Ay de mi!
I read some interesting stats from Becoming Minimalist:
- the u.s. department of energy reports that one-quarter of people with two-car garages have so much stuff in there that they can’t park a car.
- according to the national soap and detergent association, getting rid of clutter would eliminate 40 percent of housework in the average home.
- the national association of professional organizers says we spend one year of our lives looking for lost items.
- if you rent a storage facility to store your excess belongings, you’re contributing to a $154 billion industry — bigger than the hollywood film business!
- it costs an average of $10/square foot to store items in your home.
(Read more stats at Becoming Minimalist)
Since starting WeLiveSimply.info last week and reading Leo Babauta’s book last week (which I highly recommend), I’ve been able to declutter some of my stuff in some of the spaces around the house.
I took 35 books or so to Half Price Books and have a bag of clothes just waiting in the garage to go to the local homeless shelter.
Seems like a nice start — and both my bookshelf and closet look a bit neater now — but truth be told, there’s still a lot of space left in our 1781 sq ft house to cover.
And for me, my tendency is to simply let the clutter collect. It’s so much easier to just toss something here or there and forget about it.
So I’m trying to find some motivation… especially since I know how much clutter bothers Laurie.
To get motivated, I’m trying to keep these two ideas from Leo in mind:
Things aren’t valuable if they’re not used. So by holding onto things, you are preventing them from actually being used by someone who needs them.
Organizing is only necessary when you have too many things to easily find what you’re looking for.
So, next on my list… my dresser drawers. Specifically that catch all drawer up top.
What about you? Do those stats or ideas inspire you to de-clutter? If you’ve already de-cluttered, what motivated you? What inspired you?
Read more at WeLiveSimply.info
