What Clutter Says About You
Photo by Louise Oldfield
I’ve often wondered why some people have absolutely no problem getting rid of things, and yet others are paralyzed to throw anything out. Monica Ricci brought it up in her blog article “What Your Cluttered Closet (or Handbag) Says About You.” The gist of it is that getting rid of clutter requires that we be able to tell what things serve a purpose and what things don’t. People who hoard have difficulty with this distinction.
Granted, most of us are not at either of these extremes of being able to get rid of things or not throw anything out. But I’ve also noticed that people whose houses are a shambles are beautifully organized at work.
That got me thinking. Is it possible that our context helps us define the rules? For example, I have no problem getting rid of paper at work, because there are very clear guidelines on what to keep and what to discard. It is easy for me to look at my desk and see if an object serves the jobs I perform. For example, my books are necessary, and are kept up to date because I use them. The pink plastic spider from Halloween is not.
So how can we set the contexts in our homes to make it easier to get rid of things? I think we need to look at the job we perform in each area of the home and decide if the things help us do the jobs.
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Laura,
Thanks for the mention in your blog. I believe when it’s up to us to set our own boundaries and contexts, we have to first begin by thinking about what function or purpose we want each space to fulfill for us, physically and emotionally. Then set about removing anything from that space that doesn’t fit into that purpose. And the great thing about making decisions is that the more you make them, the easier they get!
~Monica