National Declutter Week survey reveals 4 out of 5 people have too much stuff

Four out of five people currently have too many possessions in their home, according to the survey that featured on the Storage.co.uk website as part of the build-up to National Declutter Week.

Altogether 84% of the respondents said they had more belongings than they wanted, while fewer than 4% said the opposite, perhaps proving that Britain really is a nation of hoarders.

 …and a nation of declutterers?

The National Declutter Week survey also asked people how frequently they tried to do something about having too much clutter, with a remarkable 40% of people who took part saying they had decluttered an area of their home at least three times in the last twelve months.

In fact, somewhat surprisingly 93% of those who answered had done some decluttering at least once in the last year, with only a tiny minority claiming not to have made any attempt to do some at all.

This result doesn’t seem to tally with the fact that so many people still complained of having too much stuff, but there are several possible reasons for this. Some respondents to the National Declutter Week survey may have been exaggerating how often they tidy their homes out of a sense of embarrassment at owning so much stuff, while others might have started decluttering multiple times but not got very far.

Furthermore, some people are probably so naturally acquisitive that they have a clear-out and then quickly replace what they’ve got rid of with another load of new items.

The National Declutter Week survey also revealed that women are by far the better declutterers (although some readers may think they knew that already).

Letting go

The reasons people gave for why they hold onto things were also interesting, with nearly half of the respondents saying the biggest cause was due to sentimental attachments. (Surprisingly, young people gave this as a reason more often than elderly respondents.)

The second most common reason was people harbouring an optimistic hope that their clutter might one day come in useful, while over a quarter of people though their clutter was worth holding onto in case it becomes valuable in the future.

Asked the question why they don’t get round to doing more decluttering, the biggest reason given by respondents to the National Declutter Week survey was, unsurprisingly, not having enough time. Altogether, 57% of people replied that either they didn’t have enough time, full-stop, or felt they always had something better to do.

Respondents also demonstrated the problems which can come from living in a house that has too much clutter, with around one in ten people who took part in the survey saying that their clutter is damaging to their health, causes problems in their relationships, or means they have less money.

National Declutter Week and self storage

With luck, National Declutter Week will act as a spur to those people who said they never find the time to declutter or whose clutter causes them problems, by providing a designated opportunity to finally get on with having a clear-out.

One final point: 82% of respondents also said they had never considered using self storage to store their clutter, suggesting there are many potential customers out there whom the self storage industry could still help.

 

One Response to “National Declutter Week survey reveals 4 out of 5 people have too much stuff”

1. Kelsey says:

   March 16, 2012 at 8:59 pm

   I know I definitely have too much clothes, because my dresser drawers barely close shut! I need to go through them all.