Are you a clutter bug?
- Do your guests have to put their coats on the washing
machine/dryer or on your bed when they come to visit?
- Do you park outside your home because your garage has some
much clutter you can't fit it in?
- Have you squirreled away boxes of greeting cards you bought
on sale years ago and barely remember having?
- Do you keep old receipts and purchase receipts, even though
none of them has any relevance to personal record-keeping or
income taxes?
- Are you reluctant to toss out old newspapers and magazines
because you might want to read them someday when you have time?
- Do you dread opening a closet door, for fear that something
may slide or roll off a shelf and land on our head?
- Are there so many CDs, DVD's and videotapes plunked on so
many shelves or in boxes so many parts of the house that you are
hard pressed to know exactly what discs or films you own or
where exactly to find them?
- Do you avoid entering your attic or basement because so much
junk is piled up there that you can barely find room to stand or
walk?
- Are there years old cans of paint undated and unlabeled
gathering dust and rust in your garage, basement or tool shed?
- Do you keep outfits that you haven't worn in years and hope
you might fit into them again once you lose the excess pounds?
- Is your basement or attic stuffed with shopping bags and
sagging boxes whose contents represent some of your family's
greatest treasures?
- Do you have envelopes of pictures all over the house that
you have no idea where to find any particular photo of your
child? One day you hope to put it together when you have the
time.
- Are your closets so packed with clothing that you can't
physically separate what you like to wear from what no longer
looks good on you?
- Your morning schedule is crazy since your children don't
know what to wear or what to eat for breakfast? And when you
leave the house it looks like a hurricane hit it!
- You are overwhelmed with the thought of packing for a family
vacation week?
- The thought of doing laundry has become such a chore you
avoid it?
If you answered yes to five or more of the following questions you are a clutter bug and might need help from a professional organizer.
What is clutter and where does it come from
Well, according to our friend Webster Webster
CLUTTER : to run in disorder
1a : a crowded or confused mass or collection
1b : things that clutter a place
2: interfering radar echoes caused by reflection from objects (as on the ground) other than the target
3 chiefly dialect : disturbance, hubbub
Everything in your house has a purpose. Some are very functional
such as silverware, while others are purely aesthetic like
sculpture. There is nothing wrong with any of these items
inherently. The issue arises when for lack of space or organization,
we find ourselves with excessive items which lead us to clutter.
This can include a variety of items throughout your home. Obvious
culprits are often mail, shoes, and laundry. But what about the
mixer sitting on the counter that is used twice a year or the twenty
knick knacks across the top of the upright piano. Clutter?
Yes, it can be.
But, where does it come from...
Visualize with me just for a second. Imagine when you were moving
into your current space. Before you moved, you packed and inevitably
discarded, donated, or sold items that you no longer wanted or
needed. Then you finished packing your boxes, moved them and
unpacked. Not everything found a home in your new space and you may
have ended up with boxes in storage either on site or else where.
Fast forward a year, two, five ten, fifteen, or maybe twenty
years?!? Think about all the items you have brought into your space
since you moved there. Think about all the gifts you received and
brought into your space. Now, think about how much has left since
you moved into your space. Do you make regular donations? Do you
sell valuables that you no longer use? Do you throw away broken,
stained or damaged items that can not be repaired? (That was just
one example of where clutter comes from, i.e. time and collecting.)
Other sources of clutter may be inheritance, shopaholic, downsizing, indecisive, or mobility just to name a few... What ever the cause, (let me mention that we are not trying to point fingers or blame), it is best to identify it and start to address it sooner than later.
Do you have clutter?
Each of us has our own view of clutter. While one person may like a
minimalist style of home décor, they may be burdened with paper
clutter. Conversely, while another person may like to have lots of
knick-knacks on display (and it may look cluttered to the
minimalist), they are quite organized. This is when we go back to
the definition and look a little harder. Three words that stick out
to me are disorder, confused and disturbance. Here are a few
question to ask about your space:
- Can you find what you are looking for within five minutes?
- Are your horizontal surfaces clear? (Counters, tables,
dressers, etc)
- Do your belongings interfere with the function of spaces
within your home. (i.e. cant use a closet because there are
piles of newspapers in from if it.)
- Is the safety of the occupants at risk?
Questions? Feel free to ask here or message me. I will follow this up with a post on different types of clutter (I know we have a few eager to talk about paper clutter!), and how to start to tackle your clutter.
Livia from Sea Cliff: I'm thrilled I made the decision to contact you, my clothes needed much more help than I thought.
Cynthia Braun is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO)