The Real Cost of Clutter in Your Life - Life's Little Pleasures and Struggles

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I love to live in a clutter-free, organized home. And I’m pretty consistent about decluttering and organizing. Even though I regularly declutter and get rid of the stuff that are unnecessary and can’t be used anymore, I still find a little clutter here and there in our home since I have two kids. With kids it’s not always possible to be 100% clutter-free and organized. But with a little effort and persistence, you can keep your home and life in order. Decluttering is a continuous process. And you need to be persistent about decluttering because clutter affects us in so many ways. The real cost of clutter in your life can be more than you realize!

The truth is – many of us have more than just a little bit of clutter. In a survey conducted by the National Association for Professional Organizers in 2015, it was revealed that over a third of readers were overwhelmed by their clutter — and they don’t know where to start cleaning and decluttering!

Cost of Clutter:

Clutter is a burden, a productivity killer, and has a negative impact on your finances, health and well-being, relationships, and overall quality of your life. Understanding the ways how clutter costs you can be little overwhelming for some people, especially when they get attached to their clutter.

A messy, cluttered, and disorganized home means you buy things you don’t need, can’t easily find things when you need them, and waste money to store and maintain the stuff you don’t use. 80% of the items people buy and keep in their homes are never used. (source)

The realization that you own far more than you actually need or use is a powerful one. It’s also the perfect time to re-evaluate what’s truly worthy of occupying valuable space in your home and what adds value to your life. Once you realize the real cost of clutter in your life and how negatively it affects you and your family, you’ll be more determined to get rid of all the clutter from your home.

Time:

Clutter not only drains our energy, it also drains us of our time. When you are surrounded by clutter, you waste your time and energy looking for necessities. People who live in cluttered homes spend extra time, every day, searching for lost items, such as keys, phones, wallets, money, shoes, tools, remotes, etc. And the extra time it takes to search through the mess daily adds up quickly.

When you live in a cluttered home, it’s a challenge for you to organize and manage your stuff. It takes a lot of time and efforts to clean and organize your home, and keep it tidy. More stuff = more mess = more cleaning time. You could use that precious time doing something you truly love and enjoy! A study shows that getting rid of clutter eliminates 40% of housework in the average home. (source)

Beyond losing precious time, there are other detrimental consequences from losing items. Being late for work, missing a plane, train or bus, and missing an important appointment or meeting are all additional results of spending time searching for a lost item. It’s crazy how losing our keys or wallets could have such dramatic impacts!

Money:

Clutter costs you a significant amount of money. The average American spends $18,000 per year on non-essential items. (source). Not only you waste money buying unnecessary stuff but also when you live with clutter and don’t have your financial papers organized, bills can get lost – causing you to accrue late fees and penalties. One after another lost bill leads to more late payments. Suddenly, you find yourself dealing with additional fees, higher interest rates, or even collection agencies.

You can also lose out on money through misplacing unused gift cards and checks. Coupons and rebates expire without being redeemed. Also, replacing lost items and buying duplicates of those you didn’t realize you already had somewhere in your home can also cost you money that adds up quickly.

Clutter also costs some of you money in the form of storage bills. According to a leading peer-to-peer storage operator in the US, 9.6% of households rent storage units, and the average cost of a storage unit is $88.85 per month. That means almost 10% of the American people is spending close to $100 a month just to store unnecessary stuff which they rarely use or don’t use at all! And 67% of those self-storage renters live in single-family homes with a garage and 33% also have a basement. (source)

In an article written by Amanda Enayati, a ‘Homes Contributor’ writer for Yahoo, titled “Why clutter matters and decluttering is difficult”, she said “Clutter is expensive: It costs an average of $10 per square foot to store items in your house and almost 10% of American households rent storage units, spending more than $1,000 annually in rent”.

Over the years hoarding could end up costing you thousands of dollars that could be used for something meaningful and necessary such as creating an emergency fund, saving for your kids’ college or travel!

Living Space:

Clutter takes up your valuable living space. When you buy and accumulate more and more stuff, they end up taking up your precious physical space leaving you no room for comfortable living and relaxation. It also makes your space look and feel smaller and uninviting.

As you keep on adding more clutter over the years, your homes can start to feel cramped. That feeling often makes you think you need a larger home and can’t possibly get by in a smaller house. But in reality, you are actually using more space for storing your stuff and less space for living. 25% people who own a home with a garage don’t have room to park in their garage at all. (source)

If you tend to store a lot of stuff, your most economical solution is to declutter the home you are currently living in instead of moving into a bigger home that will cost you even more money.

Peace of Mind:

Clutter costs you your peace of mind. A cluttered space messes with your head, your mind, and your emotion. It makes you feel out of control of your life. A little clutter here and there is acceptable as long as you can manage that easily, and keep your home tidy and organized. But when your home is overflowing with clutter, it affects your mental health and causes you much stress.

A direct link between excessive home clutter and higher stress levels has been found in numerous studies in recent years. In one study, women who lived in cluttered homes had high levels of the stress hormone cortisol throughout the day, while those who lived in a well-organized, restful space had lower levels.

Another study conducted by Princeton University Neuroscience researchers found that a cluttered home environment impedes your ability to focus on things that are important. When we can’t focus easily, our mental faculties get worn down and frustration ensues, causing stress and anxiety.

A cluttered home, rather than a haven from stress, is a big stressor in and of itself, and intensifies the frustration and exhaustion that an already-stressed person feels. It also takes more time cleaning up and tidying up which increases your stress level – both physically and emotionally.

Your Relationships:

Too much clutter affects your relationships, too. It doesn’t allow you to spend enough quality time with your family in a relaxed peaceful way. You constantly feel stressed out, tired, inattentive, and angry. When you choose to live with clutter instead of decluttering and simplifying your home, your life becomes chaotic. You can’t think clearer and focus on things that truly matter. As a result, you fail to pay attention to your loved ones and do things that are truly meaningful.

In a cluttered home, individual relationships get lost easily. Excessive clutter causes you to neglect or overlook changes that need to be made in order to mend or strengthen your relationships.

If you have kids, they, too, can feel the negative effects of a cluttered home. The National Institute of Mental Health found that kids living in a severely cluttered environment often have elevated levels of distress, experiencing less happiness and more difficulty making friends.

Clutter can also isolate you from your friends. The mess and chaos in your home can affect your desire to invite anyone into it. In a Rubbermaid survey conducted by Russell Research, nearly half of the surveyed homeowners said they won’t invite friends over if their home is cluttered because they would feel embarrassed.

The Takeaway:

The real cost of clutter in your life can be pretty high. It takes up your mental and physical spaces, and affects your mental, emotional, and financial well-being. That’s one of the main reasons I love decluttering and organization. It keeps my home clutter-free, and saves me so much time, energy, money, space, and stress. It allows me to take good care of my family, nurture my relationships, and enjoy my life more.

Now that you are aware of the actual cost of clutter in your life, what are you waiting for? Get ready to say goodbye to your excessive clutter and hello to an organized, delightful home.

You may also like to read: Decluttering Made Easy: 18 Areas to Declutter in 10 Minutes or Less