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Decluttering Book Tidbits, part 1 of a series
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.
no subject
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...."
no subject
*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