3 Ways Decluttering Makes Good Financial Sense

Decluttering and good financial sense might seem like two unrelated things but just wait until I tell you about my eBay sales today!

But first of all, let’s talk about this a little bit. Clutter uses up a lot more resources than we realize. Clutter leaves us BANKRUPT. It can bankrupt your wallet, your real estate, your emotional well-being, and maybe even your career.

The first and most obvious way that it affects us financially is what I like to refer as the Scissors and Tape Effect, which I just made up right now. I’m calling it that because in my house, it’s always been the most noticeable with scissors and tape.

You know how it goes. You don’t need scissors or tape for a few weeks or months. Then one day, a birthday comes along. Since you haven’t used them in awhile, you can no longer locate the scissors or tape to wrap the present which forces you to go buy duplicates. You need them!

More clutter. Less money.

Declutter and you’ll be able to find your scissors and tape when you need it resulting in one less trip to the store. You’ll save money on the scissors, tape, impulse buys and the gas that it took to get there. Plus, you’ll save time and you won’t be late to the party.

Win win!

The second way it makes good financial sense is that the cost of home repairs will be much less if caught early.

If we wouldn’t have had things stacked up along the walls in my house, we might have seen the water coming in from the leak in the roof.

I’ll never forget the day after I had cleaned out the hallway a few years ago. It was raining like crazy outside and as I walking upstairs, I saw a solid sheet of water running down the wall. I was flabbergasted. If we had caught it earlier, it might not have been the traumatic event that it turned out to be.

You can’t see what needs to be repaired if the whole house is buried under clutter.

It makes good financial sense to be able to see the walls of your house.

Lastly, what I’m the most excited about, is that decluttering can help you pay off some of the bills that you have!

The two things I sold today gave me enough money to pay the monthly amount on one of my bills. It might not have been a ton of money but it’s one less bill to worry about this month.

The first was a set of hot curlers. These belonged to my girls but they didn’t want them anymore. I was able to sell them for $20.50. Cha-ching!

Next was a Tommy Hilfiger denim jacket that I had bought for myself at a garage sale for $3.00. I sold it for $29.99. I almost unlisted this the other day because I liked it a lot but left it listed because I need the money more.

The last thing was a couple of metal dollhouse chairs that I sold for $7.00. These came with something else I bought awhile ago so they were kind of free.

After selling fees and shipping discounts, I still made $48.00! Woot woot! It might not seem like a lot to some but it’s $48.00 more than I had at the beginning of the week. And it was from only 3 things!

When you’re first starting out, it’s okay to sell smaller, inexpensive items just to get a little practice. There’s a learning curve when it comes to things like shipping and fees. You can lose a lot of money by not charging enough for shipping or adding unnecessary features in your listings.

There is one big disadvantage.

The biggest downfall is that things don’t always sell fast on eBay so you need to declutter an area to store these things until they sell. It’s counterproductive if you’re trying to get the house decluttered fast.

If you have any questions about selling on eBay, please ask in the comment section below! I love talking about eBay.

P.S. Just wondering if you’ve had a chance to check out my new resource page yet? I’m not sure that I’ve even mentioned it but I put some lights on that page that I love. I had mentioned that I always keep one near if there’s a storm coming. I was thinking more of power going out during summer thunderstorms but the other day, we had a winter snow storm and sure enough, the power went out! I grabbed that light so fast and it was bright in my house until the power came back on three hours later!