How Getting Organized Is Helping Us Save Money

We’re getting organized! Taking the time to get our belongings, home and schedule in order is having a positive effect on our finances.

We organized our tools and DIY supplies.

We do quite a few home improvement projects. Our tools and supplies were a mess, so we’d buy a tool or screws or whatever because we couldn’t find what we needed. Our tools and supplies would be left lying around to get lost or ruined by the weather.

We’ve lived in this house for quite a few years. We are finally taking the time to really get things organized, and we’re getting rid of things we don’t like or use. We are making places for things so they’re easy to put away. I love using my label maker so there’s no question about where things belong. Easy to find, easy to put away.

Searching for something we know we have, but we just can’t remember where is frustrating and a waste of time. Buying something we already have but can’t find is a waste of money. Having things organized is so much better.

We cleaned up our paper clutter.

I’ve always been good about having a place to keep all our bills. Late fees and bank charges can add up quickly. But they can be avoided if you have a system in place for your bill paying.

I have all our bills set up to be due near the end of the month. This way, I sit down and pay all the bills on the same day every month. It’s much easier for me to do this than to have several bill-paying sessions spread out over the month. I have one of the old-fashioned mail holders hanging in my kitchen. When a bill comes in the mail, I open it and put it in the slot designated for bills to be paid. If it gets tossed on the counter, who knows what could happen to it!

The paid bills and household paperwork are another story. They were truly a disaster until I set up a simple filing system, based on this idea. Now there’s much less paper clutter and much less stress when I need to find something. It’s not color-coded or fancy, but it works.

The area of our finances where disorganization has been the most costly has been my lack of tracking our spending. If I don’t keep track of each purchase every week, it’s easy to overspend. I now have a simple budgeting and tracking system that works for me. I learned it from this book.

We organized our kitchen.

One of my favorite money-saving topics is cooking and eating at home. This is the biggest way we stick to our budget. If we buy a meal out for our family of six, even at a fast-food place, it’s a lot! I have nothing against the occasional restaurant meal. For our family, it just can’t be a lifestyle because we have other things we need to be doing with our money.

In my experience, one of the first places in our home to become messy is the kitchen. And who wants to cook in a messy kitchen? It takes work to keep a kitchen tidy, but there are many benefits.

We recently organized our pantry, fridge and freezers. Now we know what food we have available to cook with. I’m decluttering drawers and cabinets so kitchen tools and appliances are organized. Now it’s easy to use them. If our counters and sinks are clear, we can more easily prepare a meal. I make sure most nights that there are no dishes in the sink at bedtime so I start the next day with a clean kitchen.

Each week I’ve been taking the time to create a meal plan. This way we aren’t tempted to grab fast food. We won’t make those costly little “in-between” trips to the grocery store because we took the time to make a meal plan using the things we have on hand.

Sometimes I need a little motivation…

Keeping our home organized and tidy is not always at the top of the list of things I want to do. But I’ve found some ways to motivate myself. I play music on YouTube while I’m working in the kitchen. (This is my favorite.) Sometimes while I’m cleaning a room or folding laundry, I’ll play one of the “clean with me”-type videos. (Like this one.) I find it motivating to have someone else cleaning, too, even if they are only on my phone! Sometimes I listen to one of my favorite budgeting YouTube channels.

We organized our schedule.

I am fortunate in that my schedule mostly involves being at home. But I still have to schedule things. I need to plan grocery shopping, appointments, projects and the like. I also need to plan household tasks, like cooking, cleaning and maintenance. Then there’s the time I need to spend tending our garden and preserving the harvest. I do some part-time work from home for my dad and stepmom’s business, so I plan for that. No matter if you work inside or outside the home, a schedule or routine is helpful in maintaining organization in your home and life.

Combine your errands when you can.

My best tip for keeping your schedule under control is to plan your outings. For example, I plan one day in town and do all my errands. It’s a long drive from my house to a store of any size with decent prices. I do not run to town every day or so for this or that. Not only will I use time I could spend doing something else, I waste gas. And every time I walk into a store, it’s an opportunity to buy something I don’t really need.

Consider if you have too many activities.

Sometimes, in order to be effective in some things, you might need to let other things go. I found this to be true for me last year. With health problems and kids and grandkids moving home, I downsized some of my projects and commitments so I wasn’t overwhelmed. I’m considering weeding a few more things out of my schedule to make more room for what’s important to our family.

In order for our budget to work well, I need to spend time tracking our spending, making adjustments as necessary and finding more ways to save. If I have too many other things taking up my time, I will let working on the budget slide. Then we will spend more. Then it will take longer to reach our goals.

Planning helps avoid those last-minute purchases.

Having a disorganized schedule can lead to last-minute purchases. When we don’t plan ahead to make a homemade treat when it’s our turn to bring a Sunday school snack, we buy something at the store for much more money. When I don’t make sure I have something easy planned for dinner on a day we’re doing a big outdoor project, I’m tempted to buy convenience foods or fast food, which both cost more than homemade food.

There’s nothing wrong with a full schedule. But it’s important that I make time for the things I need to do to stay within our budget.

Make a list.

I’ve been making a list for each day of the things I need to accomplish. Many days, my list is bigger than the time I have and things get moved to the next day, but I get to them eventually. Having a list helps me prioritize my tasks, and at least I have a record at the end of the day that shows I’ve accomplished something. It encourages me to see the things on my list crossed off, especially on those days that I feel I’ve accomplished very little.

I hope my sharing some of the changes we’ve made around our home can be encouraging to someone who also struggles with not being as organized as they would like. It has helped make our home more enjoyable, and we are finding more ways to spend less money, which is helpful as we work toward our big goal of becoming debt-free.