Money Saving Mom®

During the month of October, I’m following along with Edie & Ruth on their 31 Days of Less & More journey. I’d love for you to join in by reading the posts and completing the projects, or just sit back and read along each day.

Less Surface Clutter

As you probably already know, I’m not really into surface clutter. In fact, Ruth & I are a lot alike.

I’m positive that some people would come to my house and think it’s entirely too empty. But we love the uncluttered look. Here are four reasons we don’t have a lot of clutter:

1. It simplifies things because I have less to clean up. The less stuff you have, the less stuff you have to take care of.

2. It makes things easier to find. When you don’t have as much stuff, it’s easier to put things away.

3. It provides breathing room. I love wide open spaces — they allow my soul to breathe and make life feel calmer.

4. It saves money. The less you buy, the more you usually save. Plus, the less you have, the less you have to pay to maintain.

More Art

That said, I’ve come to actually love having a few things on my walls. I like to put things on the walls that remind me of wonderful memories, inspire me, or make me smile.

{Truth be told, I don’t think I’ve really ever physically hung anything on my walls — my friends and family are so great to help me out there! If it weren’t for them, I doubt I’d ever actually get anything up on my walls. It’s completely not a core competency of mine!}

There are always incredible photo canvas deals floating around the internet and they are a fantastic way to pull off a big wall-hanging on a budget. I took advantage of one of these to blow up a photo I took on that amazing cruise my husband and I took. This photo hangs in our beach-themed bathroom and is a constant reminder to me of a special memory.

This is my favorite wall in our home. I smile every time I look at the beautiful faces of my children and I am reminded that the years are fleeting as I see how much they’ve grown up since we had these pictures done late last year (the one with them in green is with their cousin and was taken three years ago — amazing to see how they’ve grown up since then!)

Photo deals abound on the internet or in the newspaper. We usually use a coupon or a Groupon voucher to get a great deal and I only get professional photos done of everyone once a year.

You can purchase frames at the dollar store (you can paint them to match your decor, if you’re handy like that!) or with a coupon at Hobby Lobby or Michael’s. Then, just switch out the photos every year or six months — and you have wall art on a dime.

Oh and that Family decal? I purchased it with a Groupon voucher. Love it!

For more on this topic, check out Ruth’s post on Less Surface Clutter and Edie’s post on More Art. I promise you’ll be inspired and blessed!

During the month of October, I’m following along with Edie & Ruth on their 31 Days of Less & More journey. I’d love for you to join in by reading the posts and completing the projects, or just sit back and read along each day.

Less Kitchen Confusion

If you’re anything like me, you do a lot of baking and cooking from scratch. And this means you have to have an organized kitchen. Otherwise, everything becomes chaotic and messy very quickly. Here are a few things that help me have more organization in the kitchen:

Stick With a Few Appliances — Despite what manufacturers want you to believe, you don’t need a different appliance for every single thing you do in the kitchen. Consolidate your appliances and only have those that you use very regularly and that serve dual purposes.

Cut Down on the Cookbooks — With the advent of the internet, cookbooks are becoming less of a necessity. In fact, as much as I love cookbooks, I only have a few of them. Because I mostly just use Pinterest and blogs for recipe ideas.

Clean As You Go — One surefire way to keep your kitchen more organized is to train yourself to put things away as soon as you use them. It’s amazing how much more efficient and less messy cooking becomes when you clean as you go!

More Organized Pantries

I have to confess: I don’t have any fantastic system for organizing my pantry. I just basically make sure I can see everything and that it looks in decent order.

But if you’re looking for a detailed list, be sure to check out this Pantry Stocking List printable. Or, read Ruth’s post on How to Deep Clean the Kitchen (she also has a wonderful free printable available).

What are your best tips for keeping your kitchen and pantry organized?

For more on this topic, check out Ruth’s post on Less Kitchen Confusion and Edie’s post on More Organized Pantries. I promise you’ll be inspired and blessed!

During the month of October, I’m following along with Edie & Ruth on their 31 Days of Less & More journey. I’d love for you to join in by reading the posts and completing the projects, or just sit back and read along each day.

Less Paper Clutter

As you well know, I kind of despise clutter. Or, probably more accurately: I can’t stand clutter. And it’s no different when it comes to paper clutter. Here are some things that we’ve found to be helpful:

Adopt the No-Pile Rule — Except for my husband’s dresser, we try to strictly adhere to a no-pile rule. I’ve found that a small pile quickly grows—without any effort. If you don’t start a pile in the first place, you can avoid a lot of disorganization.

In the Door, In Its Place — Instead of collecting piles of paper around the house until you have time to deal with them, take care of them immediately. When mail or other papers come into our home, I go through them right then and there and throw out everything that we don’t have to keep. Then I put each item in its specific place. For instance, bills go on my husband’s dresser, magazines go in a basket in my office, freebies go in the household product stockpile closet, coupons in my coupon box, and junk mail in the trash.

Avoid clutter-collecting furniture — We don’t own furniture that tends to be obvious clutter hotspots. I’ve found that when there’s no place to collect piles, you are much less apt to make them.

Set up a special memorabilia storage space — I have two big storage containers with lids that I’ve designated specifically for storing mementos. Not only does this provide a place to put special cards or pictures that come in the mail, but it also keeps everything in one place and not overflowing into other parts of the house. When the bins start to get full, we go through them and pare things down a bit so that we can have more space.

Though not exactly paper clutter, emails are something that are taking over many people’s lives. Need some help taming the email monster? Read my post on How I Keep My Inbox to Fewer Than 5 Emails.

More Filing

I have to tell you, I’m more a fan of trashing than filing. But I’d rather have a file than a pile. So here are some of the things that have helped me keep on top of paper clutter:

Create a Simple System — A system is only as good as it’s operator. Don’t over-complicate your filing system. Even just a few files in a file box can work. For more details on setting up a system for your important documents, check out the five-part series we ran last year on Organizing Your Important Documents.

When In Doubt, Throw It Out — Okay, so some people might disagree with me on this, but I think there is no reason to hang onto something “just in case.” Give yourself permission to just chuck it without guilt.

Use a Scanner — If you think you might need it later, scan the document and save it in a file so you’ll have it if you need it later. You can download an app for this or get a cheap scanner.

For more on this topic, check out Ruth’s post on Less Paper Clutter and Edie’s post on More Filing. I promise you’ll be inspired and blessed!