though the table is going strong the chairs that go with it are no longer safe to sit on.

Now more often than not these people admit that this is a beautiful well crafted piece of furniture that should be appreciated for what it is but the fact of the matter is that they would prefer that is was being appreciated by someone else. They have kept it purely because it is a heirloom and has been passed down through the family for years and cousin so and so would be appalled if you were to get rid of it.

There in itself lies the solution to this problem, offer it to cousin so and so for them to love and cherish and pass on to the next appreciative relative. If there is no-one else in the family who wants it I believe that leaves you free to sell it to the highest bidder.  Sometimes these things can fetch quite a pretty price and sometimes that is the only thing we like about them. Why not cash in now.

The old tools that are today’s item are one of those things that were kept by my husband for years for just the reason mentioned in today’s blog. I hope they have gone to someone who has an appreciation for this kind of thing and be much enjoyed by their new owner rather than stuffed in a cupboard in the garage.

Rule number one of de-cluttering…

Just because you have something that was given to you as a gift doesn’t mean you can’t get rid of it.

A quick story to emphasise this point. When moving house once when I was a teenager we were packing up a clock that had hung on the kitchen wall for as long as I could remember and for just as long it had been 10 minutes fast. One of us said to Mum “Isn’t is time we got rid of that stupid clock it has never kept time properly” and my Mum’s response was “I can’t get rid of it, it was a wedding present”.

While carrying the box  the clock was sitting in up the stairs to the new house, it fell out of the box and smashed to a hundred pieces all over the stairs. My mother laughed and said “well that’s the end of that”, swept it up and seemed quite happy to see  the last of it. She clearly didn’t care for the clock and had kept it all that time just because someone had given it to her.

Lets face it, people don’t scope your house for the gifts they have given you when the come to visit, and if they do well that’s just a little weird. Maybe they will learn to stop buying you stuff that is not appreciated and is only likely to make it to the next garage sale.

This goes both ways so next time there is an occasion where gift giving is appropriate, donate something to a charity on their behalf or buy them something consumable like chocolate,  fresh flowers or a fruit basket.

Todays item is a bike that has rarely been ridden in the ten years since I bought it. I am donating it to “The Bike Guy” in Newcastle who collects bikes from all over and passes them back on to anyone who drops by who wants one.

How many of you have all the following cleaning products cluttering up that space in the laundry cupboard,  under the kitchen sink or in the garage.

Microfibre Cloth & Water
• Window Cleaner
• Car Wash
• Floor Cleaner

Toilet Cleaner
• Drain Cleaner
• Mould Spray
• Bleach

Cream Cleanser
• Metal Cleaner
• Stove Top Cleaner

All Purpose Spray
• Shower Cleaner

Carpet Spot Cleaner
• Pre-Wash Spray

In my experience you only need the four products hi-lighted to do most of the cleaning jobs around the home. Toilet cleaner with bleach will do the job of all of the products in the same group.  Carpet spot cleaner will double as a pre-wash spray when doing the laundry and in my experience will do it better. Water will do the job of window cleaner, car wash and floor cleaner when used with the right micro-fibre cleaning cloth/mitt. All of the products in the cream cleaser group with do much the same job as one another and the multi-purpose spray will cover most of the other jobs that need doing around the home. Micro fibre really is the key to a clean home not chemicals. So cut down on the chemical, it not only save space it save money as well.

Today’s item is another pair of shoes that haven’t been worn in the last three years.

Lets face it, we all have clothes in our closet we haven’t worn for some time that for one reason or another we are reluctant to part with. Well, today I have a plan to help you sort out your closet and at the same time take away the difficult part of that task, choosing. Pick a friend someone you have known for a least a couple of years  who you trust and value their opinion. Ask them to help you go through your closet and decide for you the items that they feel need to go. Since they have known you for a reasonable amount of time they will know what clothes they have never or rarely seen you in and because you value their opinion they should feel free to tell you which items are out-dated or just wrong for you. You never know you might both have a bit of fun in the process.

Today’s item – A pair of Doc Martins although good, rarely worn.

Sometimes to de-clutter can mean downsizing.

Today’s item is a set of speakers and a tuner that have been taking up an un-necessary amount of space in our lounge room for some time. Even though we have replaced these items we still have ended up with “Less Things” because we have replaced two speakers and one tuner with one small i-Pod Docking station.

This is an example where de-cluttering is costing money, even though we did sell the old items on eBay for $50 it cost $399 for the new item. Taking into account that my husband bought the speakers and tuner before we were married 23 years ago I am confident that we have got our money’s worth out of them and are justified and replacing them with an item that better suits our needs in the 21st century.

Sometimes we can end up with multiples of certain things hiding in several places around the house. The Allen Keys that are today’s discard are a perfect example. They seem to have bred like rabbits throughout our house, some in the garage, some in the office desk, some in the kitchen drawer and some in that useful tool kit we keep in the laundry. This causes a two part problem, firstly- that there are just too many of them and secondly- that when you do need one you may forget some of the places they are hiding and end up having to buy another because you can’t find the size you need.

This problem is in part due to buying flat pack furniture as there are tools provided with every piece you buy. The idea is to use them and throw them away. In our case though we move around a lot due to my husband’s job and this kind of furniture survives a removal better if it is disassembled. What we should have been doing is comparing the new tools supplied with the ones we already have and toss them away if it they are duplicate of others. Also we are too lazy to walk the extra few metres to the garage where it makes the most sense to store tools of this nature instead we like to keep them handy “just in Case” hence why they accumulate in every corner of the house.

My point is that a little bit of sensible organisation can help cut down on the clutter and save a few dollars simply by knowing where something is when you need it, putting it back there when you are done using it and discarding it if you don’t need it.