This month, I aim to be more organised in all aspects of my
life, I’m going to explore if being disorganised causes me to spend more. An I aim to be ruthless, being ruthless is something I’m no stranger to, but when it comes to being ruthless with what I own and stopping myself spending, that is another mission entirely. This
is my reasoning:
I’ve often wondered, if keeping everything organised, and
accessible, is the key to spending less. When everything feels organised and
you can see and find everything you need instantly, you are constantly,
subconsciously, keeping check of everything you own.
When things are chaos, you can’t find anything, so do you
buy more because you either forget you own it, or simply can’t find it?
My room is currently a work in progress. I am renovating and
moving things around and slowly getting rid of things I no longer have use for,
or simply just don’t want. I almost feel like this in-between stage is the
hardest. You are in limbo of one area being streamlined and clean, whilst
another looks like my washing basket exploded.
I am purposefully waiting as long as possible to do any
washing, so I am forced to wear everything I own. That washing basket chaos is
my own fault, but I can now see how not being able to find anything tricks you
into thinking you don’t have anything.
We live in a fast paced society, we are expected to grow up
fast, we demand fast from our technology, we demand a fast paced career pushing
ourselves to the brink, so when we cant’ find something “fast” are we assuming
that we need to go out and get it? Are we being programmed to consume more and
more?
I’ve said it before, space in London is limited, it’s almost
impossible to put a price on space, although the estate agents will charge you
upwards of 250pw for a small room, in a house. We are told that shopping is
“Retail Therapy” to cram our tiny spaces full of the latest and greatest.
There are a few tricks to ensure we don’t cram our spaces
full of things we don’t really need.
Organisational Tips
X Get into the habit of putting things back after you’ve
used them. This makes tidying up quicker and things are less likely to build
up.
X Regular clear outs, okay so everything has its space, but
suddenly that space is becoming cluttered, work out what you no longer need,
put it into storage, sell it, or donate it to charity.
X For all important documents, go digital. Download and
store manuals on an external hardrive, scan in all receipts when necessary and
go paperless for bank and credit card statements, you’ll be amazed at how much
clearer everything becomes once it’s available at the click of a button.
Steps to accepting chaos (when chaos is inevitable).
X Work out how long you’ll be in Chaos for, write a plan for
being out of the house, visit friends, the gym. Chaos is generally manageable
in small doses.
X If you can, don’t sleep in chaos. We need a clear space to
get a full nights rest, the more chaos we’re surrounded by, the less we sleep,
the less patience we have resulting in that retail therapy trip you’ve been
avoiding.
Clean mind, clean space, fuller wallet?
Mission for May,
Consume less, appreciate more, slow down. Review will be up at the end of the month.
X TWC
