The Annual 50%

The following is an excerpt from In The Trenches: Financial Survival During Times of Hardship. It goes nicely with my piece titled Make and Save Money by Getting Rid of Your Junk.

This will be fun, challenging, or almost impossible depending on your personality.

It is very easy to explain. Once a year go through every closet, every drawer, and every other storage area you have and try to get rid of 50% of everything you own. Sounds impossible but if you try it you will be shocked and surprised to find that you can actually do it. A friend and I did this together, we called ourselves essentialists.

I’m sure you’re asking why you would even consider doing this. Very simply, most of us have far more than we need or use. As a result we keep on spending more money on more things that we don’t need or use. Our houses get cluttered so we think we need a bigger house. Not only does it take money to buy, store, and maintain these items but it also takes time to buy, store and maintain these items.

The worst part about the whole situation is that if you go to sell these items, in most cases, and if you are lucky, you might get half of what you paid for it even if the item still has a price tag. At a garage sale the item often goes for pennies on the dollar. That, I think, is one of the main reasons we hate to get rid of extra stuff. We get internally outraged that no one wants to pay us “What it’s really worth”. So hidden in our closet we can keep on telling ourselves that it is hidden treasure and that we are lucky to have it.

The clothes closet is usually the easiest place to start with our 50% reduction. Usually it is easiest to start with someone else’s clothes other than our own. Don’t start with your spouse though. It can be a major issue if you get rid of their favorite shirt no matter how worn out or gross you think it is. So it’s either your own clothes or your younger kids.

Take everything out of the closet. Everything. Now count how many pair of shoes you have. 20? 50? Okay. What is half? Go through and get whatever is never worn, worn out or just a weird color that you love but never wear. Throw it all in a box. And move through everything until the whole closet is done. There will be some very easy decisions and some very hard ones. There is a common rule that says to get rid of everything you haven’t worn is a year. That works but for me some of the stuff I wear everyday is the stuff I most need to get rid of. Besides maybe you didn’t wear it for a year because you completely forgot you had it.

After all of the sorting it is time to put away everything you have kept. Wow. How did the closet get so spacious? This is also a good time to reorganize how you keep things. Shirts together, slacks, and jackets. Everything neat and organized. I go so far as to color arrange everything like the rainbow and it looks great. Color and type organizing also helps you to notice that you still have 10 pairs of slacks and 3 shirts or a beautiful red blouse with nothing to go with it. I once noticed that almost everything I owned was black. If you do need to go shopping you have a better idea of what you really need.

The sock drawer is always great fun. Small children love to help you work on this one. After going through all the pairs of mismatched and holes in the heels you might find you only have three really good pairs. Or conversely, someone once gave me a big garage bag of socks that I washed and sorted and got about 60 good pairs of socks. I was able to give them to someone who needed them.

It is also a good time to add a new bar or shelf to your closet if needed.

Now, having successfully gone through 1 closet or 1 drawer what are you going to do with the stuff you have decided you don’t need? Nothing. Just find a place to set it aside and out of the way for 3 months to 1 year. Sounds silly but a necessary part of the process. In two months you may find yourself digging through the box to get that winter scarf that you really shouldn’t have gotten rid of.

Just as an experiment select a few items you are planning to get rid of. How much did the item cost? How much is it now worth if you were to sell it at a garage sale? How many times did you wear it? This might surprise you. Let’s say you spend $100 on a dress you wore 4 times. That is $25 per each time you wore it. Now look at those favorite $7 sweatpants that you wore almost everyday after work and you are now getting rid of because they have been washed hundreds of times and are now an embarrassment.

So what is the point? The money spent is your investment dollars. Which item was the better investment? The question can be answered in two ways and it comes back to our needs, wants, and desires idea. The sweats were a much better investment from a usage standpoint so you might want to buy 3 more pairs just so they don’t get so worn out. The dress was maybe a waste of money unless it helped you land your great job or attend your son’s wedding. There is no right or wrong answer but by thinking about it you can make better decisions in the future.

After a few months have passed it’s time to do something with all the stuff. If you haven’t done so already, don’t forget to dispose of the items that are stained, ripped, or otherwise unusable. You could have a garage sale. You could donate it to a thrift store. Or, you could take the items to your favorite charity. You can get a receipt for a tax-deductible contribution. My personal favorite is the pass around club, which I’ll talk about in the next chapter.

I never finished answering the first question. Why would you want to do this?

1. Gives you more space for things you really do need or want to keep.

2. Someone else can use all the stuff you don’t want or need. They may even be delighted.

3. I hate to mention this one but having lots of stuff attracts mice and other pests.

4. By going through all of your stuff you can learn a lot about your weaknesses and spending habits. Do you have a weakness for buying shoes? Do you buy clothes on sale that don’t match anything else you own? Do you have clothes in your closet with price tags on? Or, do you love to buy fancy clothes that you never have anyplace to wear? Do you hate to mend and have many great clothes with missing buttons and hems coming out?

By taking the time to look at your spending habits you may come up with some better ways to use your money. This section has focused on clothes but the same methods and principles apply to all items in your house. Are your towels so worn out that they need to be replaced? Maybe having a garage sale will help you come up with the money to get some. Oh, and finally, check out the condition of your dishtowels and potholders. If you don’t know what I’m talking about then good for you.

Toys, Toys, Toys.

A special note about toys. With all the birthdays and Christmas’ that go by a child can end up with so many toys that they don’t want to play with any of them. A couple quick tips. Get rid of all the broken ones. Designate a specific place where the toys are to be kept that limits the space available like a toy chest or a bookshelf. Pick out the favorite toys and box up the rest. Rotate the toys every couple of months. Kids love it when they get a fresh supply. But just make sure not to try and hide the favorite stuffed animal or doll. We are not trying to break any hearts here.

Pass It On

After doing my first essential 50% sorting I was ready to do something. Some items went to the thrift store but we happened upon a great alternative. I took all my bags to a friend’s house and they sorted through, took what they wanted and passed it on. We continued the passing and friend after friend had a chance to go through it. They took what they wanted and added some more. Pretty soon we were passing everything from clothes, to drapes, to furniture. We all got blessed and it was surprising to find how often something we did not need was just the special thing that someone else needed and was glad to have. And we all were glad to get rid of stuff.

And that’s all it is. You can be the one to start your own pass it on circle. Depending on what you have pick a person you think might be interested. No strings attached. That’s the important part. Some people may take much and some just a little. Some may give much and some little. Don’t worry about it. Remember these are things you don’t want or need anyway.

If you don’t have anyone to give them to you can check with the school to see if there is a needy family.

And, of course there are other ways to pass on your unneeded items.

• Thrift stores – Many will give tax-deductible receipts.
• Garage Sales.
• Advertise in the newspaper or at the grocery store bulletin board.
• Swap meets.
• Craigslist.

Comments

[Matt]

Thanx for the reminder.

I look at my house and yes it could use a good purging. There is way to much stuff in everyones house yet I can not buy into the 50% rule. Maybe a 25% is more like my style.

[Holly]

I have asked my husband and kids to help clean out the cluttered basement this Sunday (mostly the kids' old toys, clothes, art supplies, and books); when he saw more than one mouse a few nights ago, my husband wholeheartedly agreed...it will be my Mother's Day gift!

[ghuraba]

I did this with my wallet the other day, it went from a Costanza to a ... (fill in with some reference to skinny wallet).

[Squirrelers]

Interesting number - 50%. At first glance that seems quite high, but the more one thinks about it, it's probably realistic for a lot of us.

Decluttering is a good thing. Its expensive on the mind and wallet to keep unneeded clothes, toys, etc. One man's trash is another's treasure.

[KCLau]

I agree that it is really hard to get rid of the things we used to make use of regularly. For example, I have lots of music CD and I purposely make some customized CD racks just for those CDs I rarely touch.
I think the last time I take a look at the collection was more than a year ago.

Sell those stuff or give them away. Anyway, by getting rid of them it simply simplifies your life.

[Nancy]

I would LOVE to do this...to include selling one of our homes (weekend cabin) and one of cars but my husband will not go for it.

[Budgeting in the Fun Stuff]

We actually aren't all that cluttered, but we do have to tackle papers and mail that builds up every few months...it takes over.

As for "stuff", if I can sell the four things I have left from spring cleaning, we'll be good to go. We did a major purge last year and haven't added to it except for papers and mail...

[MC]

This is a great thing to do---and it feels so good! It is amazing what we hang on to even though we don't have any need for it.

One way to psych yourself up for this: remember that feeling when you first moved into a new apartment or house? When you had pared everything you own down to the essentials because you were moving, and now your new apartment that you just moved into looks so bar and clean and full of possibilities? You can get that same feeling by eliminating your unwanted junk. Just "pretend" that you are moving across the country and go through and toss stuff that you wouldn't bother taking with you. I did this after a divorce when I couldn't afford to move out of the house I used to live in with my ex---it's a great way to start making your old home feel like a new one, without the expense and hassle of actually moving.

[Georgai]

I did a very little of this last month. Our small town was having a city-wide yard sale. I had lots of stuff to get rid of. I was going to have my yard sale as a give-a-way sale. So the wife of a youth minister said if I was going to give it away anyway, would I consider giving it to the church youth to raise money for a trip they were planning. I said fine. I have them 12-13 large boxes and bags of stuff.

I now realize that I don't even miss the stuff and space wise, I can't tell I even gave the stuff away. That means there is more to go.

But the lovliest part of the give-a-way was that whenever I filled a couple of boxes or sacks, I could take it to my friend's house and she stored it or took it to the church. It wasn't staring me in the face at home and begging me to keep it. Heavenly!!!!

I am older, my kids live about 500 miles away and if something should happen to me, it would be a mess for them to sort out all my stuff and get rid of it in the time they could be home.

I am cooperating somewhat by not adding more stuff to the house. I live in a 1000 sf trailer. I can't wait until i have lots of extra room.

[Olivia]

We've been doing mini purges the last few years in certain rooms, but papers are a real issue. And it's time to leave the living areas and move onto the cellar and attic. I honestly think the stuff breeds.