How to Save Time, Money, and Energy

11/07/18 • 23 min

"Many women spend more on their clothes than they do on an annual vacation, and yet put more strategy on the vacation than the closet."

-Sarah Moore

Sarah Moore's "3 S" Strategy - Sort, Share, Stop:

SORT:

First, sort clothing to keep and get rid of, then sort it so you can store it easily in your closet.
Sort into Yes, No, and Maybe. Get rid of the No pile. Then makes outfits with the rest. Either get rid of the things that don't make an outfit or commit to buying the other piece(s) you need.
Store clothes as outfits so you never have to wonder what you're going to wear.
Sort them out and hang them up, but get rid of the ratty things or clothes you won't wear again.
Sort everything into categories, like working on it daily or weekly, depending on how much time you have available. Tops, bottoms, sweaters, dresses

Share the responsibility for laundry with other family members.
Let children help, even if its not perfect. Telling them not to do things when they don't do them perfectly is training them not to help.
Only put away the clothes that you wear. Have the other people in your home put away their own clothes. (As long as the kids are old enough)
Spouse won't help? Try trading household duties; they can do dishes and you do laundry for example. If they aren't helping around the house, check out the book, "Drop the Ball," by Tiffany Dufu. It's a great book to help create balance with home chores.

STOP:

Stop bringing in more clothes so your home doesn't get cluttered again.
Stop spending money on things you don't need. Remember the importance of shopping with purpose.
Remember - Extra clothing comes into our closet when we didn't really need it, because we bonded with our friends over the experience of shopping for clothes. Bond with your friends at a park or a museum or out to lunch. Have an experience instead of spending money on things you don't need.
Stop using spending money on things as your fun, and enjoy experiences instead.

Sarah's other tips:

Thinking about "Sunk cost", leads to guilt and shame. If you've spent money, you feel like you need to keep the item so you feel like you haven't wasted the money.
You can sell the clothes you don't wear to recoup the cost, or donate them and get a tax write off
Get rid of the extra clothes you have "just in case"
Get rid of those single socks

A word from Sarah:

"Hi, I'm Sarah Moore. I've been eliminating chaos since 1989! My left brain discovered a long time ago that it has the mind of a Lego master builder when it comes to filtering out all the busy work and time wasters of a process or project leaving only what is necessary to achieve the desired result.

My right brain is a little woo and I believe that everything is energy. My left brain is OK with that because Einstein thought so too. Your thoughts are energy - they are electrical impulses traveling down neurons. Food is energy: plants fix the energy of the sun. But it's really easy to get that energy stuck. Ever had the same song playing over and over in your head all day? Exactly, Stuck energy.

When you combine the two halves of my brain you get a project manager who has a laser focus on the critical path: the only bits of a project that actually need to get done to achieve the desired result. Whether that critical path is the a to z of a huge corporate project, a small entrepreneur's project or the pathway to getting dinner on the table with no fuss...I have the ability to cut through the fluff and leave only what truly matters.

These days I prefer to work with overwhelmed women who have too much on their plates and piles of stuff threatening to take over their homes. I bring you discipline and simplicity to help you find balance. With a big helping of no excuses tough love too."

"Elegance is Elimination"

Cristóbal Balenciaga, Fashion Designer

You can find Sarah Moore:

Website: https://www.urbanearthmom.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/urbanearthmom/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/UrbanEarthMom/

FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/UrbanEarthMom

Want to connect? You can find me at HardyMom.com

Thank you for joining me, Jen

p.s. Like the show? It would be great if you could help out by subscribing on your favorite podcast app.

Our music is "A New Day," by Scott Holmes

11/07/18 • 23 min