Most of us know we own too much stuff. We feel the weight and burden of our clutter. We tire of cleaning and managing and organizing. Our toy rooms are messy, our drawers don’t close, and our closets are filled from top to bottom. The evidence of clutter is all around us.
Today, data is constantly being collected about our homes, our shopping habits, and our spending. The research is confirming our observation: we own too much stuff. And it is robbing us of life.
Here are 21 surprising statistics about our clutter that help us understand how big of a problem our accumulation has actually become.
1. There are 300,000 items in the average American home (LA Times).
2. The average size of the American home has nearly tripled in size over the past 50 years (NPR).
3. And still, 1 out of every 10 Americans rent offsite storage—the fastest growing segment of the commercial real estate industry over the past four decades. (New York Times Magazine).
4. While 25% of people with two-car garages don’t have room to park cars inside them and 32% only have room for one vehicle. (U.S. Department of Energy).
5. The United States has upward of 50,000 storage facilities, more than five times the number of Starbucks. Currently, there is 7.3 square feet of self storage space for every man, woman and child in the nation. Thus, it is physically possible that every American could stand—all at the same time—under the total canopy of self storage roofing (SSA).
6. British research found that the average 10-year-old owns 238 toys but plays with just 12 daily (The Telegraph).
7. 3.1% of the world’s children live in America, but they own 40% of the toys consumed globally (UCLA).
8. The average American woman owns 30 outfits—one for every day of the month. In 1930, that figure was nine (Forbes).
9. The average American family spends $1,700 on clothes annually (Forbes).
10. While the average American throws away 65 pounds of clothing per year (Huffington Post).
11. Nearly half of American households don’t save any money (Business Insider).
12. But our homes have more television sets than people. And those television sets are turned on for more than a third of the day—eight hours, 14 minutes (USA Today).
13. Some reports indicate we consume twice as many material goods today as we did 50 years ago (The Story of Stuff).
14. Currently, the 12 percent of the world’s population that lives in North America and Western Europe account for 60 percent of private consumption spending, while the one-third living in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa accounts for only 3.2 percent (Worldwatch Institute).
15. Americans donate 1.9% of their income to charitable causes (NCCS/IRS). While 6 billion people worldwide live on less than $13,000/year (National Geographic).
16. Americans spend more on shoes, jewelry, and watches ($100 billion) than on higher education (Psychology Today).
17. Shopping malls outnumber high schools. And 93% of teenage girls rank shopping as their favorite pastime (Affluenza).
18. Women will spend more than eight years of their lives shopping (The Daily Mail).
19. Over the course of our lifetime, we will spend a total of 3,680 hours or 153 days searching for misplaced items.The research found we lose up to nine items every day—or 198,743 in a lifetime. Phones, keys, sunglasses, and paperwork top the list (The Daily Mail).
20. Americans spend $1.2 trillion annually on nonessential goods—in other words, items they do not need (The Wall Street Journal).
21. The $8 billion home organization industry has more than doubled in size since the early 2000’s—growing at a staggering rate of 10% each year (Uppercase, note: link no longer available).
The numbers paint a jarring picture of excessive consumption and unnecessary accumulation. Clearly, many of us have far too much stuff.
Fortunately, the solution is not difficult. The invitation to own less is an invitation to freedom, intentionality, and passion. And it can be discovered at your nearest drop-off center.
Further reading:
For more helpful tips, here’s an article filled with tips on how to declutter your home. You can also use our Decluttering Checklist to keep yourself organized and focused.
For a complete lifestyle change that will prevent clutter from coming back into your life, learn more about simple living from this article on minimalism.
Jenny Shear says
Thank you for writing this article! I am passionate about helping others get organized and the statistics you share reinforce the passion within me. I am working to make 2017 my 0-1 year for launching my organizing business, Shearly Organized.
Sue L says
Wow, those statistics are staggering and really made me pause and think about how I fit in those scenarios. Thinking about some of those numbers really makes me want to make positive changes in my life by learning to live with fewer possessions. I will be incorporating this into my New Year’s resolutions.
Allan Foglio says
I think that your article will be helpful for us. It has been something new ideas. Thanks for sharing this article. You are invited.
Dukes says
Hey…wow, man
Rachael says
This is definitely a wake-up call. I think the idea isn’t to stop giving gifts, but why do we have to fill our living rooms with gifts? I have actually grown to loathe holidays because of the materialistic expectations.
As I look at my closet and shoe collection I realize I am the worst offender all the while touting my disdain the the excess of others.
This is a challenge to look at our own lives first and foremost. Maybe it means we need to save more and spend less. Maybe it means limiting our gifting. Maybe it means donating in honor of someone. Everyone has to look at their own lives and assess what they need to do to make a change not just outwardly, but also inwardly. True change starts from inside of ourselves.
Maria says
I give my grown kids and friends memories. Such as plane tickets, concert tickets, travel money. Or I make gifts of soaps, salsa, vanilla, lotions. My kids are teaching me minimalism by their example.
Kevin Green says
I contribute to our state’s educational trust college fund for my five-year old grandson. (My only grandchild.) The contribution will eventually cover approximately two-years of college tuition. It is also “invisible” as the funds are deducted from each paycheck. I made lifestyle financial trade-offs to be able to do this, but I know that the end result will benefit my grandson for life. I do purchase one or two educationally-related gifts: a book, unique board game, children’s theater production tickets for the two of us, a visit to the local science center, etc. so that he has a gift to open on holidays. His other grandparents operate under the “how many presents can he open?” philosophy with many of the gifts going untouched after a few days.
Kevin Green says
I am a widower. My wife died unexpectedly in 2014 at the age of 57. Embracing, at least in theory, the minimalist philosophy a few years ago, I used to joke that “when we moved from our home I only wanted to carry a few suitcases.” My wife dismissed that statement with a laugh, but actually understood minimalism’s benefits and was adopting the philosophy when she died. It was almost a year before I started sorting through my wife’s belongings. A cathartic experience, I relived memorable occasions and simple daily occurrences. Most of her possessions were directed to our adult sons, relatives, friends, resale shops, or local charities. I felt joy knowing that the things she loved and enjoyed were going to others who would love them as well. She would have felt the same way. At the suggestion of a friend I created a “Grandma Box” – a plastic, tightly lidded storage container in which I am saving my wife’s favorite books, accessories, jewelry, a few childhood toys, and numerous other items. I was judicious in what I saved for the box, but these cherished items are safeguarded – contained within an easily-stored, easily-carried bin. Plus, every item saved has a story behind it that I can share with my grandson and others.
That process led me to review, sort and dispose of possessions accumulated during a 37 year marriage; items left to us by our parents; and stuff our sons left during various post-college residencies. Disposal has been through identical channels. I am thrilled to state that I am no longer the keeper of grandma’s “must wash by hand” china; my mother-in-law’s 200+ piece Hummel collection; my father’s hunting gear; or our library of previously read books, duplicate garden tools, uncompleted furniture refinishing projects, decades of tax returns and medical records, table linens for every occasion, and thousands of other household miscellanea. It is certainly not groundbreaking to state that it has been liberating to realize how few possessions – including clothing – I actually use and how many possessions I can live without. I have plenty of items left to sort and purge, but the experience and process has been incredibly emancipating. And my exuberance over minimalism is apparently infectious as my siblings have started paring down their possessions as well.
I do not plan on moving soon, but it looks possible that when I do relocate I will be able to leave the house with only a few suitcases – and my “Grandma Box.”
Virginia says
I bought decorative shoe boxes at Michael’s for each of my three children & my four grandchildren. For my children, I added copies of birth certificates, and information about their grandparents. For my grandchildren, I put in photos of their parents when they were younger. When I find anything in my files from the past I think they would want to know I add them. I even found some of my son’s sports things I still have. So far I’ve filled up some of the boxes. Just a hint that someone here my enjoy doing.
Brittany Joiner says
Wow this is incredible. Who knew. This makes me want to get rid of everything and never buy things again. I should read this everytime I leave for Target :)
Muro says
We should read it when we ENTER Target, hehehe ;)
Vesta McKinney says
Loved the article. After my husband and I divorced I cleaned out a bunch of just stuff. I had it but it didn’t matter. Over the years since it has been a work in progress. The things I am keeping matter to me.
Jean says
Last year I wrote Christmas cards, basically: “I am no longer spending on gifts, wrapping and mailing [for you]. I am donating to heifer.org so that people who have very little can benefit from your excess.”
Mansal Denton says
Not sure if anyone has read the book “Essentialism”, but it is a great one on this exact topic. It isn’t so much about material items, but about the way that we view our lives. There is so much parallel between the things / stuff we have and the ideas we harbor.
I live with my girlfriend in a 230 square foot efficiency apartment in Austin, TX and we couldn’t be happier. It allows us the freedom to travel, work on the projects we believe in (with long term viability) and generally is a better way of living than my family’s large homes.
Ed says
To give stuff to show you love is stupid.
My kids dont get stuff for love. They get education, the ability to cope in live and help themselves, support, respect, time together, help when needed.
Stuff is dead material goods.