How Your Junk Is Costing You Money

You have too much junk and it's costing you money, time and freedom.

Martha Stewart says that 80% of the stuff we have we never use. That means that eight out every 10 purchases you make are a waste of money.

What's ironic is that most of the time when we purchase something, it's because we think that it will simplify our lives and give us more free time. The truth is that buying stuff rarely achieves this goal. Here are some of the costs of having too much stuff:

Lost savings: All of the stuff that you buy costs money. If you are only using 20% of all the things that you purchase, that means that 80% of the stuff you buy is money wasted. That adds up to a lot of money over a year and an incredible amount over a lifetime. Had you not purchased the 80% of the things you don't use, you'd likely have savings and retirement accounts that look a lot healthier than they currently do.

Lost interest on savings: Speaking of which, you also lost the interest that you would have earned if you had instead placed that money into a savings account or invested it. Over years, that can add up to tens of thousands of dollars in lost interest.

Upgrades and accessories: One of the things about stuff is that when we aren't using it, we often think it's because the item is out of date or not in style. Instead of getting rid of the item, people often upgrade it with new accessories or get a more stylish model -- which creates even more stuff that we end up not using. That equates to more wasted money.