Week of June 29, 2008

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What Causes Clutter?
One of the biggest complaints I hear from clients is that they're overwhelmed with clutter. It takes over their homes and workspaces, causes stress, and makes it difficult to do everyday tasks.

Effectively tackling clutter starts with understanding what causes it. Sometimes, yes, it's the result of laziness. More often, though, the roots go a bit deeper. Here are four of the main causes of clutter.

#1: Having too much stuff and/or not enough space for it
When we say that a room looks cluttered, we mean, generally, that it seems too full. It's no surprise that a small space fills up--and thus becomes cluttered--much more quickly than a large space; the amount of stuff that might make a studio apartment seem crammed to the hilt might not even register in a house with multiple bedrooms.

There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to how much stuff it's reasonable to own, so it can be difficult to know exactly how much is too much or how much is just right. One useful guideline, though, is how much space you have in which to store and use your stuff. If your rooms and closets feel cluttered, there's a good chance you're over-stuffed for the amount of space you have available, plain and simple.

#2: Delayed decisions
Getting and staying organized involves what's essentially an endless stream of decisions: what to keep, what to get rid of, where to store things, how to use each space, and so on.  Putting off making these decisions can result in clutter build-up.

Let's say, for example, that when the mail arrives each day, you take a minute to sort through it, asking yourself, "Do I want or need this?" for each piece and then recycling or shredding everything for which you answer, "No." By the end of the week, you'll have a much smaller stack to deal with than you would if you didn't do this daily decision-making.

Delaying or avoiding decisions may seem tempting in the short term--after all, some of these decisions can be hard or painful to make. But in the long run, putting off decisions can result in overwhelming clutter.

#3: Fear, insecurity, and sadness
"But what if such-and-such happened and I didn't have this thing?" "I know what it's like not to have enough or to have to do without." "I'm worried that if I give up this gift from my uncle, I'll also be giving up the memory of him."

Very often, stuff is far more than just stuff; it's also security, a feeling of being prepared, a memory, a reminder, or a symbol of something much greater. Sometimes we hold onto things we don't really want, use, or need because of the fear, insecurity, and sadness behind the thought of getting rid of them.

#4: A lack of systems
Finally, if keeping clutter at bay involves, among other tasks, putting things away when you're not using them, it follows that clutter will build up if there's no "away" space in which to put things. Not having homes for things makes it nearly impossible to put them where they belong, because you have to decide anew where they should go each time you encounter them.

In many cases, my clients are surprised to hear me say that what's behind their clutter isn't an overwhelming abundance of stuff or a lack of organizing skill but, very simply, a lack of organizing systems. Once we get those systems in place, it becomes much easier to maintain a more comfortable, functional home or workspace.

Now that you know what's behind clutter, keep reading over the next few weeks, when I'll offer suggestions on how to tackle clutter and how to create organizing systems that will help ensure a more clutter-free existence.