Save Money by Keeping Up with Your Stuff
August 2, 2009 by Karen Weideman
Filed under save-money, saving money
How many times have you bought something because you had to replace something you misplaced or lost? It could be your sunscreen, sunglasses, ink pens, markers, car filters, and tools.
When I was teaching, I was constantly amazed at the things that the middle school students would leave in my classroom. For some reason, I found that middle school students left more things behind than elementary students. What’s worse is that the middle schoolers would not claim their lost items. It seemed like a mark of shame to claim their stuff. Each day, I would walk around my classroom and collect the pens, pencils, markers, and other things that were left behind. I kept a box in my classroom with these things for students that did not come to class with school supplies. Ten years later I still have a Nike jacket that no one ever claimed.
Adults are also guilty of not keeping up with our stuff. Although I am pretty good about keeping up with my things, I have been known to purchase some items because I couldn’t them. I get so mad at myself when I do this. Thankfully, these items are not high dollar items, but still they had up. In fact, they can add up to be hundreds of dollars per year for each person. Not only is that a lot of wasted money, but those are extra products and packaging that we are putting into our environments.
I hope that this will help to motivate us all just a bit to put things where they belong and to remember that by keeping up with our things, we are actually saving money.
What is the most expensive lost item you ever replaced?
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I’m getting better at assigning a place for THINGS but I used to constantly lose things around the house… the most expensive, I have probably forgotten on purpose! I’m sure my husband could come up with a few items in seconds flat! Now, we are getting ready to move at the end of next month. I ALWAYS manage to lose things between one house and the next… or maybe I just never unpacked it lol…
I know what you mean about moving. We have moved several times during our marriage. We moved into a rental as a temporary place until our house sold. Now that our house has sold, we’re moving to another home that we’re purchasing. A lot of our stuff is in storage. I didn’t want to unpack it since we knew we would be moving. I keep telling my husband, “It’s out in the shed. I don’t know where, but I know it’s out there.” I’m sure I will find all sorts of treasures when we can finally unpack all of our things.