Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
Better
If you’ve been following my step-a-month organizing plan (and I hope you are) you may already have made great strides in the areas of inventory control, time management, doing a last sweep and setting limits on stuff. This next step—my favorite—is important. If you don’t work on this next step, keeping up with the others become like a hamster wheel: They’ll work, but you won’t get any further.
So what is this next magic step?
Buy less, but buy better.
Attention, shoppers: Don’t get too excited. Remember, the goal is to buy less. Rather than quickly clicking through Amazon and crossing things off your list, I want you to work on shifting the way you buy to a thoughtful, well considered approach where each purchase is an investment.
Try this: For the next week, write down every single item you buy. Include groceries, toiletries, clothes, books, office supplies—everything. Really look at your buying habits. Maybe it won’t seem so bad, but you may be surprised when you look back at the week. See any patterns? For many people, there’s one particular area (clothes, office supplies, skin care) that they tend to overbuy. That’s okay. Now you know.
For now, just track your purchases and observe. Just doing that might already subtly alter your behavior. Great! Then you’re ahead.
Next week, we can start to develop the habit of buying less but better.
Have questions? Join me on Facebook to discuss this step, or anything about organizing!