Getting rid of clutter, both mentally and physically, will help in the process of paring down.
Yeager recommends a "weeklong fiscal fast" to get in touch with your spending.
"Go a week without spending any money. It's a chance to use up the food in your cupboard and the bottles of shampoo from hotels we've all been saving for 20 years," he says.
The spending detox will reveal how most people spend and waste money in a normal week.
"You're really trying to find and pick apart the routines
you have that involve spending money. Whether you're prone to going out
and buying clothes when you're under pressure at the job or whether you
find yourself going out to lunch every day, you can work to break yourself
of those habits," Yeager says.
Once you've cleared your mind of bad spending habits, it's time to clean house.
"It is a matter of appreciating all of the stuff you've
probably amassed, and it's kind of horrifying when most Americans see all
the stuff that we have," Yeager says.
Jessica Dolan, owner of Room to Breathe Home and Office
Organizing, works with people who want to simplify their lives by simplifying
their stuff, whether it's by moving into a smaller home or cutting up all
their credit cards, and getting back to basics.
If you don't know what you have and you keep buying and buying because you've lost what you bought the week before, it's a huge waste of money and your time because you keep going to the store or you keep looking for it, she says.
"You're also wasting space in your house or office
because you're storing all of these things that you can't find. It's just
a vicious cycle," Dolan says.
If you use what you have and spend money only on things you really need, your life, your home and your pocketbook will benefit.
