Going thru my stuff, both decluttering and taking an inventory, was a real eye-opener.
I have so many stuff that will be enough for at least a year that I gotta keep a list of them to have my conscious and unconscious minds taking notes and to apply a shopping freeze.
Here are the items for which I will apply a shopping freeze till the holiday season (I cannot miss the sales taking place during the holiday season :)):
1. Books: every once a while an interesting and affordable book is fine. Other than that, no regular purchases. Books, my ever-lasting love, have been the first items I have had on shopping freeze and it has been going well 🙂
2. Trousers: except I get really good deals. I have so many trousers that I have not even used yet that it is ridiculous to go buy another one.
3. Boots and shoes: I seem to have stocked up shoes and boots. I cannot believe I have so many of them sitting on my shoe shelf.
4. Shirts and jackets: I have more than enough to last another year. Unless I find something really nice and with a small price tag, none will be purchased.
5. Socks, t-shirts, sports pants, and others: Another category of items I seem to have well stocked up. Nope – will not buy one.
6. Cleaning products; laundry detergent, dish detergent, hand soap, shampoo, and other personal care products: I just need to purchase toilet papers, hair conditioner, and hair dye.
7. Stationary items: None needed – pens, notebooks, and paper are all stocked up.
8. Rice, dry food (beans, chickpeas), dried veggies, tomato paste, spices, tea, coffee, creamer: I just need turmeric and maybe creamer – others are more than I can consume off in a year.
9. Kitchen items, cleaning clothes, sponges, and others: Only need bleach – nothing else.
10. Furniture and home decor: Would like to buy 2-3 art-work. Things that will bring joy and excitement to me.
11. Bed linens, towels, and others: None needed.
The list seems great to me. I was first upset about having too many sponges, cleaning clothes, paper towels etc, but now I can see that was done well as I shop them when they are on sale. And they are durable – so I can keep using them for some time. I am thanking myself for making these purchases earlier.
And from the list I can see that I have a small list of items to purchase in the coming weeks, which is alright (I like shopping, right? 🙂 ).
These lists also tell me that the majority of my future expenses (at least till the new year) will be on food, mostly vegetables, fruits, yogurt, eggs, beef and chicken (aaaand maybe some bread please? :).
I should invest in the pressure cooker real soon to cook beans at home (getting rid of can will be a delight for me) and to make my overall cooking efforts easier and more accomplishable.
Let’s see how this plan will go 🙂
cheers everyone
Life as I interpret it 
Woo hoo! you are really getting organised! I never buy canned beans. Usually buy organic in 5# or 25# bags for huge cost savings. Night before, I soak the beans, then while i’m working around the house, i bring to a boil, then simmer until tender – probably takes 1 1/2 hours to 3 hours. Use what i want that day, then freeze the remainder in 2 cup sized plastic tubs. That’s the size i use most often. Pressure cookers are bulky, very expensive, and tough to justify the cost unless you plan to do a LOT of canning. Just my 2 cents worth.
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well thanks 🙂 I love beans; I eat usually 3-4 cans of them a week (beans and lentils). you may be right that the pressure cooker can be bulky (is there no small size for people like me??); I gotta check as my kitchen is a small one. Soaking overnight and baking the next day is a great idea – I do that time to time, but since I am a lazy or impatient type, I end up with not cooking them well 🙂
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Well, yeah, gotta do what works for you; just throwing out an idea to cut down on cost and clutter; using what you already have.
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Books were a hard one for me to stop purchasing. We cleaned out the book shelves and removed over 1500 books. Hubby is happy I’m using the library. Even though I quit buying several years ago, it took a while to eliminate some from the house.
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I listed a bunch of books on amazon and sold a lot of them. Most I give to the library and they either put them on the shelves or sell them in the annual fundraising book sale. I use our interlibrary load feature to review a book before purchasing now. Actually purchase very few books anymore.
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interlibrary loan
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:)) I hear you…I am not sure how many I have but I am sure it is not as many as what you have got 🙂 I will keep the books that I have not read yet or loved reading (it is not uncommon for me to read a book over and over; except the novels; I can only read them once). I have done this before; donated many every year. I think I will be fine in sorting out them; but I know I will keep buying, at least once a while (books are great!) 🙂
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That sounds like a good plan 🙂 Decluttering is really time consuming and gets very challenging. I have been doing it seriously since the beginning of this year and have removed a lot of stuff but still I don’t feel like the house is getting any lighter. There are still so much stuff. I am not buying any clothes unless absolutely essential. One more reason for that is I have started exercising from January 2015 and I am hopeful of buying clothes in lower size 🙂
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it is nice to have people who are going thru similar phases; I also need to declutter again (not that I have a lot of stuff, but it does not “feel” light enough – just like your house :)) but I guess we are both on the right track. Good luck with your healthy life plan too 🙂
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