Directly related to knowing what you own, is using what you own. This one should be a no-brainer. I mean, why own it if you're not going to make use of it?
This goes for a lot of categories of items. Clothes, furniture, appliances, toys, sports equipment, tools, vehicles, even your home and your yard!
Clothes: obviously, unless you are a nudist who lives in a warm climate, you're going to use clothes. But let's be honest now, how many pieces of clothing in your closet or dresser haven't you worn in at least a year? Why are those particular pieces still in there? Will you ever wear it again? If not, and it's in very good shape, try selling it. Make a little cash off of it. If you're not going to wear it, and it's in so-so shape, is there somewhere you could donate it to? Think outside the box. Maybe a preschool would take it for a bin of "playing dress up" clothes. Or, maybe the local high school or community drama/theater group would like it for their costume closet. Or, maybe you know someone who would love to have it as a hand-me-down. Or, perhaps as clothes it's not all that use able, but as fabric it is. Maybe it could be used by someone who quilts or makes rag rugs.
Now, for those clothes that you do want to keep, and do plan on wearing, make sure you do! And if they are good quality and traditional colors/cuts, you can keep and wear them for years rather than purchasing identical new ones. I have a black, straight skirt in my closet that I've been wearing for at least a decade. It's not worn out yet, and it's still in style. I also have a knit, brightly colored floral sundress that I wear. I received it as a hand-me-down from my mother. She bought it in 1993. In 2011 I wore it to DS2's graduation, and got compliments on it. Obviously not out of style yet. How much money have I saved by keeping and using those two items through the years versus buying a new black skirt or a new floral sundress several times since first acquiring mine?
Furniture: Maybe a little off the wall here, but use your furniture. You paid money to get it, make sure you use it! Be creative in the pieces you own before you go out and buy specialty pieces. I have a 2-drawer file cabinet next to my bed. It's a file cabinet. . .and it's also a night stand, holding a bedside lamp, my alarm clock, and whatever book I'm currently reading. I could have gone out and bought a night stand, but I had this file cabinet that I outgrew (and was lucky enough to 'inherit' a 4-drawer one that fit in the same footprint in my study/office). So now I can keep my non-financial files--my folders of quilt block instructions, lists of blocks for a future sampler quilt, handwritten notes on story ideas, etc--upstairs where I do my crafting and creating while at the same time not needing to spend money to get a 'table' to set my alarm clock on.
What do you have that is useful, but not being used at the moment? What do you want that perhaps that item could double as? DH's 'night stand' is an 18 gallon plastic tote that holds my scrap fabric. Not as pretty as a wooden table, but it holds his alarm clock just as well (yes, we have two alarm clocks. . . long story. I'll just say he's a heavy sleeper who can shut the alarm clock off without waking up or realizing he's doing it. I got tired of being late. . .)
Another furniture item I have that does double duty is my cedar chest. A 16th birthday present from my grandfather, it originally belonged to his mother, my great-grandmother. It sits in my living room, where it holds extra bedding and pillows for overnight guests who might need to sleep on the couch. On top of it, I spread a decorative piece of fabric relevant to the current season, and display framed family pictures. One piece of furniture, two uses.
Appliances: Let's keep it short. Appliances, especially small appliances, are like clothes. How many do you have? How many do you use? How many do you really need? Do you have any that you could sell? How many will suit more than one purpose, and therefore keep you from buying more? I have an antique waffle iron (I assume a 1960-something chrome appliance is now an antique, lol) with removable/reversible plates that are flat on the back side. It makes waffles, or pressed sandwiches. No need for a sandwich iron/panini maker.
A blender is the original whipped drink maker. No need to buy one of those little wand things that make your drink frothy. A blender is also great for grinding nuts, making baby food, or powdering dried cayenne peppers from the garden into some really kicking cayenne powder. Really kicking. If you do this, do not breathe in the vicinity of the blender after removing the lid. And whatever you do, don't stick your finger in the powder, then lick it. You will blister your mouth (DD1 will confirm this). Use about 1/2 the amount of homemade cayenne that any recipe calls for.
Toys and Sports Equipment: Kids are really innovative if given the opportunity to be. They don't need every toy under the sun. Probably they will have some tried and true old-faithful favorites, and ignore the rest. So, you know what to do with the rest! Sell! Donate!
Sports Equipment is the same. If they don't use it and won't in the foreseeable future--foreseeable being from now until they leave home for college--sell it or donate it. If you aren't going to use it, there's no sense taking up space with it. There's also no sense in it moldering in a garage, basement, or shed for decades when it has resale value now.
Tools: many tools have several uses. Knowing what can be used for what, and what it will also do in a pinch, will, at times, keep you from having to purchase more tools. A utility knife will not only cut a sheet of drywall to size, it will also cut the twine on a bale of hay, cut open a bag of potatoes that the darn pull-string got knotted on, and reduce a broken-beyond-repair couch into small enough pieces your trash man will unknowingly haul it away without charging you extra. A framing hammer will pound a nail just as well for you as a finishing hammer, if you have the right touch and good enough aim.
Vehicles: They're expensive to buy, expensive to insure, and can be expensive to maintain. If you've got one, you sure better use it! No sense having one sitting around that gets used once in a while. Not in a day and age where you can rent a truck if you need to haul stuff. I'm trying to figure out a way, once the kids are all gone from home, that I can convince DH to be a one-vehicle family. I mean, if the furthest I have to go to get to 'work' in a day is 1.5 miles, I think I can handle that without driving. Once upon a time, a car was a luxury and it was a rare family that had more than one. Unless you and your spouse both work at the same time in very opposite and distant directions and no public transportation or alternate transportation is available, could you possibly get along with just one vehicle?
Your home and yard: How much time do you spend in them? How much recreational time do you spend elsewhere? What do you pay per month, and in property taxes to own this house and yard? Do you use it enough to justify that expense? Mine get used a lot. My kids have never had a birthday party at a place we had to pay to use. It was senseless, since we all ready had a house and a yard at our disposal. When one house we lived in was too tiny to handle an indoor fall birthday party of eight rambunctious six-year olds, we cleaned out the garage. The kids thought it was the coolest thing. The backyard hosted a 'sprinkler' birthday party in July. The kids had a blast donning bathing suits and running through the sprinkler, then beating on a pinata hung in a nearby tree. None of them ever said to me "This party sucks, you should have had it at Chuck E Cheese." We've hosted scavenger hunts, and weenie roasts for middle schoolers and teens, all in the yard. We have, so far, had two graduation open houses at our home, each of which had over 100 guests. No hall was rented to handle the crowd; we cleaned out the garage, borrowed tables and chairs from our church, set up volleyball in the front yard and croquet and bocce in the back yard, and lit off a bonfire after dark. We're planning a repeat this June when DD1 graduates.
Use What You Have. Otherwise, why have it? If you don't use it, you wasted money in the acquiring of it, and are wasting more in the storage and maintenance of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment