Welcome to part two of our clutter mini-series! Spring break is just a couple of short weeks away. For many people, this means a vacation is coming. Not for the P&P family.
After a ton of financial burden and a sudden move in January, vacations are out of the question for a while. Our family will spend spring break cleaning, purging clutter, and getting organized! After a long and challenging winter, we are ready to get things back in order and start organizing our lives again.
It’s been about 6 years since our last big junk purging session, so we think it’s time to pull everything out again and deal with our mess. During the move, we were faced with the harsh reality of how much clutter we’ve acquired. This is the perfect time to get things back in order.
So, let’s dive in! What is your clutter REALLY costing you?
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How Clutter Costs You Money
A messy, disorganized home means you buy things you don’t need, can’t find things when you need them, and waste things you already have.
This happens in so many ways, and so many of us are guilty of losing money to clutter. Honestly, this could be a post all on it’s own. If you’re not sure whether you’re throwing away money due to clutter, consider some of these common problems.
- You buy food you already have because you can’t find what you need.
- Poor planning means you trash food that spoils before you can eat it.
- You have duplicates of clothing from too much shopping.
- Your closet holds more clothing than you can reasonably wear.
- Bills don’t get paid because you can’t find them.
- You pay late fees or overdraft charges because your budget isn’t organized.
- You’ve tossed free money by losing gift cards.
- Coupons and rebates expire without being redeemed.
- You’re paying for storage to hold all your extra clutter.
- You own multiples of household items when you only need one.
- You’re frequently eating out because you can’t find the space, food, or supplies to cook.
- You can’t seem to pay down debt, and you haven’t made a plan to do so.
How Clutter Costs You Time
Clutter wastes a lot of money, but it robs us of so much more than that. Another huge cost of clutter is paid up in lost time. Whether it’s your job or your household, how often are you experiencing these things?
- You’re often running late because you can’t find what you need in the mornings.
- You spend hours cleaning and tidying up only to start again as soon as you finish.
- Long hours at spent at work to make a living keep you from friends and family.
- No matter how much you organize, you feel like you’re constantly struggling to keep your stuff neat.
- You have to spend time on the phone or in offices dealing with overdue bills when you could have paid online.
- You’re always running out of what you need at the worst times.
- You don’t have the time for exercise or hobbies because of long work hours or time spent managing the household.
How Clutter Costs You Peace Of Mind
A cluttered space messes with your head. It makes you feel out of control of your life. Sometimes, a disorganized space can even be a symptom of a deeper issue. Here are a few ways clutter might mess with your peace of mind.
- You find yourself feeling stressed out all the time.
- Clutter is causing you to isolate yourself from others.
- You’re working long hours at a job you hate to fund your lifestyle.
- The bathroom scale is all over the place, and not in a good way.
- Your home feels like a constant reminder of everything you’re not getting done.
- Life has started to feel like it’s out of your control.
- You find yourself ignoring important things you need to take care of.
- Depression, anxiety, or anger have become unmanageable.
- You feel like you can’t enjoy life due to work or tending the household.
- Your stress level, eating habits, etc. are negatively impacting your physical or mental health.
- Clutter has negatively impacted your relationships with others.
How Clutter Costs The Environment
I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear that all this extra clutter creates a lot of waste that damages the environment. The impact is pretty substantial. Here are a few facts and stats that you might not know.
- The average American throws away around 1 pound of food waste every day. Much of this is the result of poor planning and lack of organization.
- Buying larger homes to hold our stuff means a more energy usage.
- Purchasing lots of time saving, single use disposables fills up landfills and water bodies.
- The EPA estimates that Americans toss 80 pounds of clothing per year on average into landfills and incinerators.
- We create tons of waste every year, and about half of our waste goes directly to the landfill.
- According to the EPA, the average American produces an estimated 5.91 pounds of trash per day, only recycling about 1.5 pounds of that daily total.
Need a little extra help decluttering? Good news! Just like personal finance, there’s more than one right way to control your clutter!
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Is The Cost Too High?
I believe that life is all about balance. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ll probably never be a minimalist. I enjoy a little bit of mess, and I like to feel prepared for emergencies. Don’t get me wrong, I love so many things minimalism has to offer. I’m just not quite there yet!
However, I also feel like so many of us feel overwhelmed and beat down by the clutter around us. We’re suffocated and stressed out by the amount of stuff in our lives.
I won’t be moving into a tiny home anytime soon, (I’ll daydream about it!) but I do think the price is too high if I’m paying for my stuff with all my money, time, relationships, peace of mind, and at the expense of the environment.
I don’t love losing things, wasting money, and spending hours cleaning and organizing my mess. It’s time to declutter, organize, and deep clean. I’m ready to get this new home in order!
For these reasons, my next post will provide some solutions to all this. I want to share my purge and declutter plan with you. I’m hoping to walk you through the exact steps I plan to take to deal with my mess.
Stick with me this spring as I share my method, some amazing resources, and some frugal DIY ideas along the way. Oh, and I won’t just be throwing away ALL my clutter, so there might even be some income to share on my monthly budget reports as well.
Now It's Your Turn!
How has clutter negatively effected your life? What can you do about it? We want to know, so share your story in the comments below.
Check out these other clutter posts in this series:
- What Causes Clutter And How To Get Control
- How To Declutter Your Whole House
- Laundry Room Declutter With Me
While you’re at it, don’t forget to share this post on your favorite social media, follow us, and subscribe to our newsletter.
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Absolutely!! The clutter costs us more than we think. Frequent decluttering saves us a lot in terms of money, sanity, energy, time, and much more. Heading towards your next post to steal some new ideas for decluttering.:)
I’m glad this inspired you enough to want to know more!
Luckily, I am not cluttering! I love shopping and I love a little mess (I call it ”my little chaos”), but at the same time every half of the year, I am drastically throwing out or donating everything I don’t need. And that makes a very good circle – I am not having too full closets and I also always find a place for new things and energy 🙂
My man always says – if you buy something new, then throw out something old. Maybe that’s a way, how clutters can try to fight with this problem?!
That’s a great idea! Very easy to follow if someone already feels overwhelmed. I agree that a little bit it organized chaos is nice. I have a bad habit of forgetting to do the let go part, so every year around this time, I start assessing my mess, so it doesn’t get too bad.