Get Paid to Get Organized!

Clutter and disorganization are problems that many of us face. My wife is a great organizer and we still struggle with our clutter from time to time. She showed me a clip recently of an Oprah show that she recorded about compulsive hoarders (think clutter to the extreme). These people had 75 TONS of clutter/garbage in a 3,000 square foot home. It was unreal (and unhealthy - tons of black mold/mildew - disgusting). I doubt that many of the readers of this blog are hoarders - but many of us are probably not as organized as we'd like to be or as we could/should be. What you may not realize, however, is that disorganization is probably costing you money. Here's how:

Opportunity Cost - We've all heard the saying that time is money and in many ways that's true. When viewed through that lens, every time you spend time searching for something that you can't put a finger on, you're costing yourself money (not to mention the energy spent and frustration from not being able to find something that you KNOW is there).

Bad Purchases - How many times have you marvelled at what you were throwing away when you cleaned out your refrigerator? How many times have you had to run out to a midnight store or pharmacy because you didn't have something you need? These events are avoidable events. All it takes is some planning and organization. Plan your menus ahead of time. Buy only what you need. Stock up on staples that you know you'll use over time. Don't buy something and get home to find that you already had it (even if you take it back, you're costing yourself time again!).

Financial Mistakes - If you don't have a pretty good organization system, I'm betting that you, at some point, have missed a bill payment and it ended up costing you money. If that hasn't happened to you, I bet you've made late payments on overdue movies/library books/etc. because you either forgot you had them or couldn't find them. Lack of organization can be a killer from a financial standpoint. There are rebate opportunities, price matching/beating terms that you could be taking advantage of, store credits that must be taken advantage of before they expire, overdraft fees that could be avoided, tax breaks that you could be taking advantage of - all kinds of things that require a bit of organization and planning and could be saving you money.

My personal opinion is that the biggest reason that people don't get organized and struggle with clutter is that it's a problem that tends to overwhelm. We simply can't figure out where to start. If that's you, there's help available!

If you really need help getting organized, the place to start is at NAPO.net. The National Association of Professional Organizers has a directory of organization experts that can come to you and work with you on, literally, getting your house in order. These people can help you create filing systems, figure out what to keep/get rid of, figure out financial strategies so that you can be organized in that area of your life, etc. They exist solely because organization is a problem for a lot of people - so don't be afraid to get some help!

Maybe you're not ready to hire a professional - or maybe your lack of organization has put you in a financial position which makes hiring a professional impossible. If that's the case, head over to Amazon.com and take a look at the books that are available on eliminating clutter and getting organized. This link will take you right to the listing: Books on clutter & organization

My point is this - getting organized improves your productivity, eliminates costly financial mistakes, frees you up to do more 'value-added' activities with your limited free time, etc. Who is going to pay you for getting organized? You're paying yourself! Now get started!!