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Clutter That Ate My Life

Clutter That Ate My Life. A 21 st Century malady. Is this your life?. Or is this?. What is it that drives us to collect and store and organize all this ……. S T U F F ?. Picture source : www.organizeenterprise.com/coaching/. One person’s junk is another’s treasure:. We sort. We sell.

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Clutter That Ate My Life

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  1. Clutter That Ate My Life A 21st Century malady

  2. Is this your life? Or is this?

  3. What is it that drives us to collect and store and organize all this ……..

  4. S T U F F ? Picture source : www.organizeenterprise.com/coaching/

  5. One person’s junk is another’s treasure: We sort We sell

  6. We buy and the cycle starts all over again

  7. What’s up with America’s orgy of consumption?

  8. How much do we really need? Or are we buying a lifestyle?

  9. Why do we need so much help? BEFORE  AFTER http://www.clutterworkshop.com/

  10. Why can’t we clean up after ourselves?

  11. Researchers from Boston University and Smith College asked potential subjects to choose the photo that most closely resembles the level of clutter in their living space, from pure neatness (1) to total chaos (9).

  12. # 1 Researchers have found that people tend to be exceedingly accurate in their self assessments. The photo test to determine levels of clutter starts with this neat bedroom. Long seen as an eccentricity or a facet of obsessive-compulsive disorder, severe hoarding is now increasingly viewed and studied as a mental health problem in its own right.

  13. # 4 Anyone who choses number 4 or above may be eligible for hoarding studies and treatments. Pathological hoarding, a complex syndrome that is difficult to cure and tends to strike in middle age or later, appears to affect 1 or 2 percent of the population, researchers estimate.

  14. # 9 The subjects tend to have reached the point where they lose whole rooms to piles of what to them are treasures and to anyone else looks like trash. http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/gallery/hoarding_040207/

  15. “Increasingly salient storage crisis” “Most homes, almost all garages, and even some outside spaces have become storage areas for growing piles of consumer goods.” Changing American home life: Trends in domestic leisure and storage among middle-class families. Arnold, Jeanne E.; Lang, Ursula A.; Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Vol 28(1), Mar 2007. pp. 23-48. “Frost & Hartl, have defined clinically significant compulsive hoarding as ‘(1) the acquisition of and failure to discard a large number of possessions that appear to be useless or of limited value; (2) living spaces sufficiently cluttered so as to preclude activities for which those spaces were designed (3) significant distress or impairment in functioning caused by the hoarding’’ Recent research has shown that compulsive acquisition (including both compulsive buying and the compulsive acquisition of free things) characterizes people who have hoarding problems. Also, one hallmark of serious compulsive hoarding problems is clutter that prevents normal use of living spaces.” Measurement of compulsive hoarding: Saving inventory-revised. Frost, Randy O.; Steketee, Gail; Grisham, Jessica; Behaviour Research and Therapy, Vol 42(10), Oct 2004. pp. 1163-1182

  16. People make money off our inability to de-clutter

  17. Reality TV for the clutter obsessed

  18. 10 COMMANDMENTS ON CLUTTER1. Stop Procrastinating. Stop putting off until tomorrow what you can do today, especially since you know you probably won't do it tomorrow anyway. Decide to decide ...2. Quit Making Excuses.3. Use It Or Lose It.4. Learn to Let Go.5. Be A Giver.6. Set Limits. Limit the amount of space you allocate to house your clutter.7. Use The In & Out Inventory Rule. If something new comes in, something old goes out.8. Less Is More. The less clutter you have, the more time and energy you will have.9. Keep Everything In Its Place.10. Compromise. Stop letting your perfectionism keep you from doing or letting someone else help you dispense with your clutter. Functioning more efficiently is more important than functioning perfectly.Source: "How To Conquer Clutter," by Stephanie Culp (Writer's Digest Books, 1989).

  19. Consumption and Identity Formation Celebration of Inquiry 2008

  20. Time to De-Clutter

  21. What is Clutter? • Depends on what is important to YOU. • If it is important, then it should have a “place” • Things that don’t have a place • “A place for everything and everything in its place” – Samuel Smiles, Thrift, 1875. • Items unused and unwanted "Smiles, Samuel (1812 - 1904)." Bloomsbury Biographical Dictionary of Quotations. 1997. CredoReference. 13 February 2008 <http://www.credoreference.com/entry.jsp?xrefid=169931&secid=.2.->.

  22. Why Declutter? • For your mental health. • Freedom from oppressive feeling • Let go of the past

  23. Why Declutter? • Financial • Not purchasing of items that you have, but cannot find! • Thinking twice before new purchases • Square footage – Get your moneys worth! (Aslett, 14) Aslett, D. Don Aslett's Clutter Free!: Finally & Forever. 212 (1995).

  24. Why Declutter? • Improve your social life and relationships • Housemates (roommates, family) – no bitter feelings • No shame over having visitors • Improve your image to others (Aslett 29) Aslett, D. Don Aslett's Clutter Free!: Finally & Forever. 212 (1995).

  25. Why Declutter? • Free up your time • Easier to clean house • Easier to find items • Without oppressive feelings, free to pursue other interests

  26. Room by room • Kitchen • Limit grocery shopping for a period • Eat what you’ve got • When you feel that there’s “nothing to eat” – toss/donate the unwanted food (Kingston 68) • Small appliances – are they redundant (can your stove/frying pan do the same thing?) • Very rarely used items • Cookbooks – How many recipes actually used. Start a notebook/scrapbook. (Nancy Glass Productions) Kingston, K. Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui. 179 (1999). Nancy Glass Productions. Mission: Organization: Strategies and Solutions to Clear Your Clutter. Des Moines, Iowa: Meredith Books, 2004.

  27. Room by room • Bedroom • Hang what you actually wear on one side of closet – look at other side after a month. (Kingston 70) • Are you holding onto clothes that you hope will fit again, someday? • Are they still in style? • Consider treating yourself to new clothes if you lose weight, you’ve earned a treat! Kingston, K. Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui. 179 (1999).

  28. Room by room • Living room • Audiovisual – Discard/Donate if not watched or listened to in 5 years (Kingston 96) • Collectibles – A display case if important, rethink the collection if not! Kingston, K. Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui. 179 (1999).

  29. Room by room • Bathroom • Shampoos, conditioners, other toiletries • Use up what you have before buying any more! • Medicine cabinet • Review once per year for expired items • Repeat this every year

  30. Room by room • Home office • Files – How long should paperwork be saved? • Tax returns – 7 years • Bank statements – bank has this information • ATM receipts – until balanced. • Credit card statements – 3 months • Medical insurance, bills – 3 years • Home insurance – 5-10 years. • Pay stubs – not necessary, or wait until taxes filed, and then discard. • Utility bills – last 3 months, unless kept as tax records • Mortgage documents – as long as house is owned (Personal Record Retention, http://www.shrednations.com/articles/personal-records-retention.php)

  31. Room by room • Home office • Filing system – keep as few files as possible, when too thick – then make more specific (Kingston 130) • Simpler filing – more likely to be USED! Kingston, K. Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui. 179 (1999).

  32. Room by room • Children / Teenagers Rooms • Children • A place for all toys • Periodically let them decide what to give away. • Teenagers • Give them privacy and respect space. • Confine clutter to their area. • Expect regular cleanups (Kingston, 102-103) Kingston, K. Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui. 179 (1999).

  33. Room by room • Storage areas (garage, attic, basement) • How long has item been stored? • How long before storage did it exist, unused? (Kingston 64) Kingston, K. Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui. 179 (1999).

  34. General Ideas • Mystery items - lose it (Kingston 97) • Create piles/boxes/bags for: • Discard • Give-away / Sell / Donate • Repair • Keep • Dilemma – (fill container, seal, set aside, reconsider later) (Kingston 119-120) Kingston, K. Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui. 179 (1999).

  35. General Ideas • Sentimental items • “keep the best and fling the rest” (Kingston 86) • Photos – keep the ones that make you feel good (Kingston 86) • Inherited – don’t feel obligated (Kingston 95) • Miniaturize it – cut a scrap, take a photo (Aslett 117) Aslett, Don. Clutter's Last Stand: It's Time to De-Junk Your Life! Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer's Digest Books, 1984. Kingston, K. Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui. 179 (1999).

  36. Storage / Organization • Store according to use / convenience • Daily – on desk, countertop, etc. • Weekly – in easy-to-reach storage (drawer, cabinet) • Monthly – Seasonally – out-of-the-way storage (Kingston 129-130) Kingston, K. Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui. 179 (1999).

  37. Storage / Organization • Audiovisual • How important is the packaging? Switch to binders for CDs/DVDs

  38. Ask yourself: • Do I have a place for it? • Do I have a use for it? • If it disappeared, would I miss it? • Does it upset me to see it? • What happens to this after I’m gone? (or – Who am I keeping this for?) (Aslett, 114) Aslett, Don. Clutter's Last Stand: It's Time to De-Junk Your Life! Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer's Digest Books, 1984.

  39. Looking ahead • When something new comes in, something old goes out! • Think before purchasing. • Don’t buy clothes when you’re having a “weird” day (Kingston 71) • Say “No” to freebies, offers from friends. • Exchange gifts for something useful or store credit. (Mission organization, 33) Kingston, K. Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui. 179 (1999). Nancy Glass Productions. Mission: Organization: Strategies and Solutions to Clear Your Clutter. Des Moines, Iowa: Meredith Books, 2004.

  40. Questions? Answers? • Please share your • Questions • Answers • Ideas

  41. Handout • To restrict you clutter accumulation, we are not passing out a handout! • A copy of this PowerPoint presentation will be available on our library’s presentations page at: • http://www.coastal.edu/library/presentations/

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