Today we’re going to talk about a really powerful dual-purpose challenge that I just love… the use what you have challenge. It’s perfect if you’re doing a low buy month AND – which I love even MORE – it helps you declutter your home.
The idea is simple. For a month, instead of continuing to bring new items into the house, you pause most purchases and start using what’s already there. This is actually my first decluttering baby step, and the shift allows your home to sort of… catch up. Products get finished, supplies get used, drawers and shelves slowly start clearing out WITHOUT a massive decluttering session.
Let’s walk through how this challenge works and how to make it simple, practical, and even enjoyable…
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Before trying the challenge yourself, it helps to understand why it works so well.
How Using What You Already Have Pairs Perfectly With a Low Spend Month
A low spend month combined with the use what you have challenge creates the perfect conditions where clutter can finally shrink naturally.
During a low buy month, this mindset of using what you already have becomes especially powerful. We’re bringing in fewer purchases, which means we’re spending less money on things we would normally buy without even thinking about it. The items already sitting on shelves or stashed into weird storage areas finally get used instead of being replaced or forgotten as they turn into hidden clutter.
At this point, you might be thinking, ‘Well, it’s a good thing I’ve hung on to all of the stuff I have, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to do a low buy challenge.’ If that thought went through your mind, STOP. If you’re trying to clear clutter, we need to shift that mindset.
The reality is… you probably just have too much stuff. Period. It’s not necessarily ‘good’ that you have a stockpile of eight different half-used lotions and four different facial moisturizers (just an example that MIGHT look something like my bathroom drawer at times).
Doing this challenge to use what you have along with a low spend month can definitely shift your perceptions and help curb those squirrel-like buying tendencies.
Over time, this approach cuts impulse purchases, stretches current supplies, begins to reduce household clutter, AND builds habits that support both our decluttering and financial goals even after the month is over.
So how does this actually work day-to-day?
How the Use What You Have Challenge Works
This monthly use-it-up challenge works best when you keep it simple and practical.
Start the month with a quick look through your home so you know what you already have available. This does not need to be a full inventory. The goal is simply to become aware of items that are waiting to be used.
It’s also a good time to review automatic purchases. Many homes receive recurring deliveries of household supplies, personal care products, or pantry items. Take a few minutes to review those subscriptions and pause or cancel anything that automatically sends new items into your home.
Next, practice using what you have first. When something runs low or you think you need a replacement, check your home before buying anything new.
Pause before shopping and ask simple questions:
- Do we already own something that works?
- Can we repair or repurpose what we have?
- Are we buying this out of habit or boredom?
Focus especially on finishing partially used items. Cleaning products, pantry ingredients, and personal care items often linger half-used while something new takes their place.
Throughout the month, pay attention to what you actually miss and what you never needed to replace. To appease my fear of ‘forgetting’ to buy something after the challenge is over, I keep a running list of the things I think I might need to re-stock.
At the end of the month, it’s easy to check the list and see whether or not you ACTUALLY need any of those things. This awareness often reveals how much of your home already works just fine without constant additions.
Resourcefulness also highlights excess. When we see how much we can do with what we already own, we become more aware of how much we have accumulated. That awareness strengthens our motivation to declutter and avoid future overbuying.
Once you start paying attention, certain areas of your home become natural places to begin.
The Easiest Places to Start Using What You Have
Some areas of the home respond especially well to the use what you have challenge. These spaces often contain partially used items or duplicates that quietly create clutter.
Pantry and freezer
The pantry and freezer are often full of ingredients waiting to be used. When you focus on cooking from what you already have, shelves slowly begin to clear. Open packages get finished, older ingredients get used, and grocery trips become simpler.
As this area becomes more manageable, it often sparks ideas for keeping pantry supplies more intentional going forward.
Related: 5 Reasons I Ditched The Massive Home Stockpile For A Minimalist Pantry
Personal care products
Bathrooms often contain plenty of partially used products. It’s soooo easy for us to re-buy something before we’ve finished it, but then also decide to try another product. We end up with too many open products, and then backups that we’re not even sure we like any longer.
Well, a low spend month is the perfect time to start using those open products.
First, check to be sure they’re still safe to use. Some items like mascara or other cosmetics can become contaminated and probably just need to be tossed.
At least a couple of times a year, I like to challenge myself to using up things like moisturizer, face cleanser, lotions, and hair products before I even think about buying replacements. Every time I do this challenge, I’m always amazed at how long the things I have actually last even when I think they’re ‘almost gone.’
This process naturally reinforces the habit to finish what you own before opening or buying something new.
Cleaning supplies
For some reason, cleaning products tend to multiply without being fully used. This is an area where we seem to overstock just because we get into the habit of buying the same products at set intervals or we buy ‘just in case’ supplies and then forget about them.
During the use what you have challenge month, try finishing existing products before replacing them.
Over the course of the month, this often leads to a clearer sense of what products you truly use, and you’ll be able to take a few products off your ‘need’ list. You’ll also probably realize that you don’t have to buy cleaning supplies nearly as often as you think.
Books
Most people I know who love to read have a stack of books waiting to be read. We call it the TBR (To Be Read) pile. Choosing to read what you already own instead of adding more titles helps clear space on shelves while also helping you rediscover books you were excited about when you bought them.
Over time, this can make it easier to decide which books truly deserve a place in your home. I mean, if you commit to several months or a year of reading from your TBR pile, yet some books keep getting placed back at the bottom, chances are you’re never going to read them. You’ll know it’s time to let them go, and it won’t be a difficult decision.
And while working through the titles on your kindle or audiobook list might not result in less physical clutter, it can help you reduce digital clutter. Not QUITE the same thing, but also important in the grand scheme of things if you’re trying to declutter your life.
Crafting or hobby supplies
It seems like craft and hobby supplies ALWAYS accumulate faster than projects get completed. This challenge encourages using materials you already have on hand instead of buying ANYTHING new for at least a month. Most crafters I know could probably go for at least a year and still not make it through their stockpile.
Completing unfinished projects and making new things with what you already have can free up space while also helping you see which hobbies still deserve room in your home. It’s completely normal to go through phases of which hobbies you enjoy, and it’s also fine to let go of supplies for hobbies that you don’t want to do again.
This is a nearly effortless way to start decluttering and organizing your supply stockpile and crafting space.
And once you start using what you already own in everyday categories, another opportunity usually appears.
Shop Your Home Before You Shop the Store
During a low spend month, the urge to refresh your home can still show up. Maybe the seasons are changing, a room feels a little stale, or you simply want an area to feel new again.
This is the perfect time to practice the idea behind shopping your home first. While technically the concept applies to any of the areas we’ve already discussed, the idea really shines when it comes to decorating and refreshing your home.
Instead of heading to the store or shopping online, put together an idea of the look you want, and then walk through your own house to find items to make it work.
Look around all of your rooms, along with closets, storage bins, and shelves where decor or organizational items might be tucked away. You’ve probably got seasonal decor, extra containers, baskets, trays, or decorative objects that simply aren’t being used right now, as well as furniture that could be switched out or moved from the room it’s currently in.
When you begin using what you already own, you’ll be surprised at how your rooms can feel refreshed without bringing anything new into the house. A basket from one room might solve a storage problem in another. A tray can gather small items on a counter. A decorative object that has been stored away might feel new again when placed somewhere different.
Then the true magic starts to happen. As you rotate and reuse what you already have, it becomes easier to identify pieces that truly deserve space in your home and those that no longer serve a purpose.
Over time, this simple practice really helps you clear clutter while still allowing your home to feel updated and intentional without spending a penny.
Related: How To Organize Without Buying Anything: A 3-Step Framework For Any Space
Now let’s talk about how to keep the challenge practical enough that it actually works.
How to Make the Use What You Have Challenge Simple, Practical, and Even Enjoyable
The use what you have challenge works best when it feels manageable, not like something you have to grudgingly endure for an entire month.
Treat it as an experiment rather than a strict set of rules. The goal is awareness and progress, not perfection. Allow room for necessary purchases when you genuinely need something. And that means running out, not just ‘feeling’ like it’s time to buy more.
You can keep track of the items you use up during the month, but it’s even more powerful to take before-and-after pictures of your pantry, freezer, toiletry stash, etc. Seeing a real difference helps reinforce the feeling of progress and control.
Make it a game to see how long you can stay away from the store. Can you go two weeks without shopping (even groceries)? Three? The entire month? One benefit that really becomes apparent here is how much TIME you gain when you’re not spending hours shopping every week. It’s actually my favorite part!
As the challenge continues, it often leads to deeper decluttering. When you rediscover items you forgot about, you also begin to notice what you truly do NOT use anymore. This gradual awareness can strengthen your decluttering motivation because the process feels natural and decluttering decisions become simple.
This is even further reinforced when the house begins to feel easier to maintain because there’s just.less.stuff.
There’s another benefit many people notice along the way…
The Financial Benefits of the Use What You Have Challenge
Although my take on the use what you have challenge focuses primarily on decluttering, financial benefits often occur naturally, especially since this is a perfect challenge for when you’re doing a low spend month or even now and then during a low buy year.
When your buying slows down for a month for this type of challenge, it’s almost automatic that your spending drops without your feeling deprived.
For some households, the difference may be as simple as saving $50 to $100 by skipping impulse purchases and finishing household supplies already on hand. Others may notice several hundred dollars staying in their account because groceries, personal care products, or hobby supplies last longer than expected.
These savings can be encouraging, but there is something to be cautious of as the month ends.
Some people feel the temptation to fall into what I think of as rebound stocking. After completing a use what you have challenge, it can feel like the perfect time to ‘restock everything’ that was used during the month, even if the stock wasn’t fully depleted. Large replacement orders, bulk buying, or stocking up on items that are still not truly needed can quickly start the spending and clutter cycle all over again.
Instead, try returning to normal buying slowly. Replace items only when they are actually needed and continue practicing using what you already own whenever possible. This approach helps the savings and the clutter reduction continue beyond the initial low spend month rather than turning the challenge into a short pause followed by another round of overspending.
Our goal is to build and maintain habits such as planning meals around what we already own, checking storage areas before shopping, and delaying non-essential purchases. When we continue these habits long after the low spend month ends, it helps us maintain both a simpler home and steadier finances.
Over time, these small changes can reinforce a sustainable low spend lifestyle that continues well beyond the challenge itself.
And here’s the part many people don’t expect…
The Satisfaction of Using What You Already Own
The use what you have challenge often brings a sense of contentment that shopping rarely provides. When you begin using what you already own, forgotten items become useful again (or allowed to leave) and unfinished supplies finally get used up.
A low spend month simply creates the space for that rediscovery to happen. Without constant new purchases entering the home, the things you already own begin doing the job they were meant to do.
If you want to try it but you’re not ready to commit to an all-in challenge, pick one area of your home and pause buying anything new for a while. Focus on finishing what you already have and see how the space changes.
Once you start, you’ll probably begin looking at your home in a completely different way.
You’ve got this!
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