Clutter On A Grand Scale

Category: Finance, Credit.

If debt has taken hold of your life and you just can t seem to see a way out then it might be time for drastic action.

Do feel like the walls are coming in on you? Do you feel stressed when you get home and are confronted by clutter? The thing is you probably have too much stuff. I have often found myself wanting to scream from the top of my voice, "Why do we need all this stuff? " I don t know where the line between buying something we actually need and just buying something for the sake of it began to blur. Things like too much clothes, too many magazines, too many shoes and too many gadgets. It s almost like we sleep walk into buying stuff that is completely unnecessary. I m actually getting a little stressed even thinking about it.

Help! !!! How often have you gone to the ATM, taken out$ 50 gone to buy some essentials and then realising that you have about$ 7 when you get home? The feeling of regret this brings when you realise that the enjoyment and value that these items bring are very short lived. When you try to piece together where the money went you realise that you spent most of it on unnecessary items such as magazines or lottery tickets. Sometimes they actually bring negative value for example soda will eventually rot your teeth so in the long run you will pay a lot more in dental costs than the initial cost of the can of soda. An old friend from college recently got in touch with me. Clutter on a grand scale.

It was great to hear from him. I would dread going around to his apartment because I would have to fight with the half eaten pizzas and beer bottles for a place on his sofa. The one thing I remember most about him was that he was a pack rat and a very messy individual. He also had lots of stuff- things like lava lamps and dozens of magazines scattered about randomly. Anyway a lot had happened to him in the last couple of years. I passed it off as the typical student lifestyle- one from which my own was not too far removed.

One major event was that there was a fire in his house about two years ago. My heart went out to him as he explained what had happened. He lost almost everything he owned. Anything that did survive the fire was too badly smoked damaged to keep. He would find it very difficult to replace all the lost stuff. While he had insurance the amount he received for the lost items was nowhere near what he paid from them. But then he said something that stunned me and when I think about it makes perfect sense.

All the stuff that he lost was just that- stuff! old magazines, DVDs, books, computer games etc. He said that there was one huge positive from all of this. He had been meaning to throw out all the stuff for years and in one fell swoop had it done for him. Yes initially he said he was devastated from having lost so much of his stuff and indeed there were personal items of sentimental value that he lost but when he stepped back on got perspective on the situation he found that. He said that he felt an immense sense of freedom. I m lucky to be alive and able to create new photos with my friends and family. I m free of all the clutter in my home life that was like an oppressive weight around my neck.

I don t think so. Is that attitude too much like Pollyanna s? Ok it s true that the fire was a traumatic experience and thankfully no one was injured but every cloud has a silver lining. You see the problem was that the clutter was not only messing up his home it also came with a lot of emotional baggage. My friend had been set free from all his clutter. My friend told me that he would look around his house and he would get very stressed as he did not have the motivation or focus to clear out the clutter. Two years later and he is a changed man.

The clutter was effectively crowding him out of his home! He vowed not to let clutter take over his life again and he is winning the battle. He explained to me that he now feels about 100 times freer than he did when he had all that clutter. His clean minimalist house almost puts me to shame. So how does all this help you with your debt situation? The 10 years in prison would make the whole process very expensive and lord knows we are in enough debt already without having to pay our debt to society with jail time. Now I m not for one minute suggesting that you go all Backdraft on your stuff and burn your house down.

Ok so arson is ruled out. Simple really. eBay! What next? My advice is that you sell everything in your life that is not an absolute necessity. You need to be ruthless. Everything. The biggest problem is not the physical act of taking photos and putting them on eBay then sending the item to the buyer.

It will take time but once you commit to it you have to see it through because now you are presented with a great opportunity to solve two problems at once. No the biggest problem that you are going to have is to overcome the emotional attachment that you have to this stuff. Two problems solved in one go: Problem one: The mayhem that you call home. No longer will you have to worry about what you friends will think when you invite them over for coffee. By decluttering and selling all the excess clutter that you do not need you are creating a clean and clear living space for you and your family. Have you ever seen those house makeover shows that show the before and after pictures of someone s house? Sure the d�cor could do with updating but the majority of them seem to be so cluttered.

From what I see the biggest problem in most of these houses is the clutter. The solution is obvious really- get rid of the clutter. So having read about clutter you may be asking what on earth has this got to do with my debt and how will it help me solve it? Problem two: That debt burden that is weighing you down. Well the benefit of clearing out the clutter is that you will get a much needed cash injection from the sale of your items on eBay. When you sell an item on eBay the chances are that you are not going to get what you paid for it.

Ok this will take time but its going to take you time to pay off your debts anyway and this is a piece of very simple action that you can take to help you tackle your debts. Do not let this logic stop you from selling your clutter. Each day when you return home from work you are constantly reminded what you have spent your money on and that you are in debt. The way you have to think about it is How much is it costing me to keep this item? The costs of keeping an item come in a number of varied ways but the primary one is emotional. So I say clear it all out. It doesn t have to be eBay.

Why eBay? It can be any marketplace where you feel that you will get a fair price for your clutter. Strip your home life down to the bare essentials, cut away the excess. I use eBay as an example because it is one of the biggest marketplaces in the world. Sure it s going to be tough emotionally because like your debts this clutter has taken time to build up. The chances are you incurred a significant part of your debt by buying things that at the time you thought you needed but in retrospect they were not needed at all.

Above all else and even if you take no action after reading this article I want you to see the causal relationship between the clutter in your house and the debts that you owe. Like paying off your debts clearing out the clutter will take time. Give it as long as it takes. Give it time. You want to build a better brighter future for you and your family? Then act now.

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