What has my disorganization cost me?

All this cleaning up has got me wondering what being this disorganized and cluttered for a good 10+ years has really cost me financially, emotionally, and physically?

I need to think this out. I’m sure I’ve paid a heavy price. Off the top of my head, I know that financially I had increased credit card interest rates and many $30 late fees because I didn’t know (or care) where the bills were or whether or not they were paid on time. I was living in denial.

I can also think of hundreds of time I spent 10-20 minutes looking for something, not being able to find it and then having to go to the store and buy it again. Okay, I’m a stay at home mom but if I had a job and made about $12 and hour those 20 minutes I spent looking for something would add up to $4. Everyone’s time has value. Lets say I went looking for missing items 3 times a week over the course of a year that would be about $624 worth of wasted time. Time I could have spent doing something I love, being with loved ones, or even cleaning.

I mentioned earlier buying duplicates of things because I wasn’t able to locate the original item I was looking for. This is going to sound really really bad but here’s a great example. Now that I have all my clothes hanging in my CLEAN closet, I have 12 plain black tee shirts. Do I need 12 plain black tee shirts? No I really don’t. Before I started cleaning I thought at most, maybe I had 6 black tee shirts.

Emotionally being disorganized has caused me a lot of embarrassment, frustration, feelings of being overwhelmed and hopelessness (that I’d ever have a clean house). I’d be embarrassed if someone decided to drop by unannounced. A few years ago I had a change of heart and decided if my visitors didn’t like my cluttered house it was their fault, after all they didn’t HAVE to stop by right? Well, I really never fell for that one so it really didn’t work for me. I’d be frustrated with my messy house but wasn’t ready to deal with it or even take it on. I’d try to keep my house clean for of a few days, and when I got tired of constantly cleaning and picking up after everyone, I’d tell myself, “Well it’s just me versus 5 other people and I don’t stand a chance” so I’d give up. I felt trying to keep a clean house was a never ending battle and it was a battle I was fighting alone.

I’ve now decided that I refuse to live in a messy cluttered house any more. I’m tired of it and I’m not having it anymore. I’m also no longer going to be fighting this battle alone. My kids are going to have some household responsibilities, there will be chores. My husband is going to have to stop throwing things on the floor, I’m not his maid nor servant and he is capable of picking up after himself.

What has this mess cost me physically? Well to tell the truth, I’m just lucky no one got hurt. Gosh that sounds bad. Having piles of stuff (junk) laying around, isn’t safe, it really isn’t. I’m lucky no one tripped and got hurt.