The Value of Space
Unless someone has lived in a home for a short amount of time, I find that most clients fill any extra storage space they have with stuff. It’s not always stuff they need, but since they have space, it’s easy to keep in storage, and it’s likely to be forgotten. If your storage is always full, over time, it will begin to overflow, and it quickly becomes hard to manage. Some statistics show that 36% of Americans have so much clutter in their garages, they cannot use it to park a car. (If you know me, you know I’m guilty - rather it’s my husband who is guilty! So I approach the struggle of not having space from a lived perspective.)
I like to talk to my clients about the value of space. Open storage space literally has monetary value. Americans spend lots of money on storage units outside their home to contain overflowing clutter. The storage business is a 38 billion dollar industry. Rates for storage vary by many different factors: location, size, time of year, length of contract, temperature control, etc. I did some research on the cost of storage in Austin, Texas. Based on a few different storage unit rates, I calculated an average of .91 cents per square foot of storage per month. The national average runs as high as $1.19 per month. When we consider units ranging from 100-300 square feet in size, rates run as low as $91/month to $357/month! In one year, the cost of storage could be $1092 to more than $4000! Over a five year period, it might be $5000-$20,000! Think about those numbers, and how much money we are wasting by holding on to clutter.
As our homes become full, we spend a lot of time managing our stuff. You can also think about how much your time is worth and add that to the negative value of clutter.
Not only does clutter have a negative monetary impact, it also affects the energetic flow in the spaces we occupy. Karen Kingston, Feng Shui expert, and author of Clearing Your Clutter with Feng Shui, talks about the energy of clutter. It is a sticky, stagnant energy. She explains that the word “clutter” comes from the Middle English work “clotter.” Clotter means to coagulate, which is about as stuck as you can get. It’s hard to move out of negative patterns in life when you are surrounded by clutter.
I cleaned out my pantry a few years ago and realized I had three boxes of parchment paper. I use parchment paper a few times a year. I USE it. Why would I get rid of it when it is something I use? That was my mentality. I tried looking at the bigger picture. I didn’t have a lot of space in my pantry. The space I did have was valuable. If I could put my parchment paper in a drawer, along with foil and zip lock bags, I’d have a nice amount of space in my pantry for a food bin. I thought about the cost of parchment paper, the value of open space, and the time I spent constantly rearranging my pantry to make space for new things, and I realized it was a no brainer. There was no need for me to hang on to the extra parchment paper that might take me 5+ years to get through. I hopped on my local Buy Nothing group and donated the parchment paper, along with some other pantry goods, to someone in the neighborhood who also needed it. I cleared that energy to make space for something more valuable to nourish my body. By freeing space in my pantry, I also freed space in my mind by not having to worry about it any more. This is a small but hopefully meaningful example of how you can let go of things, things that you might even consider useful.
Spring is the perfect time to declutter, so think about the monetary value of space, the monetary value of your time, and the energetic impact things have in your home or office as you make decisions about what to hold on to. Find one or two non-profit organizations you like to support that take donations, and don’t forget about your local buy nothing group!
If you need help decluttering, reorganizing, and clearing that sticky energy, reach out to us at Enlightened Living ATX, and we can help shift your life.
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