Consumerism & Clutter

Consumer culture is a form of material culture that is derived from the influences around us - the market, people, media, etc. Marketers have perfected their advertisement tactics to convince us that we need to purchase things and sometimes this is good, but in a lot of other cases, it's not helpful. Next time you go to buy something ask yourself, “do I need this or am I being influenced by the consumerism market to think I do?”

When we get caught in the buying cycle we can sometimes purchase things we already have! For example, I had a client who bought a new hair dryer completely forgetting that she already had five until I went into her bathroom to organize it and we found all of them. First off, my client didn't need another hairdryer, but also with the correct organizing she would have saved money and reduced added clutter.

How can an organizer help?

Hiring an organizer can help build a baseline of what’s actually in your home. We can then decide whether you want to sell or donate the excess or duplicate items to produce a better living environment, free of clutter.

Tips on beating consumer culture

With the holidays coming, one helpful tip to avoid consumerism and clutter in your home could be to purchase trips and experiences. I started to add this to my life after reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. When we have kids items quickly add up so finding ways to do gifts that aren’t always material is really beneficial when trying to minimize clutter.

There are many different things we can do and helpful tips I can advise you on, the list is endless and the power to declutter is in your hands.