Coupon Queen: Save money while spring cleaning

After putting it off for weeks, I decided that this was the weekend my family needed to do a big purge. While we always try to keep things tidy and do a spring clean every year, about every five years or so, we do a much bigger cleaning of the entire house. Not only does this give us a chance to purge and deep clean, but it's also a great way to save and make some money. Honestly, I'm always surprised by how much my family can accumulate, even with only two closets in our whole house. There is always a lot to get rid of, from old sports equipment shoved under the bed to clothes packed in the back of dresser drawers that have grown too small with no one else to hand down to. After we tackled the attic and basement as a family, I started in the kitchen while I sent my boys to their rooms to clean out their rooms. I gave them instructions to create three piles for trash, donations, and selling. I wanted them to make the decisions, so they had ownership of their items while also encouraging them to make the hard choices of what items truly mean something to them. This big clean helps us get our house in order, but it also saves us money. I use this time to do things such as change our air conditioning filters and clean refrigerator condenser coils. Doing this helps us save by extending the life of our appliances and cutting our electricity bill since we use less energy. We also save money by finding items around our house that we forgot we had. I found a new gardening tool in our garage that will come in handy while planting flowers and I spotted new beach towels that were stored in our attic that we can take on vacation next month. I had forgotten I had bought both last year on clearance. Finding these items kept money in my pocket as I did not buy them again and saved me another trip to the store. Saving money is fun, but spring cleaning helps my family make money, too. This weekend we donated four large bags of items to charity organizations and friends, but we also sold a lot too. We sold our trampoline, several toys, clothes from my closet, and small kitchen appliances. My oldest son even sold several of his already put-together LEGO sets for quite a bit of money. If it's been a while since the last time you have done a big purge, create smaller, realistic goals. Perhaps just tackle one room a weekend. No matter how much you get done, it will make you feel better about your home. Best of all, it's a win-win for your home and wallet. Here's a deal to grab this week at CVS. Select Kellogg's Cereal - $1.99 each Get 50¢ cash back from the Ibotta app when you buy select Kellogg's Cereal (limit 5 per brand) = $1.49 a box. Rachel Krych is passionate about helping others spend less and save more. In addition to her weekly column, she has a blog, Couponing With Rachel, which earns her compensation from Google for ads it places there, and from entertainment marketers whose promotional codes she touts. She doesn't write about entertainment in her column. Email her at couponingwithrachel@hotmail.com.