6 Ways Clutter Is Costing You

Hi, it's Dan. A lot of people delay when it comes to decluttering and organizing because they don't think it's a big deal. After this, you might want to get to it a little quicker. Here are six ways that your clutter is costing you. So there's the monetary cost, right? Everything you own costs you money or somebody gave it to you. But also you have things that you can't find when you're disorganized and dealing with a lot of clutter. And a lot of times you have to rebuy the things that you already have because you can't find them.

You're buying them twice, sometimes three and four times. How about time? It takes time to go out and buy the stuff and bring it home and unpack it and clean it and put it away and store it and find it. Time. Our things take time away from us and you cannot get time back. How about the cost of store or house your things? It can be pricey. Take your mortgage or rent amount and divide it by the number of square feet that you live in. That's how much it costs per square foot for your housing. Now, how much space is your stuff taking up?

How much is your stuff eating up your living space? It can kind of shock you sometimes if you really add it up. How about your relationship with your spouse or significant other? A lot of times a source of contention in partnerships is stuff. You have more stuff than me. Your stuff is taking up all this space. You leave your stuff here, I want to leave my stuff there. I want you to get rid of your stuff so I can have more stuff. It's a constant battle. I know it's a common thing in relationships.

Your stuff is costing you your peace of mind with your spouse. Clutter and our things cost us time with our family and friends. A lot of times you're so disorganized, you don't want anybody in your house to see it. You're embarrassed. You're eating up a lot of your free time, looking for things and going out to buy things, moving things from one place to another. All of that time that you're focusing on those belongings could be spent on leisure activities with your friends and family. And I think one of the biggest ways we can all relate the clutter and disorganization affects us is emotionally.

Our emotions, our mental well being are so connected to organization and our environment. If you are sitting in a nice, calm, clean, collected place, you're going to feel a lot different than if you walked into a hoarder's house. Whether you want to believe it or not, our environment plays a big part in how we think and feel and show up in the world. Clutter and disorganization cost us emotionally. So next time you're aggravated or flustered and you look around and your surroundings are in shambles, think about these six ways that your clutter is costing you, and maybe you will want to get to it sooner.