15 things I don't buy anymore as a Professional Organizer

Speaking of greeting cards. At least 30+ years ago (may be longer), my mom bought a birthday card that depicts a couple sitting on a couch. The front of the card says, "We couldn't afford a present.." and on the inside it says, "In fact, we'd like you to return it when you are done reading it." We have been sending that card back and forth to each other! We are not sure when it actually started because we didn't date the comments in the beginning. But when we realized we had something going on, we started dating it along with who the card was for. For example--"Happy birthday, Sarah from Ron and Nancy 2021" What is cool is you never know when and where it will pop up! My sister had it for about 2 years and forgot about it! She found it when cleaning out a desk and sent it to me on my birthday. I was so excited when I opened up "the card"!!! This year my daughter had to add a page to the card because we had filled it up! Anyway, we have had a lot of fun over the years!

So every anniversary, my husband and I go to the drug store and take the time to pick out a specific card for each other, a very thoughtful one. Then we show it to each other and put it back. It is great. Then we go home feeling really loved. It is a great tradition that is going on 15 years.

Normally, I would agree with the greeting cards, however, my husband passed away suddenly in 2020- He always wrote beautiful, and thoughtful words in cards to me. I cherish that I can still read those words in his unique crazy handwriting that were meant just for me. There are a few silly ones, too that remind me how funny he was, and they make me smile. I'm really glad I have them.

When I celebrated my second Mother's Day, my husband started writing in a notebook. He wrote from the perspective of our oldest daughter (who was 23 months old at the time) and then included a picture of her. From that point on, he wrote in it every year and kept updating the pictures. Occasionally, he would have our kids trace their hands in the book. I read it from time to time. It's a precious book to me. :) My oldest is turning 11 soon and she now writes in it for mother's day. This is a good alternative to "Mother's Day" card. I hope they'll fill the book. I will treasure the book always.

When we travel we buy Christmas tree ornaments instead of souvenirs. It is so fun to pull the ornaments out one time of year and talk about and remember the trip. Bonus is there is a home for them among our ornaments!

For those of us who are actual crafters and not people who just like to buy things, having stuff on hand is a huge money saver (buy it on sale) and time saver (gee, I want to start this knitting project at 8pm, but I don't have any yarn). You can absolutely have a good stash of stuff that is organized and contained and still get rid of things you don't want or need anymore.

As someone with adhd, depression, anxiety, and overwhelm… Those little kitchen gadgets do help immensely. If I have a gadget that only works for one use but simplifies that one thing, I am much more likely to do it which means I’m much more likely to make and eat something rather than skip the whole meal because I’m too overwhelmed to do one step of the cooking process.

I LOVE my veggie spiralizer! As a diabetic, a gadget that enables me to substitute nutritious, fiber-rich veggies in place of carbohydrate-rich pasta is a literal life saver. It's so fast and easy to use, too (also fun to use with friends or kids).

We live out in the middle of absolute nowhere. It takes us 40 minutes to get to the nearest Walmart and 2 hours to get to Sam’s or Costco. We still buy bulk because of our living situation. We don’t have the luxury to drive 40 miles if we need 1 item. And we cook 3 times a day so we tend to go through food at home at a quick rate. We just developed a system for this and found places to store the bulk items in our home. We have 3 deep freezers and we keep those organized as well. It is a rule to not just throw the most recent stuff on top. And we plan our meals, heck, cooking 3 times a day, you have no other choice, gotta make sure you have all of the ingredients without making that 40 mile trip to town. My biggest deal is leftovers, I will not let leftovers go to waste. I find creative ways to redo them for a second meal. I know this would all be different if I lived in a city. But for us, this is the way life must be! ❤️

"Would I take it with me to the nursing home?" - My grandmother went into a (super nice) care home, private suite sorta place, but still only about 300-400sf. My aunts going through her 2000sf home with 70 year old WW2 china from Belgium and all the jewelry and all the clothes... took them months. What Grandmother ended up choosing spoke to me, so now my motto - when decluttering - is "Would I take it to the nursing home with me."

Even better for #10: I don't use dryer sheets or fabric softener at all. They're unnecessary and often just add build-up to your fabrics. I'll never give up bulk. From a day-to-day perspective, it's so much more convenient to not have to run to the store for every little thing. But the big effects come from emergency prep. You have to have backstock for those situations (or to be able to care for others when they're in need). You just have to rotate it and have a home for it. When we run out of something in the pantry upstairs, I get the backup from the downstairs food storage. If downstairs is getting low, I add it to the list. Easy as that. Nothing expires and you always have a safety net to cushion you in times of job loss, pandemics, etc. I feel like it's irresponsible to be super reliant on the grocery store--you're putting yourself at risk, and when there's a public issue you're putting others at risk too.

"Are you a shopper or are you a crafter?" ... I feel personally attacked. Hahaha But seriously, this is the reality check I needed. Currently watching as I declutter my home. Resonate with so much of this. Great video!

I use my egg slicer, tomato slicer, and my air fryer at least 3-5x a week. I do believe that you should only buy what you will use. My family loves food made in the air fryer and I love that it doesn't heat up the kitchen like the oven.

So I just want to add something about greeting cards. It costs so much and I avoid it. Sometimes I have to but my husband and I started to write in a journal book. When we have a Birthday or anniversary or any time we want to give each other a card we just pick up the journal and write a noted to each other. This is such a great idea that I started last year. We both love it.

I have been a quilter for a long time, with a very organized wall of cabinets full of high end fabrics I won’t use. I learned that a dog groomer was looking for inexpensive fabrics to make bandannas for her furry clients. It felt so good to give her 2 boxes of fabrics! We are friends now, and she’s helping me gain space for my new activity, rug hooking!

My trick to get rid of the « throwaway guilt » is taking pictures of the souvenirs, greeting cards and kids crafts before throwing them away. It also works really well to help the kids getting rid of stuff they have trouble giving away but are too old for, or don’t really use antimite. We would tale a picture of them with their plushies for example, so they have a memory.

One year on our anniversary we gave each other cards and I said look we spent 10 bucks on these, we could have bought a bottle of wine. The next holiday we bought a bottle of wine and both signed it and we have been doing that ever since.

When we traveled to Europe, I bought a different dish towel in each country. They are my favorite souvenirs ever! I get so much joy out of looking at the tourist highlights when I’m doing an everyday chore. (Do the dishes.) I think because they don’t sit out all the time, it makes me have excitement in remembering the trip when I pull the clean towel every couple of days or weeks.

I can fully agree with u on almost everything u said in this video except for the mention of the “air fryer”. I gotta say, the air fryer has been one of the best new kitchen appliances to come out with since the microwave! It is far from a “single tasker”! The air fryer is not only a healthier way to fry something it also can cook and bake so many other items. It is such a great help with something small that u just don’t wanna heat the oven up for. 🙂

We travel all over the world. We stopped buying souvenirs many years ago. No regrets. I love that you hire a professional photographer each year for your family. I am a photographer and you're so right. Honestly, I don't shop. If I need something, I'll get it, but I don't buy what I don't need.