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A while back I mentioned that I would post tidbits from Let Go Of Clutter when I got the chance.
Here are the first few that seemed particularly useful:
Decluttering versus Organizing
Organizing your stuff is different from decluttering. They're both fine to do, but if you need/want one, don't trick yourself into accepting the other. (I have SO done this! Probably because I need both.) Organizing can hinder decluttering. It helps you pack stuff into small spaces more efficiently, it helps you procrastinate yet still feel like you're doing something, and sometimes it encourages you to go out and buy more stuff (boxes and labels and organizer trays)...
Clutter
So what's clutter? One person's memorabilia is another person's junk. When YOU say "clutter", what does it mean to YOU? I like this question and will have to think more on it.
Some people say "Stuff that gets in my way when I'm trying to do something else", others say "Boxes of 'Miscellaneous'", or "Anything I don't know what to do with", or "Too much stuff in the garage so I can't put my car in there". For me, I think the answers involve cabinets or drawers so full that it's hard to get at what I want, flat surfaces that are more populated with things than empty, anything I trip over, and anything I haven't unpacked since the move (five years ago).
For specific types of objects, the author gives a "clutter categories checklist" to help the reader zero in on things that are particularly bothersome. Some of the items on here weren't things I had consciously regarded as clutter, but were bothering me in the way clutter bothers me. I have way too many old towels, for example, and greeting cards that were bought without a recipient in mind yet, and receipts/bills, and old cassette tapes. I could do with half the gift wrap stuff I now own, there are two largish boxes of extension cords gathering dust in the storage room, and my office supplies will easily see me through to the next century. I'm okay with this unless they're in my way. Time to get them out of my way.
Here are the first few that seemed particularly useful:
Decluttering versus Organizing
Organizing your stuff is different from decluttering. They're both fine to do, but if you need/want one, don't trick yourself into accepting the other. (I have SO done this! Probably because I need both.) Organizing can hinder decluttering. It helps you pack stuff into small spaces more efficiently, it helps you procrastinate yet still feel like you're doing something, and sometimes it encourages you to go out and buy more stuff (boxes and labels and organizer trays)...
Clutter
So what's clutter? One person's memorabilia is another person's junk. When YOU say "clutter", what does it mean to YOU? I like this question and will have to think more on it.
Some people say "Stuff that gets in my way when I'm trying to do something else", others say "Boxes of 'Miscellaneous'", or "Anything I don't know what to do with", or "Too much stuff in the garage so I can't put my car in there". For me, I think the answers involve cabinets or drawers so full that it's hard to get at what I want, flat surfaces that are more populated with things than empty, anything I trip over, and anything I haven't unpacked since the move (five years ago).
For specific types of objects, the author gives a "clutter categories checklist" to help the reader zero in on things that are particularly bothersome. Some of the items on here weren't things I had consciously regarded as clutter, but were bothering me in the way clutter bothers me. I have way too many old towels, for example, and greeting cards that were bought without a recipient in mind yet, and receipts/bills, and old cassette tapes. I could do with half the gift wrap stuff I now own, there are two largish boxes of extension cords gathering dust in the storage room, and my office supplies will easily see me through to the next century. I'm okay with this unless they're in my way. Time to get them out of my way.
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my biggest clutter issue is paper. my ex-husband used to call me the pile queen because there were stacks of it everywhere - receipts, magazines and catalogues, newspaper clippings, notes, mail, stuff for work... still haven't kicked that habit. in fact, i'd venture a guess that at least half of the boxes i have yet to unpack from my move are papers to be sorted and filed. i'm thinking the biggest filing category needs to be the round one.
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I too am a paper queen. This author has LOTS to say about paper. She puts into words some things I didn't realize were true, but are obvious once they're stated.
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Me, I think I'm too disorganized to put any system in place. Mwah!
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Make it anyway! Then yell at him for getting up and unmaking it again!
Yah, well my boss has said she doesn't implement everything suggested - her husband's too much of a packrat for that, but it has helped her organize her family (four kids) a lot in terms of toys, papers, chores, etc.
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Any excuse to gripe at him is a good excuse! ;-) Actually, it's more like any excuse not to do a chore is a good excuse.
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But I'm glad you are posting excerpts and it's something I'd like to read, if not keep. Maybe I'll buy it anyway and pass it on to someone else when I'm finished. I've been home from work cleaning/decluttering/organizing all week, and I've meant to write about it but I've got major journaling block going on right now. All I can say is, if anyone DID hide a child's shoe in my apartment, I sure as hell would have found it by Tuesday.
What I dislike about most systems, from S.H.E. (yes, the acronym is deliberate) to Flylady, is the hugely sexist assumptions that you're probably a housewife with toddlers and a "hubby" or "DH" who would never be expected to have any household obligations except to fix the toilet and mow the lawn. I am not going to shine my sink, make the bed, get up half an hour early to put on shoes and makeup, or any of the other things that have been put forth as the One Thing You Should Do If You're Doing Nothing Else. Can you tell that I have a problem with authority, and/or that my sink is metal and doesn't shine and an unmade bed doesn't distress me?
Right now, I'm down to three boxes of things that need to be returned to their rightful places, or need rightful places created, or might just be clutter. Right now clutter is most definitely "things I don't know what to do with." I've thrown away a LOT this week, more than I thought I would, but I'm not going to toss everything that stumps me. And unfortunately, I have the category "well, I don't want this thing, but it's a sort of nice thing, so maybe I could leave it in a geocache...."
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*chortle*! It sounds like you have been busy!
...the hugely sexist assumptions...
No sh*t, those bug me too. Haven't folks figured out YET that things like chores and clutter don't come from the ovaries? Although I'd bet that housewives who have toddlers and messy husbands are disproportionately represented in the group of folks who want to get control of their clutter. They have a lot of mess, a lot of chores, no help, and they don't spend the majority of their waking hours away in the office.
I'm not going to toss everything that stumps me.
Well said. I'd like to get down to a lower level of stumpage, but I can be content with imperfection. I don't have to get it down to zero.
PS: see
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also like your idea of buying and passing the book. i just unloaded 11 bags and 3 boxes of books yesterday and i'm not eager to have to repeat that process any time soon.
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Oh, wow. I never thought of trying to do one without the other. I always looked at it as "I'm going to clean up this section of the room," or "I'm going to straighten out that closet" with the idea of organizing and decluttering as I went. Needless to say, often neither gets done -- or everything gets sorted and stuffed away somewhere without the get-rid-of-pile. I've also tried the "three cartons" method -- one that goes out of the house, one that's "maybe" and one to keep. But it still requires going through an entire area thoroughly.
I'm not sure if this is what the author meant, but what it made me think of was going through whole areas of the house and just picking out stuff to get rid of, without trying to organize or sort anything else. Then I'll have a smaller amount to deal with when I do get to organize. I never even thought of that before, but it would give me quite a jump-start.
Hmmmm.......
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Flylady also has something a little like that. She calls it the 27 Fling Boogie. Run around the house with a trash bag and find 27 objects to throw away, as fast as you can. I have to cheat and pitch papers to reach 27, but hey, whatever works.
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I read what you said about Flylady's 27 Fling Boogie and looked around, and my eye fell on this pipe-cleaner person and her horse (http://flyaway.smugmug.com/gallery/112289/1/4009437/Medium) that I'd made in the creativity class last spring -- it was just lying around, a bit smushed up, on the edge of the desk. I thought, "I can do this!" I grabbed the pipe-cleaner thing, picked up another couple of things in here, and headed into my bedroom.
I decided that of course papers count -- every single thing I can get rid of counts! Old Newsweeks, the plastic shell my phone headset came in, assorted papers, four cases of eyeshadow (I haven't used eyeshadow in a decade at least, and even if I did decide to use it again, I doubt this ancient stuff is safe), and a bunch of other stuff are all now in the trash or the paper recycling bag!
It's not much -- it hardly made a dent, and a lot of it was easy stuff that I obviously didn't need any more, but it's a start! It sounds weird to be so excited over throwing a few things away, but you know that my issues on this border on the pathological (if indeed they haven't crossed the line), so this is a major accomplishment. I thought about trying to do this every day, but that might be pushing too hard too fast. Maybe I can try a 5 Fling Boogie every day, counting not just trash but anything that I get rid of. It sounds reasonable to manage, and that would be 35 things out the door one way or another every week. It shouldn't matter if it's trashed, recycled, freecycled, given away, or sold ... as long as it's out of the house!
That's just the beginning, of course, but my pack rat/hoarding tendency is the worst problem. Organizing will be doable if I can just get rid of those damn piles of STUFF!
Thank you!!
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It's great that you have a photo of the pipe-cleaner equestrian, 'cause that sure does make it easier to let go sometimes, doesn't it? I think I will take a photo of a weird geometric thingy my dad made out of pencils and do the same... 8-)