Are You Paying the Clutter Tax?

"I wondered where that was!"

Sound familiar? I hear this statement often when I’m working with clients to sort

through their doom piles, cupboards and drawers. It’s usually quickly followed by an

explanation of how the item has been mourned, replaced or was once a source of

dispute about which member of the household had misplaced it in the first place.

Among the many assorted, unearthed items previously considered lost by my clients,

I've found multiple passports, a weighty coin collection, spare car keys, jewellery,

cash, a birth certificate that solved a mystery about the family name going back three

generations and Nazi memorabilia, but that’s a story for another time.

When our homes are cluttered or disorganised, keeping track of our most precious,

useful or important items is challenging and it's easy to waste time or money finding

substitutes for them, sometimes at considerable expense and sometimes, many

times over.

It’s easily done. Modern shopping facilities make it irresistibly easy to quickly replace

items instead of spending countless frustrating or tedious hours digging them out.

But if you’re spending time and money looking for and replacing ‘lost’ items, or worse

yet, experiencing daily stress, getting into heated debates with the ones you love

about where things are, you are paying the clutter tax and it can be costly.

We are taught that living a well organised life is a mark of adulthood and anything

less is indicative of our failure to be doing it properly. This, of course, is nonsense.

But, knowing that rationally rarely changes the fact that living in a cluttered space is

stressful and the impact this has shouldn’t be underestimated.

Aside from the constant visual clutter overwhelming our senses, the inability to find

the things we need can be frustrating and embarrassing and when the clutter

exceeds our own coping threshold, that emotional discomfort can evolve into feelings

of overwhelm and shame. Getting back on track from that point, without support can

be immensely difficult.

The good news is that although the clutter tax is financially and emotionally

burdensome, it is possible to write it off.

Decluttering, in its simplest terms means identifying what you need, removing what

you don’t and organising what remains so you can make full and easy use of it.

If you’re reading this thinking, ‘Easier said than done’, you’re right! It isn’t easy, but it

is doable and it is worth it.

If you need a hand to reduce clutter and get your belongings into an organised,

manageable state so that you won’t wonder where an item is, you’ll actually know,

get in touch and stop paying tax on your clutter.