You might end up hurting your savings with a hidden price tag on clutter. One’s financial and emotional life can be greatly threatened while living with clutters in your home. Too many things are the new order of the day in the world we live in. Many people are trapped with financial mess due to their extremely disorganized homes. There are too many items all around them.
There have been several attempts to find a lasting solution to these problems, but most of it proves abortive.
Knowing the actual cost of clutters and their huge effect on your mental and general health will go a long way in saving you some cash.
Having in-depth knowledge about how much your clutters cost will trigger you to manage them perfectly. You will be able to prevent clutter when you know its emotional and financial impact on your home.
Home Organisers aims to use this post to estimate the real cost of clutter in a view to help you save huge cost on your clutters and get more organized. To get started, let’s briefly reflect on how you get here.
How did you arrive here?
Maybe you have a lot of unwashed clothes beside your bed, or you have papers littered on your desk, or you have many knick-knacks on your shelves – you are not alone. There was a day I found my vacuum cleaner under a pile of laundry after tossing up my bedroom. Aside from being annoying, clutter is also expensive. It’s just so hard to think that after spending much money to buy those valuable items, it continues to cost you money. There is a report that “storing up old items can end up costing you a fortune in the nearest future.”
Do you remember yourself going shopping, buying those new shoes, appliances, and furniture, but somehow, you still won’t let go of the old items? You squeezed the old clothes into the wardrobe, move the old refrigerator to the basement (because it still works well), and moved the old furniture into your garage. Badly enough, all these things still manage to cost us energy, living space, as well as cash. Continue reading to get the right motivation you need to declutter your home.
What are your Clutters costing you?
Clutter can cost us a lot of fortune in so many ways, according to Jen Hunter, a professional organizer at Find Your Floor located in Boston. You will receive the right motivation to get rid of clutter from your home when you know how much money clutter can cost you.
Here is the breakdown of what your pile up can cost you:
- Living Space
We are always tempted to fill up any space found in our home. As time pass, we start thinking of the need to get a more spacious home because of the pile-ups we have in our home. But considering how much housing can chop off in your monthly budget, it is safer to cut down on the amount of space you are using to store items from the amount of space you live. Your right move, if the space you used for storing items is more than the space you live, is to declutter your home. To determine how much important space clutter is taking in your household doesn’t take much time.
There is no need for someone even to tell you this if you live in a 1-bedroom apartment because, in such a small space, you value every foot of space. With clutter in your home, your rooms look smaller and unattractive. However, if you live in a larger home, you still want to increase the space of your rooms. With clutter around, even a big room can look so small. In Norwalk, Connecticut, Ann Zanon, a certified professional organizer, calculate the actual costs of space per square footage and uses it to encourage her customers to get rid of unused items.
For instance, about $15 is being spent on a square foot annually by a family that purchases a 2,000 sq. ft. home that costs $300,000. Although the money seems small, why do you have to pay $15 annually for clothes you are not using? If you multiply that value by all the unused stuff in your home, the total figure will scare you. She further stated an estimate that, decluttering an average household could help you free up to 20% of its entire space.
- Time
The times we spend on replacements of items are too valuable if only we use it for something more productive. Australians use two and half days annually to search for misplaced stuff, according to a study. We can see from these statistics that clutter is also a time-waster. Without considering the statistics, no one is new to spending time searching for lost items, whether wallets, phones, shoes, remote controls, and keys, among other popular items that people misplaced every day.
Although you might spend just a few minutes searching for a misplaced item, this time can slowly add up after some time (precisely 2.5 days). Also, we need to spend time to ensure the cleanliness and maintenance of the items we keep. And that will definitely cost time and attention. An estimated $40 per hour will be spent if you hire professional organizers to help manage your belongings for the time spent to perform the task.
- Money
Money is another high cost we pay for clutter. When our financial documents are not properly organized, we may find it hard to locate bills and thereby accrue late fees. The cost can also move up quickly when we buy new items to replace the ones we did not realize we have in our cluttered home. Although there are many ways by which we spend more money as a result of clutter, we will discuss these three popular ones:
- Storage Unit Prices:An average of $88.85 is spent on a storage unit annually, and 9.6% of households in the United States rent storage units as reported by a leading self-storage company in the country. This implies that about $100 is being spent monthly by 10% of the United States population on storage. Although there are some times when we need these other uses for storage services, in most cases, they are just taking away our hard-earned money because of the cluttered lives we live.
It takes self-determination to declutter and organize a home, not to talk of the storage units. Instead, for people to take time to get rid of clutter from their storage unit and decide on what goes in and what stays away, they still incur cost on non-essential bills. The money we spend on a storage unit is also another high cost when we have clutter in our space.
- Maintenance Fees:This happens to all of us. We all have that piece of equipment that we keep in our basement or garage that we keep spending money to maintain without using it. Machines that you barely use are costing you money, whether it’s a sewing machine or a motorcycle. The smart move is to get rid of those items you barely use and instead opt for rental from somewhere else when you need it. You will be able to save some space and money that you would have spent on maintenance.
- Late Fees & Penalties:This is another way through which clutter costs money. You will end up paying for late fees and penalties from financial institutions when you couldn’t locate a bill as a result of paper clutter. Unused checks and gift cards can also cause you to lose money to paper clutter.
- Tip:Although you can save money on lowering your monthly bills, however, decluttering your home saves you more money over the years as well.
- Health and Mental Peace
This is another cost incurred by clutter. It is certain that clutter increases stress in a home and deprives it of its deserving peace. Health risks can spring out as a result of clutter, thereby leading to the growth of mold, dust, and other allergens. Treatments for health issues caused by clutter can be so expensive. Your mental health is also not saved from clutter. It was after Ariel Gore; a writer, met a therapist that she realized she only needed a clean home to stay healthy. She then hired a maid and paid half of what her therapist would charge.
- Stress
Did you notice how angry you get when you couldn’t find your phone? Have you ever found it difficult to concentrate on a task because of too many items around? Have you ever felt tired at the sight of your pending domestic chores? These are all scenarios that point out that clutter can increase stress-level, and reduces the joy that should dwell in a home. There is definitely nothing to enjoy about clutter.
Just take a minute break and imagine having a home where everything is in place and can be accessed without stumbling on clutter. That would be a great stress reliever. So if you want to enjoy a peaceful life where you can manage your stress, then face the truth about your clutter, and once you declutter your home, you will be surprised at how much
How to Stay Organized and Save Cost on Clutter
The feelings that come with organizing your home are great. However, home organizing requires some efforts to achieve the desired result. The good news is – you can reduce the effort by seeking advice from professionals.
Below is how to live a life with less stress:
- Become Aware
The first step to solving every problem is awareness of its existence. Do you stumble on any item while trying to get your stuff? Where in your home is the clutter located? Are you looking for a less-stressful way to get rid of the overwhelming feeling from clutter? Start from here and tackle the problem.
- Take Responsibility
You can’t get anything done when you complain and blame. There is no way you can control anyone’s behavior. So, get a hold of yourself and make quality decisions. What percentage of the clutter and confusion is yours? You can manage your part of the problem. You can create the avenue for others to help you, but they also have themselves to look after.
- Learn
Take actions and acquire knowledge. The only swift solution is to take action. Choose the technique you prefer and learn. Study about it, read tips on how to get rid of clutter, listen to audios and live sessions, or hire a professional organizer to give you details. After you identify the possibilities, you can decide on the part that works for you. Luckily, Home Organisers will be sharing helpful tips on this page to assist you in your quest to organize your home.
Final Words
The lower the clutter, the higher the life! Since you have known the cost of clutters, and an approach to get things working again, it is time to take actions. It can come in different forms from small things like socks, large things like furniture, bad thoughts, unproductive tasks, and much more. Clutter leaves us depressed. It affects our physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional health. We all have the right to feel lighter. You can learn organizing skills, but not all of it works for everyone. You will get to live the life you dream when you have more space in your office and home. We are definitely on the same track if you also share this belief with us.
Home Organisers is always looking to help people declutter and organize their homes. It is our belief that clutter is anything that blocks you from living your dream life. If you need our help, don’t hesitate to call us – 03 8583 9103.
