I have whatever the internet equivalent of nesting is. I just can’t get any theme to look right. And to top things off, I lost my copy of PhotoShop when my hard drive died. I could ‘acquire’ it again easily, but I try to keep things legal round these parts.

On the other hand, I don’t seem to be struck by the nesting instinct in real life. We finally got the nursery painting/carpeted, but the dresser is sitting in my garage waiting to be sanded and repainted. It was our former roommate’s ex-wife’s, but she left it behind when she ran off.  Her loss, our gain. I did manage to sort out all the hand-me-downs by size and get them into storage, though. Thanks to all my cousin’s having girls first, out kiddo is going to be the best dressed tot in town. I think Mr. and I bought a grand total of two outfits, yet kiddo has more clothes than I do.

Okay, so it's not this bad yet.

The rest of the rest of the house is just an epic disaster. The guest bedroom is filled with baby paraphernalia (most of which I don’t even understand) and the junk that was in the nursery. Mr is still moving into his office, so there are boxes and boxes of files and assorted other crap in my living room. I’m in the middle of a very complex costume for this weekend (which I might not even get to wear now) so the back room and my studio are a mess.

And the mess really doesn’t bother me. It probably should, but I think my brain finally overloaded from trying to get all the other stuff done for baby and I’ve reach a sort of clutter-tastic zen. Well, that and I’m so huge that bending over to pick anything up is a massive effort.

Oh well.

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When we moved in, we had very little in the way of furniture. We own a 4 bedroom colonial and we came last year with a loveseat, a tv and stand, two computer desks (w/computers), a folding table and chairs, a bed and some storage cubes for my studio. Now we’ve got so much crap I find myself having to shove it in the basement in anticipation of Craigslisting it.  (And  yet somehow we still don’t have a kitchen table.)

Granted, at the moment a lot of the clutter is baby stuff because we’re waiting for the carpet to be installed so all the furniture and such is stuffed in guest bedroom. There’s also boxes of clothes and toys to go through from my cousins, who were no doubt overjoyed to pack all their kiddie stuff up and make someone else deal with it. Not that I’m complaining; their generosity has saved us hundreds of dollars. There’s also the matter of dealing with my maternity wardrobe (or at the moment, dealing with my regular clothes). I’ve got to figure out a good organizational system to store them for the next time around.

There’s also a matter of me being a packrack for business reasons. When you’re dealing with fabrics that cost $$ and you have to order at least a yard and deal with shipping, even if you only need 2 inches, you tend to squirrel away any scraps in case you need it again. I’m trying to cut down on the mess by making some non-costume related stuff up to sell (breastfeeding covers, aprons, etc.) but I’ve still got to sell what I make for that brilliant plan to work.

Anyway, enough of my whining.  I thought I’d use this opportunity to highlight some of my past posts on clutter, selling stuff, etc:

• What’s the big deal about decluttering?
• Frugality is cleaning out your closet
• Kitchen Decluttering
• Kitchen Decluttering Part Two
• Getting the most money out of ebay

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Yesterday we took on the counters and drawers, today we’re going to take on the cabinets, pantry and cleaning.

Take stock of what you have in your cabinets and figure out what you really need. Mr. and I ‘inherited’ a set of glasses when a friend got a new set and ended up with an entire cabinet full of sets of 12 cups that we used maybe 4 of. We even had the fancy juice glasses that no one ever uses. It was was wasted space and a waste of glasses. When we moved, the set was pared down to 8 8oz glasses and 8 16oz glasses and the rest were donated to a bachelor friend in need. If we’re having a party, we can always borrow more glassware from friends.

If you’ve got a few shelves of plastic storage containers, now is a good time to go through them and look for ones without lids. Also toss any containers that were not designed for long term food storage or for food storage at all. Saving $5 over 10 years because you’re using old Cool Whip containers or film canisters is not worth the chance of leeched chemicals.
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Kitchens are one of those places where we tend to build up a large supply of items that are supposed to make our lives easier. Take one look inside of a kitchen drawer and you’ll usually find a jumbled up mess of various tools that were used once and then shoved aside (and there’s usually one drawer that’s just a mess of bits and pieces of stuff from around the house). Among the pots and pans there are specialty pieces that never get used. And the pantry is usually filled with things that expired a long time ago.

When you go through all the items in your kitchen, ask yourself

• What is this for?
• Do I know how to use it?
• Have I ever used it?
• When is the next time I’m planning on using this?

It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you could possibly need a specialty item in the future. But you have to really ask yourself whether or not you use an item on a regular basis. Sure, crepe pans really make the process of making crepes easier, but if you only do it once ever 5 years, the pan is just wasting space.

Remember, you can usually borrow kitchen items from friends, neighbors or family if you really need the item, so don’t be afraid to remove items you don’t use at least on a monthly basis.

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If you’re a regular browser of the personal finance and housekeeping blogs, you’ve probably noticed everyone harping on the idea of ‘decluttering’. So what’s the big deal? Why is a lack of clutter a frugal thing? How exactly do you go about decluttering?

First and foremost, decluttering is important not just for aesthetic reasons, but because part of being frugal is making good use of what you have. Sure, a messy desk can detract from the look of a room, but it’s also a pain to use and there may be stuff buried under than that you need or that you aren’t using because you can’t see/find it.

Same thing goes for closets. What good is having 50 outfits if you always wear the same 10 because the rest are buried at the bottom of the closet? If you’ve only worn that pair of shoes once in five years, they aren’t doing you any good, even if they are gorgeous.

If you decide you want to simplify your home, remember that it’s going to be slow, tedious, and occasionally emotionally draining. You probably aren’t going to be able to just tear through with a black garbage bag and toss everything. We tend to put a lot of emotional weight on our ‘stuff’ and it’s easy to get caught up in the whole ‘but I could need this in 2 years!’ pattern of thinking. Then there’s items with sentimental value of their own.

So here are my tips on how to start to declutter. This is what works for me, but by all means do what works for you.

1. Start small. Don’t try to do the whole apartment in one go. Start on one area (kitchen counter, a desk, a bookcase) and work from there.
2. Donate/Keep/Toss/Relocate Have four boxes (Donate to Charity, Keep in this Room, Toss Away, Relocate to another Room) and label each one. When you sort through any area, have these ready. If you try to carry/move items around your home, you’re likely to get distracted, so just dump them in the appropriate box and keep going. Overachievers can make the Keep box smaller and only let themselves keep what fits.
3. Do the Six Month Test. Have I used this item in six months? Do I actually see myself using it in the next six moths? Not ‘I could possibly need this even though I haven’t used it in three years’, will you actually use it. Of course things like emergency supplies, formal/out of season clothes, and practical things like household tools (hammers, screwdriver, etc) should be exempt from this test.
4. Rethink Sentimentality. What is more important, the item or the memories? Often, we get stuck with a lot of stuff just because we’re paralyzed by the idea that it once belonged to Great Aunt Edna. Do you really need the item to remember your loved one? Would they have wanted you to hang onto their stuff just for the sake of hanging onto it? By all means keep sentimental items if you feel it’s necessary, but consider a memory box, photo album or other way of remembering instead. And if the idea of getting rid of  an ‘heirloom’ is totally repugnant, consider relocating it to another family member’s home so they can enjoy it.
5. Do a little bit each day. And I do mean a little bit. I spend 10 minutes a day putting things back where they belong, sorting papers and generally keeping the clutter from coming back. If you’re just starting out, you’ll probably need 20 (10 to declutter and 10 to keep the daily clutter at bay.)

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Some people are born salespeople and have no trouble convincing people to shell out tons of money for crap they don’t need. Then, there are the rest of us who sit at our computers and can’t figure out why no one is bidding on our prized collection of band memorabilia.

Here are a few simple tips to getting more money out of bidders on Ebay.

1) Run a search for the item you’re selling.
If you get hundreds of listings, you may want to hold off on selling that particular item for a while. Lots of listings mean lower bids.
Also take a look at the wording of the listings and see if there are any keywords or phrases common to the higher ending items.

2) Get descriptive in your listing title.
It’s not ‘blue pants’ it’s ‘NWT Old Navy Blue Leggings Size 4″. The more info in your title, the more people are going to look at it. Furthermore, a descriptive title will make your listing come up in more targeted searches, which is where a lot of bids will come from.

3) Provide the basic info, and then get interesting.
Start off your description with the usual info (size, condition, color, etc.) and then get creative or personal. If that mini-skirt helped you land your current boyfriend, say so. If there’s a funny story behind the collection of DVDs you’re parting with, tell it (briefly). If you can make the bidder feel like they have some sort of connection with you, you might get them to bid.

4) Try your hand at creating lots of items.
If you’re selling off a ton of used DVDs at ~$2 a pop, you’re going to lose about $.50 in various listing/paypal fees. Instead of selling low-priced items individually, try to sell them in logical groups. Bidders feel they are getting a better bargain on a lot of 10 Sci-Fi DVDs than 10 individual ones.

5) Don’t start with too low a starting bid
Sure, setting an item at $.25 will probably land you a bid, but there’s always a chance that it could be the only bid.

I’m sure there are lots of other tips floating around the internet for selling on eBay, so if you think you have a good one, spill it in the comments.

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It’s around that time of year when people start pulling their summer clothes out of storage. Now is a good time to clean out your closet to not only make room, but to practice a little frugality as well.

First, go through the closet and remove everything that doesn’t fit you well and make you feel like a million bucks. Check and make sure you have at least one week’s worth of business clothes, one fancy dress, a few days of casual clothes, and a few days of play (grubby) clothes left. If you don’t go back through the ‘reject’ pile and pull a few items you can live with for now.

Second, go through the reject pile and start dividing it into a few more piles:

1. Designer and Brand Name Duds
2. Career Wear
3. Fancy Clothing (including bridesmaids dresses, cocktail dresses, and formal wear)
4. Casual Clothes
5. Grubby Clothes (things with holes, stains, etc)

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