Money Monday's...Is your clutter costing you money??

The other day I went into the garage to put some next size up clothes into a storage box that I have for my littlest munchkin. It’s a massive box because I never say no to second hand clothes that my friends and family are getting rid of.  I know exactly where the box is and it is the only box of clothes I store in the garage....well so I thought! I found another box. Knowing that I am not someone who would keep 2 massive boxes of the same size clothes, I started to go through it. I was so disappointed! All of the clothes were the size that she is wearing now or she has already grown out of. Some were gorgeous clothes that her big sister had worn. They had been passed down to both my nieces and have come back again. They were my absolute favorites! And then there were gorgeous brand new clothes that I had bought while I was pregnant with her, still all with the tags on. The entire box was all things that I had completely forgotten about and all things that I had paid to buy again because I didn't realise that I had.

This is not the first time this sort of thing has happened to me. I have forgotten about clothes that I owned and bought more. I have wasted money on food because my fridge is so messy that I can’t see what is at the back and things get lost and then need to be thrown out. Then there is the furniture and storage systems that I have paid for to house all my stuff. And I know for a fact that I am not the only person that lives like this. So it got me thinking...How much does clutter cost people??

Here are some statistics I found....

* Planet storage reported 

 - We wear 20% of the clothes that we own 80% of the time.

- The average person spends 12 weeks a year looking for items they own but can’t find.  

- Eliminating Clutter cuts housework by 40% in the average home!

- A typical house contains $1600 worth of unused clutter.

*Harris Interactive reported that 23% of adults say they pay bills late (and incur fees) because they loose them.

*Agency Sales magazine reported that 80% of what we keep we rarely use.

*The State of Waste of Australia reported that up to 40% of the average household garbage bin is food. For The average Australian household $1,036 of food is thrown away each year.

It is pretty clear that clutter costs time and money.  

Do you have too much clutter? What is your clutter costing you??

Kylie xx