If you’re like most of America, there are probably more than a few things that you could throw out. Let’s be real, black people: We’ve all gone to someone’s house that is so filled with figurines or junk and clutter that we hate being there for too long. Don’t act like that’s not your house! If you have no room to buy anything else because there’s just nowhere to put it, or if your two-car garage has no room left to park one, let alone, two cars, then you’re the culprit.

Shows like The Style Channel’s “Clean House” starring our favorite flower girl Niecy Nash, and TLC’s “Clean Sweep” with Oprah Winfrey favorite Peter Walsh help families understand that when there’s clutter in their homes, cars, garages or offices, it often spills over into their lives as well. Spring is historically a great time to get rid of the clutter, and there’s a practical reason for that.

“Spring cleaning is an age-old tradition that dates back to the early nineteenth century,” says Tania Hall of 1-800-GOT-JUNK. “Before the days of electricity, American homes were lit and heated by candles and fireplaces, and by winter's end would become so covered in soot and dust that a top-to-bottom house clean was needed.”

These days, cluttered homes are more likely due to the acquisition of too many possessions. New York City-based professional organizer Forrest Huguenin says he sees the results of over-buying every day in the cluttered clients he services. Huguenin says that clutter is more than unsightly and embarrassing. It can actually cost in serious ways - peace of mind, time and money.

“One way that clutter costs you – you end up buying things that you already have. You end up double spending on food items that you think that you don’t have, but are just buried in your pantry," he said. "Clutter is something that invades your mental state also. To illustrate, if you’re away on vacation, and you stick that card key in the door and you come into that neat, perfect hotel room, what is the feeling that you have? Contrast that to coming home, especially after a hard day at work, and things are thrown everywhere. It actually affects your mood. The clutter and confusion in your environment causes clutter and confusion in your mind.”

Black people may be more prone to clutter than others, organization experts say. Black women (you know who you are!) are notorious for clothing clutter, jamming already overstuffed closets to the limit by buying things that they don’t need and don’t wear. But black people from all income backgrounds can have a hard time parting with material things.

“We tend to put a lot of stock in possessions,” says Charlotte, North Carolina-based life coach Karyn Beach. “Coming from a background where you didn’t have anything or you had to fight hard to get it, you don’t want to part with it. You paid a lot for it. You paid a lot for that Coach bag, even though you’re not using it. It represents something, and we hold onto things a lot longer than we should.”

Clutter can literally take over your life. If you can’t pay bills because you have stacks of unopened mail everywhere, you may end up paying more money in overdraft and late fees. If you use your dining room table as a receptacle for everything you don’t file away, you are losing the chance to eat with your family. If your garage is so full, you can’t park a car in it, then you’re not just losing your ability to use it for the purpose .....

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