Shop Your Stash (Low Spend 2025)

 As part of my preparations for my Low Spend 2025, I have been searching through all of my home storage and auditing what I would like to keep or give away. Plenty of kitchen items, ill-fitting clothes and shoes, and unworn accessories have gone to my neighborhood Buy Nothing Group and made others very happy. Removing these excess items has revealed a stash of products that I had previously purchased, but couldn't find due to clutter.

For example, I found two separate 3-packs of my favorite body wash in the basement. The packages were hard to see on my cluttered storage shelves, so I had bought duplicates of the same product. I also found two 3-packs of shaving cream! Clearly, my basement is a well-stocked corner store and I likely will not need to buy those products again for several years.

I didn't realize I had 2 packs of dishwasher tabs under my cluttered kitchen sink!

The cabinet under the bathroom sink was similarly cluttered. I had old hairbrushes and a rarely-used hairdryer taking up way too much space. I have curly hair and I used to blow it out straight with a dryer and a round hairbrush pretty often, but I have not done so in a number of years. So, there was no reason to keep those items. There were also many headbands (which I never wear), hair clips, and other accessories making it impossible to see the contents of the cabinet. Finally, I cleared out the expired toiletries and medications that I found under the sink and in my medicine cabinet. My most surprising find was multiple packs of very expensive razors. I do pay for hair waxing now and only shave my legs, so this stash of razors will last for years on end when paired with the aforementioned trove of shaving cream.

Waxing is on my green list for 2025. I buy discounted wax passes at a national chain and some of these will last into 2025, and I have found that waxing to be preferable for me. If I needed to pay off debt or save money for a down-payment, I would consider giving up waxing for a low/no spend year.

Hobbies

I also went through my crafting supplies and was surprised to find such an abundance of materials. While I only buy a stash of yarn once a year or so, I had accumulated rogue skeins from special shopping trips and gifts from other crafters. Twice this year, I have received bags of yarn from friends: once who could no longer craft due to arthritis and another who gifted me yarn from a late family member.

To use up as much yarn as possible, I have started to make blankets for the local convalescent home. In the past, I have also used my knitting machine to make hats for charities that serve veterans.

Found Money

Don't forget to check your hibernating coats, wallets, and purses! I recently found multiple unused Visa and American Express gift cards in a wallet I was no longer using. Then, I went through my texts and re-discovered a birthday gift card to DoorDash that my friends gave me. Since I don't use restaurant delivery services, I had forgotten about the gift. Happily, you can use DoorDash for grocery delivery, so I will be using that in the new year for a week's worth of Aldi shopping!

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