Get Organized For Your Wealth (And Health)

Get Organized For Your Wealth (And Health)

by Mary Hunt

Disorganization is the bane of the simplified life. And it’s not so great on the finances, either.

Here are seven financially motivating reasons to get organized now.

1. Know what you have. The only way to know for sure is to make sure that you can easily see and find what you have. Organize your closet specifically. If all of the pants are together and then arranged according to color, you’ll easily see you have three pairs of black pants. Ditto for shoes, blouses, and so on right through your entire wardrobe.

2. Use what you have. If the refrigerator is so overloaded and unorganized that you cannot see what’s in the back, you can be pretty sure your efforts to stretch one meal into two are going to be for naught. That means money straight into the trash. An organized refrigerator is a money-saving tool.

3. Find lost money. You know that feeling of joy when you reach into the pocket of your winter coat and pull out a $20 bill? Expect the same thing to happen as you go through piles of clutter and chaos. What you find may not be as dramatic as the woman who found a check for $5,000 that she totally did not know was in that non-descript envelope from a deceased parent’s insurance company (true story), but so what? Anything is better than what you have now. The stories I’ve heard of people finding misplaced checks, cash and other treasures are myriad. Who knows what you’ll find?

4. Save time. Time is more valuable than money and here’s why: You can get more money, but time is finite. It cannot be recovered. Not spending an hour searching for car keys, or this item or that tool is time you can spend doing what you love and is more important to you.

5. Sell your home faster. To get the highest price in the shortest time, professionals advise home sellers to get rid of all the clutter. Closets and other storage areas look bigger with fewer items in them. Open, clear counters give off a sense of calm. Minimalist environments are inviting. Clearing rooms of your stuff makes it easier for buyers to envision themselves and their stuff in the space.

6. Tax deductions. Big organizing projects nearly always result in a large pile of stuff to be donated. Most of us grossly undervalue what they are giving away to charity. Get the highest tax benefit for your donations by quickly tallying up the actual fair market values using the work booklet, “Money For Your Used Clothing.”

7. Feel less stress. As reported in a 2003 edition of Fast Company magazine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that 80 percent of medical expenditures in the U.S. are now stress-related.

Can you even imagine what the collective disorganization of homes in this country is costing? Getting control of your belongings and your finances means you will experience less stress. And that means less cost in health expenses. And less unproductive time off work for illness, too.

It’s hard work to get organized. And for some of us maintenance is a continuous battle. But it is so worth the effort because of the payoff in dollars and cents. And the bonus is the sweet serenity and peaceful calm that come with an organized space. The hyper crazy feelings of dissatisfaction that accompany chaos melt away.

Want to experience the joy of wanting what you have? Get organized. It’ll do you a world of good.