How to stop being a stuffaholic

Picture a place. A place where each room was filled to capacity with piles of things. Some lovely. Some not. Lots of laundries needing to be folded, magazines were thrown about, piles of papers in abundance, mail collecting by your doorway, and kitchen counters covered with belongings, most of which were from who knows where.

A time when seemingly every square foot of my home was covered in games, toys, papers, books, manuals, legal books, clothing, and all things dusty. I the blink of an eye I moved from a newlywed collecting articles for a new life of wedded bliss towards a home full of chotzskys, clutter, and chaos. I had turned into a full-fledged stuffaholic.

Had there been a 12-step plan for Stuffaholics Anonymous, I would have been the perfect test subject for treatment.  I can see myself standing up and saying, Hello, my name is Nicole, and I’m a Stuffaholic. So, how did I get myself and my family to stop being stuffaholics? Slowly, over time. Specifically, in the past year while in the process of becoming a minimalist I was forced to examine why I was a stuffaholic. This soul-searching didn’t take long as I knew where all of this stemmed from.

My cluttered home and my cluttered emotional state stemmed from my childhood, a fear of the unknown. Growing up I remember my grandmother keeping two toasters in our home, one for use and a spare. She would often tell me that items in a home should be maintained like Noah, in pairs. And through this experience, I slowly over time developed the just-in-case disease. The disease that tells you that you cannot be happy or productive without the things you think you may one day need. This fear of the unknown was at the root of my unnecessary spending from year’s past, was causing me anxiety, and was turning my house into the set from Sanford and Sons.

The realization hit me like a ton of bricks. And when in my own home I saw the evidence of just-in-case’isms at work I was taken back.  We owned toolboxes full of tools, just in case we need to fix something. My kitchen was full of appliances just in case we want to prepare a new, different sort of meal.

We even have closets full of clothes I knew we’ll never wear just in case an occasion should arise. What was worse? Many of these items were hugely valuable assets, costing hundred upon hundreds of dollars that only get used occasionally, such as televisions in spare rooms, gaming systems, formal furniture, appliances, and expensive handbags, jewelry, and shoes. In the grand scheme of things, my home lay as a monument to the incredible waste of natural, economic, and emotional clutter.

Resources that once lost did little more than cause phantom power leaks and collect dust. With time and consideration, I have been able to curb a lot of spending, shopping, and unnecessary accumulations in my home. And so you may be asking, what can be done to cure this need to bring more and more things into our homes? Here are the thirteen tips to help you curb shopaholic tendencies:

Tune out Marketing

Advertising and marketers know us very well.  They are so well-versed in ways to make us want their shiny new stuff. But unlike children are drawn to Saturday morning cartoon commercial propaganda, we now can control both our emotions and purse strings. We can simply say no to spending. Turn off the commercials, unsubscribe from email listings, recycle your weekend advertisements, and put marketers on the back burner.

Utilize the Sharing Economy

Utilize public service first. Before buying books check out your local libraries, before purchasing music check out Youtube or Pandora to listen to the music for free.

Borrow before you buy

Need a tool? Ask a neighbor. Utilize the tools knowledge, and help of friends, family, and neighbors first.

Adopt a potluck lifestyle

You don’t need a house full of dishes, service pieces, platters, and the like. Have only dishes, cups, plates, and utensils you both love and utilize lately. When it’s time to entertain ask others to bring pieces from their homes with them. Being a gracious host sometimes means allowing others to be generous to you as well.

Consider a Capsule Wardrobe

Sometimes pairing down your items capsule wardrobes, wardrobes consisting of under 37 pieces, allows users to laser focus on making the most out of the least amount of clothing options you already have on hand. You can wear your truths right on your sleeve. No credit cards needed!

Conduct a household inventory

Before you shop look in your closet, check your pantry, check your fridge, look in cabinets and cupboards to make sure you’re not buying unnecessary duplicates. If you have enough shoes, dresses, electronics, DVD’s, food items to last you a season, just stop! You don’t need to buy another couple of outfits from Gymboree, a new purse, or another soon-to-be-lost kitchen gadget.

Carry a shopping list

Make a list of what you plan to buy and what you plan to spend on each item before you shop. Buy only from your list. This can greatly help eliminate unnecessary spending in-store.

Put items that you want to buy on hold for one week

Placing unneeded items that you want to buy “on hold” for one week. And at the end of the week, you might find you really didn’t need it after all.

Sales are for suckers

Not every sale is worth shopping. But it’s worth noting that most sales, for nearly everything, are cyclical and will be back around in one seasons time. I tell myself there will be more sales.

Bring cash

Leaving your credit cards at home and using only cash will help you see just what a true financial impact overspending can have on your budget and on the clutter coming into your home.

Track what you spend

Don’t fudge the numbers. Track your spending by writing down everything that you bought this month. Put down the exact price. You need to see where your money is going. You may be shocked at what you see. You may be surprised to see how easy it will be to stop budget leaks too!

Purpose your time

In lieu of spending, use the time you would have been shopping to find ways to pay down credit card debt.  Start by making a list of all of your credit cards, the balance due, minimum payment due and interest rate. Put the card with the highest interest rate at the top. Plan to pay off that balance first. Talk to creditors about lowering the interest rate. You might need to liquidate stuff to pay off debt too!