Comments on: Look at Your Clutter, See Your Money

By: Ellen Scott Grable

Ellen Scott Grable — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:46:05 +0000

I figured out after years of buying and dusting collectibles that I would rather travel. I needed more time to travel and money. Voila! Ebay and Craigslist and I love my new space. I relish the space and am very cautious about bringing in new stuff.

I see these programs about clutter and hoarding and it makes me want to downscale further. What so many people who overshop and over store possessions are missing is that there is a great freedom in traveling lightly through this life. Spending good money on rent or a mortgage to house extra stuff is rediculous. I believe this is a side effect of the western lifestyle of consume to be rather than do to be.

By: Gloria

Gloria — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 20:05:01 +0000

We just began to do this about a month ago. We took our stuff to resale shops and we hope to get back some money from it. Our house looks cleaner too. We still have more stuff to consign but so far so good.

By: gaelicwench

gaelicwench — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:36:15 +0000

There are some who go shopping for “bargains” who truly believe they are accomplishing a money-saving feat, simply because they got it on sale and with a rebate/coupon. What they fail to realize is that, unless the item is used regularly, their so-called savings become moot if the item remains unopened and tossed into the garage and/or basement. It totally defeats the purpose and turns into nothing more than clutter.

By: Best of Personal Finance: Dog Days of Summer Edition |

Best of Personal Finance: Dog Days of Summer Edition | — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 01:09:15 +0000

[...] Saving Advice reminds you that your house is not only full of crap, but you probably paid for that crap, so it’s like you’re sitting in a big pile of money, but not as cool. [...]

By: Big Blue House Momma

Big Blue House Momma — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 00:46:14 +0000

I’m not a Suze Orman fan….but I do like one thing she says: to value money more than things.

By: sewingirl

sewingirl — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:17:58 +0000

My MIL was a hoarder. She never threw much of anything away. It drove my Hubby, and his siblings, crazy. Hoarding is now recognized to be a form of obsessive/compulsive disorder. Anyway, it took the family 3+ years to clean out the house after she passed away, she was just positive that she might need all of that stuff someday! and no one could convince her otherwise.

By: sewingirl

sewingirl — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:17:58 +0000

By: Diane

Diane — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:56:02 +0000

Everything you own not only costs money, but takes up space & time & creates more work (cleaning it, moving it, looking for it). I agree there’s likely a correlation between more stuff and more debt.

To put it simply, in my view more stuff equals less money, less space, and more work. Not a good trade-off in my opinion.

By: Junebaby

Junebaby — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:24:42 +0000

My Sister has a LOT of clutter, but it’s not from spending! She had her Husband have little money. Her clutter comes from not throwing stuff away. They don’t clean and tidy, and she has a sentimental attachment to almost everything except papers.

By: ceejay74

ceejay74 — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:20:11 +0000

It’s something I think about when I watch those shows too. (Although I can attest that you don’t have to be spending money to accumulate clutter; my parents’ house is half as bad as the ones on those shows, but they wouldn’t be able to scrape $300 out of all the clutter; it’s mostly papers, very old well-worn clothes and toys and books, etc.)

I saw an episode of “How Clean Is Your House?” (with the British ladies) where money was part of the girl’s clutter. The ladies found over $1000 throughout the house! Another time I saw an episode of “Big Spender” where the shopaholic mom would buy things and leave them in the bag, with the receipt–and the change from the transaction, sometimes several dollars! They found a couple hundred in cash there, if I recall.

There are so many ways clutter can relate to poorly organized finances, like when people have to buy another of something because they can’t find the original.