But what is the true cost of the stuff we call clutter?
TIME
Clutter drains us of our time. People in cluttered homes spend extra time virtually every day looking for lost items such as keys, money, cell phones, shoes and tools.
Clutter accounts for 40% of cleaning time – handling, getting around and moving the stuff out of the way. It’s harder and takes longer. Energy drains when dealing with clutter daily.
MONEY
National studies have shown that the typical executive spends 4 ½ hours a week looking for lost papers, files, electronic stuff in the physical office and on the computer. At $60,000 year, that costs $6,722 per year. At $100,000 per year it’s $ 11,205 per year. It’s 15% of the yearly income.
According to management engineers, misfiled documents cost between $61 and $125 to be retrieved. Workers lose 280 hours each year or 7 weeks, seeking clarification because of poor communication due to disorganization.
In your homes and offices, clutter steals your storage space by as much as 50%. You lose more money keeping unused and unloved things around. Stuff occupies expensive space and valuable time. And the cost of the space can easily exceed $175 per square foot.. When looking at budgets, we carefully evaluate expenses, including the cost of utilities in our business and our homes. But we forget about the cost of heating, cooling and sometimes cleaning and housing our stuff.
When bills and financial papers are not organized, bills get lost causing us to accrue late fees. Taxes are delayed; accrue late fees, credit score suffers. Support documentation for taxes need to be found or replaced for audits. If your paperwork is disorganized, cash doesn’t flow. Organizational studies have shown that most people never reference 80% of all the papers they save, including documents saved in their computers
Replacing… when we can not find what we want or need, we buy another. Spending money and eating up time.
STRESS
The most obvious toll that clutter takes is added stress on one’s life.
If our home is not a haven, where can you relax?
The idea of company and family visiting is terrifying.
You and your family can not find everything you’re looking for without a search. Looks like you need Super Nanny Is this positive parenting? This translates to pets.
Clutter diverts our focus. It is a real energy smasher. It is an emotional, mental and physical drain that makes it impossible to do anything quickly or efficiently. Clutter is a constant diversion of thought, direction and progress.
There is plenty of evidence to show how keeping things destroy marriages, relationships, mental states and respect.