What does decluttering have to do with finance?

[cheapwine]

I was reading the "what did you do to de-cluttered today?" thread and was wondering what decluttering had to do with finance. Do you think that having an uncluttered house is essential to having good finances? Are these directly related? I'm curious if anyone has stories about how decluttering has helped their finances and if they feel it is important to do a little decluttering every single day to make sure their finances stay in order?

[disneysteve]

I'll weigh in since I'm the one who started the original decluttering thread (that one accidentally got deleted - the current one is part two).

I think people who stay organized tend to stay organized in all areas of their lives. People who are sloppy tend to be sloppy in all areas. So yes, I think getting rid of clutter and keeping things neat and orderly can help you manage your finances. If you desk is a mess, you are more likely to lose a bill or pay it late. You are more likely to misplace a check or even cash. While cleaning in our house, we have found gift cards that were still valid but had long ago been forgotten. We either used them or sold them on ebay and realized their value. There have been numerous other times when cleaning and decluttering had a direct effect on our finances. Finding things to sell on ebay and finding money and other items that we had lost are examples.

[cheapwine]

So you feel that if I can get my living space clean and in order, that should help me get my finances in order as well? They still seem to be two different issues to me, but since I am willing to do anything to help myself get out of the debt that I currently have, I'm more than willing to give it a try if people think that it will help. Are there other areas of my life that I'm going to have to change as well?

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by cheapwine

So you feel that if I can get my living space clean and in order, that should help me get my finances in order as well?

I think it partly depends on what your personal issues happen to be. Do you sometimes pay bills late? Have you ever bought something only to later realize you already had that item in the house? Do you ever procrastinate sitting down and doing financial paperwork because your desk is such a mess that there is no space to work?

Do you ever just feel drained? Clutter is tiring to look at. It saps motivation. A clean space is more mentally uplifting. I know that may sound like pyscho-babble but it really isn't. I enjoy sitting down at my clean desk, spreading out financial statements and taking care of things. At other times, when the desk is piled high with papers and assorted stuff, I find myself avoiding the desk and putting off those tasks.

[tan fish]

I would agree with there being a link between material clutter and financial organization, at least for me there is. The way I look at it, staying de-cluttered and having a minimum of possessions means being aware of what you own, and what you may need. It helps you keep track of what you might or might not need to buy.

Its also very common for many frugal people to also have a minimum of material items. Having a ton of crap around that one doesn't make much use of (i.e. "clutter") can be a sign of undisciplined financial management, impulse buying tendencies, the "need" to have the newest gadget, etc., all things that can undermine being in control of one's finances.

[mom-from-missouri]

Ever go buy something (again) that you already had but couldn't find??


Wasted money.

Ever clean off your spouses desk and find rebate or refund checks that are now out of date and can no longer be cashed???

Wasted money.

Ever have food or medications get buried in the rubble and go out of date and be expired before you find them???

Wasted money.

Ever clean out the car, purse, coat pockets, chair or sofa cushions and find money that could have been working for you instead of hiding in the junk??

Wasted money.

Ever loose a valuable item due to clutter? Such as jewelry or a birthday card containing cash?

Wasted money.

[My English Castle]

Yep--since I 'm a constant declutterer, I agree. You all know some of my stories, including the 10-year-old Crate and Barrel gift card. Less clutter helps me see everything better. It seems to me Suze Orman has something to say about clutter too. I think they're linked!

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I'm kicking myself because I lost three tools I needed for pruning my gardens. I also have a little bit of memory problem which is a bad thing to combine with a tendency to let things become cluttered. My spouse and I looked and looked for those tools. I wondered if I had last lent them to my friend who moved out of country suddenly. I definitely had lent them to her several times before, but she had been good about returning them the next day. But maybe in the sudden need to leave she had forgotten that she had them.

So, I bought all three tools new. Did most of my spring pruning, then went to get another pair of gloves. What?!!! There were the pruning tools all in the plastic grocery bag with my spare gloves! Money wasted. Phoo!

[disneysteve]

Clutter also wastes time and, as the old saying goes, time is money. If you spend an hour searching your house for some missing item, that's an hour that you didn't spend doing something more useful or profitable.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Realized I had a caution about decluttering. Try not to get into the frame of mind that buying more STUFF is the answer to clutter problems. I have read an internet forum on home organization where there is an emphasis on buying shelving, cabinets, pegboard & hooks, baskets, boxes, vacuum sealed bags, wall hung racks, door hung racks, walk-in closets in the basement, kitchen drawer trays, file systems, institutional daycare type lockers & cubbies for the kids' rooms, nice looking storage for entertainment media, rolling underbed storage, captains beds with built in drawers, living room ottomans with internal storage, desk organizers, day-timers, corkboards, color coded Rubbermaid bins, specialized Christmas ornament boxes, shoetrees, make-up trays, shower caddies, drawer dividers, bins, shirt folders, sock-pairers, wire shelving for the laundry room, toy carts for the toddlers, hampers for every bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen, portable hose reels, hide-away beds for the craft room, pretty baskets in which to hide un-pretty necessities, overhead potracks, magnetic hooks for the fridge, clip-on hooks for the stove, wall pockets in the bathroom......on and on.

No doubt all those organizing tools have their usefulness. But buying the organizing stuff is not the same as using the organizing stuff. Plus, some would be tempted to fill those organizers and keep on buying more things that do not even fit into the storage, so, more storage is bought.

Just don't let decluttering morph into a new shopping-to-organize hobby if you need to get a hold on your finances.

[cheapwine]

Any suggestions on the best place to start when you begin to declutter? I took a look at my whole house it all looks overwhelming...

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by cheapwine

Any suggestions on the best place to start when you begin to declutter? I took a look at my whole house it all looks overwhelming...

Take time, little by little, to read that decluttering thread. I think it is very motivational.

Where to start? Have you ever heard the old joke: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Clutter is the same way. Don't look at the big picture. Pick one area to work on at a time. I'd suggest you pick something out in the open like a bookcase, shelf or counter. That way, your progress is clearly visible and that helps motivate you to keep at it. If you start with a drawer or closet that is out of view, the progress isn't so apparent.

Another thing to do from the beginning is to really focus on not allowing any new clutter to develop while you are working to get rid of the clutter you already have. Go through the mail when you get it. Recycle what you don't need immediately. Put away the clean laundry right away. Don't put something down and say you'll put it away later - put it away then and there.

And start posting updates to the decluttering thread.

My original goal when I started the first thread was to take care of at least one item per day. I've done way more than that but there is always lots more to do.

[jpg7n16]

Decluttering also helps because you keep asking, 'what is in my house that I don't really need?'

Then you start asking yourself at the store - 'do I really need this?'

That can significantly cut back on excessive spending.


Also, if you sell the stuff from your house while decluttering, that directly affects your finances.

[SnoopyCool]

And, if you're as cluttered as one family was on Clean House: Messiest Home in America, you could find $5,000 in change lying around your house!

[MonkeyMama]

I think mom-from-missouri spells it out pretty well.

I am pretty uber organized, but on the flip side I am a bit of a slob. So not too sure on that area. I think the truth is I focus on the things that matter and don't really care so much about how nice my living space looks (have better things to do with my time than keep my spaces immaculate). Kind of our own philosophy (my spouse and mine). Our dishes are clean, our laundry is clean, our bills are paid, and who cares about anything else?

That said, we don't buy a lot of stuff. I kind of equate a huge pile of stuff to buying stuff you don't need and not being able to find the stuff that you have.

Likewise, we regularly sell things when we are done with them, which is a huge help financially. We could leave old/used items sitting around and taking up space, or we can be efficient and sell things when we are done. We do tend to be pretty efficient with managing our stuff, even if not "perfect."

[cheapwine]

Thank you for all the advice. It seems like the slow and steady wins the race concept is the best way to go. I think what I will do is choose one small area in the house and begin there. Then I can slowly expand outward and hopefully get everything clean and organized. I hope this helps with my debt.

[disneysteve]

Something happened this morning that brought this thread to mind.

I went through the file of pay stubs on my desk and tossed all of last year's in the shredding bin.

In the process, I found my wife's recent bonus check with her pay stubs. She got it in March and I had accidentally filed it with her other pay stubs. She has direct deposit so she gets a stub but no check. I forgot that the bonus was actually a check, not direct deposited, and just automatically stuck it with the others.

Had I not decided to tidy up that file, I wouldn't have found the check. It wasn't a lot of money ($30) but it could just as well have been hundreds of dollars and would have been just as misplaced.

Similarly, I have sometimes found greeting cards with checks still in them when decluttering. Just another example of why clutter can impact your finances.

[wincrasher]

I think that success in all aspects of your life is a matter of organization and management of chaos.

If you are disciplined enough to keep your home organized and tidy, you probably can keep your workplace the same way and can thus keep your financial life the same way. Keeping organized leads to reduction in chaos, peace of mind and eventually, clarity.

Personally, I am not restful or at peace in a place that is a mess. When you aren't at peace, you can't think clearly or plan what you are doing next - other than maybe starting cleaning this mess up!

When I was a kid, my mother used to say "just because we are poor, doesn't mean we have to be dirty!" I'm sure she didn't invent this saying, but it does ring true.

[KTP]

I should point out one advantage to clutter.

The other day I was digging around in a room that is jam packed with stuff we haven't used in 10+ years and discovered a jar of silver dollars and half dollars (well mostly Franklin half dollars but there were 22 Morgans and 4 Peace in there). My grandfather had given it to me years ago when silver was like $4 an ounce and I had just shoved it in with the other mess and forgotten about it. I haven't added up the current value but since jar is just over 13 pounds I think it might have increased a tad with the crazy cost of silver now.

So see? Clutter can cause you to save!

[wincrasher]

I hate to rain on your parade, but my coin collection is in a binder on the bottom shelf in my closet. It's indexed and I know exactly what I have and what it's worth. Screws, nuts and bolts and washers belong in jars on your workbench, not coins.