how to love yourself

Is All of Your Stuff Depleting You of Happiness?

The people of Denmark have topped the charts once again as the happiest people on earth. 23rd is where the Americans ranked.

Therefore, it is interesting that the Danes own and consume less than half as much stuff as American people do. In Denmark, the average home size is 1,184 square feet while in the United States the average home size is 2,330 square feet. 350,000 is the average amount of items a US home has in it!

The average US home has doubled in size in the last 30 years, at the same time the number of people in an average household has decreased by half. We require more and more space because we are consuming and collecting more and more stuff!

If you want to increase your happiness, consider taking a cue from the Danes by scaling down the amount of stuff you own. The more stuff you own, the more time and money you spend maintaining and storing your things. That’s time and money you could be spending doing something you really love, like traveling!

Getting and staying organized becomes much easier when you scale down on the things you own. You can live more comfortably using less space if you’re organized. Think about the amount of utilities, land and items a 5,000 square foot home consumes as opposed to that of a 1,500 square foot condominium. If you make the choice to live in a smaller space, living comfortably becomes possible if you are organized.

The top two questions I get as a professional organizer are, “How do I begin to figure out what to get rid of?” and “How will I know for sure that I won’t need that item again?”

My answer is: Find all the things in your home that are not useful or meaningful and get rid of them. If, at some point, you decide you do in fact need that item, you would easily be able to find another one on Craigslist, Ebay, or one of the online free markets across the US.

Let’s say you get rid of an unused bookcase by selling it on Craigslist for $40. Let’s say that one year later you actually need a bookcase. Within a week or two you will be able to find a used one. Most of time, you will find one that suits your needs better than the old one. In addition you’d have saved or spent $40 over the last year, and you would not have stored an unused bookcase.

If you are willing to trust that the items you need will be available to you when you need them, you can let go of everything in your home that is not useful or meaningful. When you do this, chances are your level of happiness and the amount of money in your bank account will both increase.

Sources: Statistics Denmark. 2008. Denmark in Figures 2008. Available at http://www.dst.dk/asp2xml/puk/udgivelser/get_file.asp?id=12750…sid=complete. “Average” (taken as typical) Danish home is 110 sq. meters, or 1,184 sq. ft. Demographia. 2006. Second Annual Demographic International Housing Affordability Survey. http://www.demographia.com/dhi2006.pdf. (2200 square feet for new American home in 2006.)

Heidi DeCoux is the publisher of Life Made Simple e-Magazine, a professional organizer in Minneapolis, and creator of the Fast-Filing Method home office filing system. Heidi energizes her readers’ by simplifying their homes and schedules. For more info, free tips, and to receive her FREE Report:The Fast … Easy Way to Get Organized and Stay Organized Forever, visit ClearSimpleLiving.com.