Jennifer Sheahan: The best way to cut clutter? Avoid buying it

Have a photo of each room handy to check if potential purchases work with your home: The living area at Jennifer's home in Rathmines. Picture: Moya Nolan

It's January. Your house feels empty now that all the decorations have been put away. You’re feeling antsy and ready for a change. Sales are on. They’re tempting. 

But I am here as your voice of reason to tell you not to buy a whole bunch of stuff you don’t need. Change is good, clutter is not. When it comes to the new year, panic can set in. We tell ourselves things are going to be different this year, that we are going to be our best new selves. 

While I fully support self-reflection and going after new goals, I want to caution you away from rash purchases of products that you do not need nor want, but that seem attractive with big discount tags. There’s nothing wrong with bagging a bargain when it’s something you want, but don’t waste your money and precious storage space with things you don’t need.

BE PREPARED

January sales are a great money saver if you’re getting a discount on something you actually want. The issue is that the marketing behind January sales can lead to impulse purchases of things you don’t need. I can rationalise a purchase with the best of them, telling myself I have somehow saved money by buying something at a discount, but even I know deep down that this isn’t true if it’s something I wouldn’t have bought anyway. 

Bring samples with you to check against potential purchases.

The key to avoiding this is being prepared. Before you go online or to the shops, make a list of items that you do need. Check how much storage you have available — do you really have space for this item? Finally, do an honest assessment of your finances to be clear on what you can afford. Don’t let clever advertising talk you into getting something that’s not on your list! 

If you’re tempted in the moment, ask yourself two questions — firstly, would you pay full price for this item and secondly, what do you already own that you would be willing to throw away in exchange for this new item? There’s nothing worse than coming to the end of a very long January with an empty bank account and a house full of things you regret buying.

LONE ITEMS

I’m talking about that one remaining bedside locker, the coffee table that’s missing one leg, or the dining set that only has three out of four chairs. Items with such incredible markdowns that you feel you are losing money by not snapping them up. Items which, when you bring them home, stick out like a sore thumb for a few months at most until you get sick of them and finally throw them out. 

I am all for bagging a homewares bargain after Christmas but protect yourself from impulse buying things that just do not work in your home. If you’re planning to browse the shops, be prepared — bring with you some fabric and flooring samples from your home, or even an album of photographs on your phone of each room in your home, and before you buy anything new hold it up against the sample or the photo and make a critical assessment of whether it adds anything to that room. 

There is certainly a chance that you will bag a fantastic deal, but remember that it is only a bargain if it ultimately enhances your home.

GADGETS

What is it about electronics that makes me lose my senses? I can’t walk past a gadget without picking it up and immediately wanting to buy it. In the past week alone I’ve been tempted by two alarm clocks (I already have one, plus my phone), an electric potato peeler (don’t need this, I happily eat the skins), a remote control curtain opener (I have two perfectly functioning arms), and an LED stick that turns empty wine bottles into lamps (I have enough lamps and I’m not running a brasserie). 

I find gadgets fascinating and I want all of them, but I rarely actually use them enough for them to be worth it. 

There are exceptions — I love my electronic wine bottle opener and the little doo-hickey that reseals plastic bags to keep food fresh — but in the main, they die in a drawer and end up in a landfill. My trick to avoid impulse-buying gadgets is to not allow myself to buy it the first time I see it. If I am still thinking about it a week later, and I have the space and the budget for it, I’ll go back for it. 95% of the time I find I didn’t want it at all.

EXERCISE EQUIPMENT

Many of the world’s best brains are highly paid to make you feel terrible about yourself in January so that you will spend lots of money on gym memberships and diet plans and what have you. Resist! 

I am all for healthy lifestyle changes if that’s what you want, but the answer is not in a set of plastic weights that you are highly unlikely to use. I’m not against home exercise equipment — I love working out at home, and I have equipment that I use all the time but anything I have bought on impulse in a sale has ended up in a corner making me feel guilty for letting it gather dust. 

I advise building an exercise habit first, by starting with free outdoor or bodyweight exercises, or by borrowing equipment from friends, before investing in your own at-home equipment. Of course, if something you want anyway is on sale then take advantage of the discount, but have a clear plan of what items you need before falling prey to an ab cruncher that promises you a flat stomach. Spoiler: they don’t work. Don’t buy it.