I love January because it is my best time for de-cluttering and organizing my home and getting a fresh start. The colder weather keeps us in doors more, so not only do we notice more clutter, but we have the time to actually do something about it. Weekends are perfect for major de-cluttering and organizing sessions, but I try to fit in at least 15-30 minutes a day, each day, during the week, in order to make some real progress on our clutter.
A few days ago, I attacked my food pantries. Yesterday, I started following Peter Walsh’s 31-day challenge to get organized in a month. The mission yesterday was magazines. While I thought I had my magazines all under control, taking the time to ferret them out from all over the house revealed that, in fact, I had more magazines that I realized. These were magazines I was probably saving for some day, when I would read an article, try a recipe, etc. The thing is, I never did do those things, and because of the de-cluttering challenge, I wound up tossing out a pile of magazines that were never used. Money lost.
Other ways that clutter could be costing you:
- You are paying hundreds of dollars a month for storage for items that you might use someday.
- You spend money on buying duplicates of items because you can’t find the originals.
- You purchase a larger home to have space for your stuff.
- The clutter prevents you from renting out an otherwise empty room as a source of income.
- You get used to living with more and don’t know how to live with less, and more always costs more. This is especially true for children.
- You spend valuable time and money maintaining your extra clutter.