Clutter Math

‍ ‍‍Let’s talk about something that doesn’t usually make it onto the household budget: clutter. I know, I know…coming from a professional home organizer, this sounds suspiciously like a sales pitch. I completely understand that hiring a professional organizer it isn’t something everyone has room for in the budget, and it certainly isn’t something everyone needs. But there’s another side to the conversation that I think is worth considering: while organizing your home can cost money, so can leaving things exactly as they are.

‍ ‍Take duplicate purchases, for example. You need scissors, and you know you own scissors, but after looking through the kitchen drawer, the junk drawer, the desk and approximately 14 other places, you give up. The next time you’re at the store, you buy another pair for $8. A few months later, while looking for something completely unrelated, you discover the original scissors underneath a pile of papers. Congrats, you now have $16 worth of scissors.

‍ ‍One $8 purchase doesn’t seem like much, but that’s precisely why these expenses are so easy to overlook. If you make just one “I know I have one somewhere” purchase each month, averaging $10, you’ve spent $120 over the course of a year replacing things you already owned. Do that for five years and you’re at $600. And scissors are only the beginning. Batteries, phone chargers, tape, cleaning supplies, toiletries, pantry items, craft supplies, school supplies and tools all seem to have a remarkable talent for not being found when we need them the most.

‍ ‍Then there’s the cost of space. We pay for every square foot of our homes. I’m not suggesting that we start dividing our mortgage payment by the number of kitchen cabinets—although, as a self-professed math girl, I admit that I find the idea strangely appealing. But when closets, garages, basements and spare rooms are filled with things we don’t use, need or particularly like, we are paying to store those things, rather than using that space for something joyful.

‍ ‍Sometimes we even pay extra for the privilege. We buy storage bins and shelving. We rent storage units. We upgrade to a larger home because we’ve run out of room. We add another cabinet, another bookcase, another set of drawers. And then, of course, we need something to organize those things. There is a certain irony in buying more containers because we have too much stuff.

‍ ‍But perhaps the most expensive part of clutter is the one that doesn’t show up on a receipt: time.

‍ ‍Think about how often you look for things. Maybe it’s ten minutes searching for your keys, fifteen minutes trying to locate an important document, or twenty minutes hunting for the charger that you are absolutely certain was “right here yesterday.” Those little searches don’t feel significant in the moment, but they add up. If you spend just 15 minutes a day looking for misplaced things, that works out to more than 91 hours a year—over eleven eight-hour workdays.

‍ ‍I’m certainly not suggesting that a beautifully organized home will magically give you eleven extra vacation days. Life has a way of filling every available minute, and I’m pretty sure laundry reproduces when nobody is looking. But reducing the amount of time we spend searching, moving things around and managing our belongings can make everyday life noticeably easier.

‍ ‍And that’s really the point. This isn’t about having a perfectly tidy home. It isn’t about owning as little as possible, creating Pinterest-worthy cupboards or getting rid of everything that doesn’t “spark joy.” Your home is supposed to support your life, not become another full-time job.

‍ ‍The goal is simply to make the things you own easier to find, easier to use and easier to live with.

‍ ‍You don’t need to spend a fortune to start. In fact, you don’t need to spend anything at all. Try one drawer, one shelf or one cupboard. As you go, ask yourself whether you’re keeping something because you genuinely want or need it, or because you’ve simply gotten used to having it around. Before buying something new, ask yourself whether you might already own one. And every once in a while, take a look at the things you’re paying to store and ask whether they’re actually earning their square footage.

‍ ‍There’s no prize for having the tidiest house on the block. Our homes are where we live, not showrooms. But if a little decluttering means buying fewer duplicates, using the space you already pay for more effectively and spending less time searching for the things you own, that’s a pretty good return on investment.

‍ ‍If you’d like to talk about how a professional organizer can make your life easier, you can find me at www.simplesantuaryhomeorganization.com  and if we happen to find three pairs of scissors along the way, well… at least you’ll know where to find them next time!