How To Avoid Adding Clutter To Your Home When Shopping!

Hi Honeys,
I hope you're having a fabulous, smile filled week :)  Hubby & I are using our week off work to plough ahead with decluttering and organizing our home but I thought before we started today's project, our upstairs hallway which is home to our mini library of books and CDs, I'd have a cuppa and share with you my tips on how I stopped buying unnecessary stuff and keep (potentially new) clutter outside our home where it belongs :)

Seriously honeys, Hubby & I are working our way through a backlog of many (many) years worth of collected odds and ends AKA clutter so the last thing we need is to keep adding to the already considerable task at hand :/

Something had to change and it did!  I can honestly say, with hand on heart that we neither of us buy anything anymore without asking ourselves the following questions...

How NOT To Clutter Your Home When Shopping...

So, how do we prevent ourselves from sabotaging our decluttering and organizing journey when out shopping and we're tempted by pretty things?  

You know the scenario honeys, you're walking through a store and bam! you're drawn, against your better judgement of course, towards something sparkly (don't judge me I love glitter & pastels :) Well, why not try....pausing.

By all means pick the item up but pause.  Don't simply pop it into your basket and head for the checkout.  Before parting with your hard earned cash, pause and consider:

1. Will this item be used regularly?  

Have you fallen for pretty packaging? There is an entire industry built on convincing us we desperately need completely useless things such as kitchen gadgets which are used once and then resigned to the back of a cabinet never to see daylight again.

If you have even the slightest, most minute, doubt about a potential purchase, do yourself (and your decluttering attempts) a favour and put it back onto the store shelf and walk away.  If you do go home, think about it and then decide you still want to buy it, by all means go back, buy the object and enjoy!  Mostly though, you won't go back honeys, I don't.

2. Is it actually needed?  

Those pesky ad men again! Not all products we see on TV in the breaks between our favourite shows are universally necessary.  In parts of the East and South of England for example, the water supply is hard water which can ruin kettles, dishwashers and boilers by leaving horrible chalky deposits.  In Scotland we are blessed by not having this problem so my beloved washing machine is safe :)

This also means that the countless TV ads for limescale prevention & removal products are a complete waste of money here and yet they still sell massively! Why? Because those pesky Ad men convince everyone these products are essential for keeping our expensive kitchen appliances safe. Simple solution is to do your homework before buying a product honeys.  In this case it would be as easy as a phone call to your local water board.  

3. Do you already have a similar item? 

Something perfectly able to carry out the potential purchase's task? I've never understood the need to constantly upgrade to the very latest version of things... just because.  It seems so wasteful to me.  My phone is a little (pink & glittery actually :) Motorola clam shell handset. It's over ten years old (did I hear gasps just then? lol) it has photos of my furbabies past & present stored inside and I adore it :)

As I think about it though, this might not be the best example since I think my beloved wee phone might be reaching retirement age :/ It doesn't hold a charge anymore (much like it's owner lol) and since I'm a blogger (I so love being able to say that honeys!:) I have a feeling I should (at some point) drag myself into this decade so I can use Instagram :)

I'm sure you can see what I mean though honeys.  Where is the sense in buying an item to replace a perfectly working similar object you already have at home?  Again, why not put it back and see if you still want to buy it next day?  Chances are, the moment will have passed and your attention will have moved on to something else.  

4. Is your heart ruling your head?  

Are you buying something because it has an emotional connection? For example, do you remember a pretty owl lamp I bought?

At the time I convinced myself I'd bought it because it was pretty, I loved owls (and I so do) it matched a much loved cookie jar & ceramic owls we already had.....

and after all it was on clearance.... the reasons went on and on.   The fact of the matter was that I'd previously bought two of the exact same lamps, from the exact same store, some time before for my beloved Mother-in-Law.  I still haven't dealt with the pain of losing Mum and I think I'd confused having this pretty little lamp with having a part of Mum still with us.

5. Never, ever buy "maybe" items. Ever.  

You know the ones I mean honeys. You see something that seems as if it's just too good a bargain to pass up and after all your existing whatever-the-item-is won't last forever and it will save you having to stump up for a new one when it finally gives up the ghost....

STOP! Step away from the tempting bargain, which you know is going home with you to take up residence in a cupboard where it will be forgotten about completely and when the other whatever-the-item-is does break down you'll have forgotten you bought this other one anyway and go out and buy another :/  Madness! 

What's the worst case scenario? OK, you go into the kitchen to make yourself a lovely cuppa before going to bed and your kettle has ceased to be!  It's gone, never to boil again!  Oh no! Why didn't I buy that bargain kettle when I saw it a few weeks/months/years ago!  You know why honeys, because you can buy a kettle for next to nothing at Asda/Walmart and they're open twenty four hours.  Result.      

6. Plan your purchases and always take a list.  

During this week off both Hubby & I have booked, we have each day accounted for in order to get the most done :)  On Thursday this week we're off to Ikea (yaaaay!) but we'll be going with a list...

I had previously blogged explaining why the Ikea shopping list resource is so completely invaluable to us and it so is honeys.

The Ikea store is quite a distance from us so each precious trip there is always planned to the tiniest detail.  Arriving with a detailed shopping list (you'll notice the list above even has Hubby's much loved cinnamon buns on it) helps us remember everything we're planning to buy but it also helps prevent us from buying impulse items.  A little planning ahead prevents purchase regrets later.

So, what are your tips to prevent clutter accumulation when shopping honeys?  Do you make lists before a shopping trip? and if so, how well do you stick to them?

Back to work upstairs, till next time dear ones, smile lots and hug even more, huggles always xxx