Correlation: Limiting Clutter and Lower Spending

I finally have my husband on board with de-cluttering our home and acknowledging that we have too much stuff.  It took me organizing my closet and commenting on how much I love how clean and organized everything was to get my husband to join the club.  He started with his closet, purging the majority of his clothes: many of them I had never even seen him wear.  Next, he turned all of his clothes one way.  If he wears an item, he will hang it up the other way so he can see what he does and does not wear.  In other words, hubby is taking this de-cluttering idea further than me! J 

After we purged and organized the contents of our bedroom closets, armoires, storage under the bed, bedside tables and dressers, we moved onto the kitchen.  I woke up one morning, and Todd had all of the contents of our kitchen cupboards on the countertops and dining room table.  We went through every single item, getting rid of those that were expired or items that we would not use.  This took us less than 45 minutes to complete: we took on this task one morning before I left for work!

Confession:  The oldest item we found in the cupboard was a box of cornbread muffin mix in a box.  I have been making my own homemade cornbread for the past several years, so I never had a need to use the boxed product.  The expiration date:  April 2009! 

Now, we are going through our home room by room, little by little, getting rid of the contents we do not use as we go.  I still have a date with the Tupperware/storage container cupboard one of these weekends, but things are coming along.

I have noticed that since we have been working on our home, the natural spender in our family (my husband) has been making fewer trips to Walmart before work in the mornings.  We went out for a date at the end of February and I was astonished that we went to 4 stores and spent only $9.12.  That $9.12 was on items that we needed only.

I am noticing a direct correlation between de-cluttering our home, the amount of stuff we bring into our home, and the amount of money we are spending.  Being the natural saver and the one who is looking to simplify our lives, I am enjoying watching this process unfold.