Decluttering Book Tidbits, part 1 of a series

[cjsmith]

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.

Comments

[layer.livejournal.com]

great distinction on organization vs. decluttering. i'm thinking they're both important but you have to do them in the right order. first weed, then organize so you can store and find...

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.

[branwynelf.livejournal.com]

Have you heard of Flylady (http://www.flylady.com/)? My boss swears by her emails and systems.

Me, I think I'm too disorganized to put any system in place. Mwah!

[platypus]

I tried looking for that book via interlibrary loan when you first mentioned it; alas, it was not available in the entire University of California system. I don't want to buy it, because books on organization eventually become... clutter. I've got a copy of Sidetracked Home Executives somewhere...

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...."

[layer.livejournal.com]

totally agree with you here. i don't wear makeup or shoes that need tying. i work full-time with a 2.5 hour daily commute. i don't have a husband, boyfriend, roommate or child to help me out here and i don't think the dog's going to be much help for anything except adding to the mess. still, i do like the idea of a system, just haven't found one yet. guess i'll need to tailor one.

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.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

I understand the distinction, and what we've actually been doing is both. Given the scope, we can't do one without some of the other.

[sunnydale47.livejournal.com]

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. [snip] 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)...

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.......