Buckle up; I’m about to play bad cop.

I want to address something today that I haven’t in the past. I haven’t because it’s the reason cited to get organized so ubiquitously by every magazine that even I want to be all, “Blah, blah.”

Nevertheless, sometimes the stars align and the clients present and I decide the time is now. The time is now to talk about how much disorganization is costing you. And today, I’m not speaking of the metaphorical cost. I mean dollars and cents.

How do you waste money?

You waste money when you buy things you already own and know you do that you can’t find.

You waste money when you don’t have a firm grasp on what you own, or on your needs and priorities, and so you buy things you won’t use or already own similar versions of.

And oh lord, do not get me started on how many zillions of dollars you waste by paying to store and transport things you don’t need, haven’t used or thought about using in years, and would be perfectly fine–nay, better off!–without.

Heck, you waste money on organizing products used to contain items you don’t need!

What’s the alternative?

You write off your generous donations and free yourself from the trap of maybe someday selling it–if that’s what that task is for you.

You pay an intentional amount of money to beautifully and functionally organize and store your belongings–a system that, having invested in, you care about upholding. And in so doing you work your system: you put things back where they belong, you know what you have and you can easily find them.

You pay to replace items only as you actually need to–when the versions you own become outdated or broken.

You might need to spend a larger sum up front in order to Live Simply, but I promise beyond promise that over time, you’ll save yourself hundreds of thousands of dollars. Because every item adds up.

Image credit: Tim Walker for Allure Magazine via