There is something cathartic about cleaning out your refrigerator and seeing how much money you have wasted on things you thought you were going to eat and yet could never finish.

Yesterday I did a thorough cleaning of my refrigerator in preparation for a party – to make room for things I am making.

I found food that I wasted money on or that should have been thrown away a while ago. When there is less than one serving of anything in a bottle or jar it is time to rise it out and put it with the recyclables.

Generally when most people go shopping they don‘t think about how much they will waste or have left over. They are fulfilling a need. If the larger item is on sale and costs less than the smaller package then sometimes you might try to save money (yes while wasting food) in order to save.

Then there are times when you have tried an item and thought that you might like to and you didn’t – don’t hold on to these extra items, toss them right away. The full refrigerator will make you think that you have lots of food, until you discover that there are containers of things that won’t make a balanced meal.

The refrigerator isn’t the only place in the home where we harbor extra junk. You know the t-shirt that you say you will wear or has some slight sentimental attachments – the one with the holes in it? Get rid of it! These extra items also take up space in your closet making it difficult to find an outfit or store other needed items.

After you’ve cleaned and thrown out the unnecessary items, you will discover more space for items that you already have and there will be no need to buy what you didn’t know you had or buy in excess.