One of the lovely consequences of doing a huge de-clutter of our home and living with less is that we are actually saving more money! That is right, there is more money at the end of each month, despite rising food and gas prices.
How is this possible? Well, analyzing things lately, here are some of the contributing factors and the connections that I can see from our budget since we have been de-cluttering, including some things that will be with us long-term.
Bigger Tax Refund
All of the donations that we made were itemized and served as charitable deductions, leading to a larger tax refund than we originally anticipated. Blessing others with items that weren’t being fully utilized also blessed us with some extra savings.
Small Entertainment Budget
While we are usually careful about our entertainment budget, the desire not to bring things into the house has decreased it even more. Instead of purchasing the latest children’s DVD, for example, we have been happy living without it, we make more use of the library (including with magazine subscriptions) and have fewer entertainment purchases. We haven’t missed the extra things at all.
Fewer Toys More Playtime
With less clutter, the kids can actually see and better access the toys and games that they really love. This means that toys that haven’t been touched in a while have gained new life, and old favorite are played with more often. Believe it or not, the kids complain less about being bored or wanting something new.
With more space, I was able to take out the craft items, such as construction paper, stickers, beads, wiggle eyes, etc., place them in clear shoeboxes and place them on shelves which used to be stuffed with toys. The crafts are one of the kids favorite ways to spend their time.
Look for even more ways that less clutter saves in future blog posts!