Clutter: Out of sight or out of space?

WASHINGTON (CNS)- Clutter is like the weather. Everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything about it.

Stuff, stuff and more stuff bedevils our lives, be it in the kitchen, the bedroom, the living room, the basement, the garage or even the car and office. Stores of every bent today stock a lot of items to organize one's possessions. People are making lots of money trying to help people get organized. And it's not just an American phenomenon. Lorraine Parihi, an Australian "personal life coach," has addressed more than emotional clutter in her seminars. Office workers, she says on her Web site, need to ask themselves, "Is your desktop hidden under a mountain of paper?" and "Do your fingers bleed each time you access your filing cabinet?" If the answer is yes, then Parihi advises asking still more questions about the mound accumulating at your cubicle: "Do I really need or want this?" "Will my life change in any way if I get rid of it?" "Would someone else benefit from having it?" and "If I am going to keep it, where's the most logical place to find it again?" Colleen Moulding, a British efficiency expert, lists 10 steps to take in reducing clutter: First, "Whenever you have a few minutes to spare, put away five or 10 items that are not in their correct place." Second, "dump junk mail the moment you receive it. Deal with other mail at least once a week." Also, use what Moulding calls "the five boxes method" to determine what stays and what goes. The boxes should be labeled "Rubbish," "Give Away/Sell," "Keep," "Sentimental" and "Not Sure." Hold on to the "Not Sure" box for six months, she advises. If you haven't opened it up to retrieve anything, it's either "Rubbish" or "Give Away/Sell." Moulding encourages people to: - Be ruthless. "If you haven't used an item in the last two years, you are not likely to need it again."
- Break decluttering down into manageable tasks: the kitchen junk drawer, the letter pile, the hats, coats and shoes area.
- Buy items that make storage handy and retrieval quick: drawer dividers or hanging shoe bags for small toys, cosmetics and toiletries. (After my sister-in-law's public library digitized its card file, she bought one of the old wood card-file tables for $75 and uses it to store all of her notions - and then some.)
- Clean and put away 50 percent of the knickknacks on shelves and mantles. "Not only will this give your home a more modern minimalist look, you will get your dusting done in half the time," Moulding says. - Get help from a family member or friend. They'll help you, and you'll help them.
- Stop buying things. "If you buy a new sweater, toy for the children, etc., then [an old] one goes to the charity shop or is given to a friend," Moulding recommends.
- Keep at it. Rome wasn't built in a day, and your clutter wasn't built up in a day either. Moulding says, "You will have more time, a neat home and less stress as a reward for your efforts." Jeff Campbell, an American who wrote "Clutter Control: Putting Your House on a Diet," has 13, well, uncluttered rules to cut clutter:
Rule 1: When in doubt, throw it out.
Rule 2: Use it or lose it.
Rule 3: Efficiency counts, so store things accordingly.
Rule 4: Handle something once.
Rule 5: Recycle it.
Rule 6: Pick a number and stick with it.
Rule 7: Use a file cabinet.
Rule 8: Do something.
Rule 9: A place for everything, and everything in its place.
Rule 10: Items displayed in the house have to pass a test. Is its display worth its upkeep?
Rule 11: Don't do things "later."
Rule 12: Label things.
Rule 13: Call in a professional. Campbell also notes that holding onto things costs money. Given today's house and apartment prices, he says, it makes little sense to keep things that force you into bigger quarters. - - - Pattison is media editor for Catholic News Service.

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Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops