Stuffed Up - Interesting Stats on Stuff

On a weekly basis I meet people who are Stuffed Up! Stuffed up to the eye-balls with clutter! They are drowning and need help – stat! They are on the verge of calling the SES to save them from their own homes! Fortunately we are able to step in and rescue them first!

Recently a friend directed me to a study undertaken by the Australian Institute titled “Stuff Happens” which surveyed 1000 Australians about clutter, which immediately sparked my interest! Whilst I won’t bore you with too many details, I thought I’d share with you some interesting stats that some Babes may identify with!

Summary

• 88% of homes have at least one cluttered room;
• Four in ten Australians say they feel anxious, guilty or depressed about clutter in their homes;
• The average Australian spends $1226 a year on items that have been purchased and never used. This equates to $10.5 billion across the nation;
• 59% of women said there was a room in the house that they don’t’ like visitors to see because of clutter.

How Clutter Affects People

• 32% of female respondents agreed that clutter makes them feel embarrassed;
• 43% agreed that “I wish I could deal with clutter in my home but haven’t been able to”;
• 17% agreed that “I’m worried my children will inherit my clutter;
• 20% agreed that “The clutter in my home is a source of conflict with my partner or family”.

What People Do About Clutter

• 20% have built a shed or garage;
• 13% have moved into a bigger house;
• 11% moved things into a friend or family members home;
• 84% had purchased in order to get clutter under control – the most common being containers, followed by shelving and stationery products;
• 5% had bought books on home management.

A number of those interviewed said that they were constantly reading books on how to organize their lives. As one such person put it:

“How many books can I read on the subject, rather than actually doing something about it?”

Some people who had successfully taken steps to address their clutter problem said it was a radical chance of mindset that allowed them to do this.

“I’d feel so free if I could fully de-clutter – like when I traveled the world in my twenties”

Our experience, completely supports these findings.

The conclusion of the Research Paper likens clutter to the obesity epidemic by suggesting that “Most of us don’t want to buy things we won’t end up using, just like most of us would like to be slimmer and fitter than we actually are. Yet the results of this research suggest that Australian homes are often cluttered with things that are rarely or never used. We may not want to live in “fat houses” but we do.