How Do You Know If You Have A Clutter Problem?

So how do you know that you have a household clutter problem? We’re not going to give you one of those self-scoring tests that you’re doomed to fail. But here are a few questions you might want to ask yourself in a benign manner.

1. Do you save magazines indefinitely that may have articles you really “should” read because you might miss something?
2. Do you need more than one “repair drawer” or “junk drawer”?
3. Do you save things that seem just too good to throw away even though you have no particular plans for ever using them?
4. Are you storing all sorts of things on behalf of your grown children?
5. Do you save broken things for years, never repair them, and then realize you don’t like or need them anyway?
6. Do you lose your keys or wallet or purse regularly?
7. Do you buy things you already have, but didn’t know it because the cupboard is a rat’s nest?
8. Do you have under your kitchen sink cleaning products – including numerous “miracle” cleaners – that you’ve never touched?
9. Do you save spare parts to unknown things?
10. Do you collect empty boxes?
11. Do you know what bills are coming due this week or this month?
12. Have you lost a chunk of change because you’re late with payments and get zapped with late charges and interest because there’s no time to write the checks?
13. Has your collection of porcelain ducks, frogs, penguins, elephants, etc., begun to seem like it’s just something else to clean – without the interest or fun it once had?
14. Are some drawers or shelves stuffed so full that you can use only the items on top?
15. Do you keep putting things in places that you know aren’t right and then tell yourself you are just putting them there “for now”?
16. Do you live in a house with more storage space than ever before, but every spare space fills up immediately and you still don’t have enough?
17. Do you feel guilty and depressed about the state of your home?
18. Would you entertain more often (if at all) if you could only get things under control?

Aren’t you glad that wasn’t a test? So . . . if you’ve determined that you have a clutter problem, check out previous Speed Cleaning blog posts for help and Jeff Campbell’s Clutter Control ebook. Let’s get organized!