Can a Messy Home Make you Spend More?by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 11 Jan 2009 01:14 PM
Here are my reasons for believing that a messy house can make you spend more. The biggest reason, I think, that you spend more in a messy house is because you can never find anything! Need a can opener but misplaced the other two you already have? off to the store to purchase another one. Hey, did we or didn't we ever buy a stapler? Who knows, but we need it for a school project, so off to the store we go. I helped one person clean up some clutter. We ended up finding six battery rechargers and those three electric can openers in addition to lots of other stuff. Another common thread to people with messy homes is that they often have tons and tons of clothes. When laundry isn't kept up or clothes aren't put away in drawers, it is hard to find anything to wear. Hence you have to make some more trips to the store to add to your wardrobe. While I've seen exceptions to this rule (messy homes where the family wore the same clothes for days on end), most of the time people who say they have nothing to wear have enough clothing to open a consignment shop. If your messy home makes you feel depressed and overwhelmed, then you just may not like spending too much time there. This means that you will find ways to get out. Sometimes this means shopping to get a lift, while other times it means expensive activities that can range from eating out to full vacation, just to get away from your messy home. With a messy home, you are more likely to bring home new things to the mix, spending good money on them. A neat home that is in order makes the owner think twice before anything new get introduced that might cause a mess. Neat homes almost require that you get rid of something that exists before you bring in anything new. Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, creating a home in the Home Blog, caring for little ones in the Baby Blog and now relationships in the Marriage Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here or subscribe to the blog using the subscription box on the right. Favorite Deal Websites: Related Articles: Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments MegfromAllAboutAppearances (330) 11 Jan 2009 02:49 PMMy husband and I have done so much better with our finances since we started really decluttering. Now we actually have room for all our stuff, so it's easier to keep the house under control. We rarely feel the urge to escape the house like we used to (which often led to more shopping). Plus, there are fewer occasions when we buy things because we can't find the things we already had -- or even just forgot that we had them. So many people keep things "just in case" thinking that they'll save money by keeping things, but when that results in a messy, unorganized home I really doubt their savings (though maybe it works for some, who knows). Sure, there are a few more things on my wish list, but right now we're still getting rid of more things than we're bringing in and it's a surprisingly wonderful feeling.  Mary Ann Romans |
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