Clutter -- You Can't Carry It with You!

You probably won’t believe it, but until this year of concentrated clutter-busting in my office, I still had the bulletin boards that I created for my classroom in 1991.  Apparently, I come by this “saving stuff” mentality honestly.  In the last shuffle of stuff between my mom’s house and mine, she included a worksheet of mine.  This worksheet was not from a recent Extension class.  No, it was much, much more vintage.  It was from – get ready for this – 1972.  Yikes!  She kept a handout from my Sunday school class.  Why she sent it to me was not quite clear.  For a moment I stared at it.  I looked at the very bad coloring.  I guess I never was one to be precise.  I wondered what to do with it for a bit.  I let it sit on the counter for about 10 minutes.  And then I threw it away, with a little tinge of guilt, I might add, since my mother had bothered to keep it for all those years.  Why I’m saving certain things makes very little sense to me, so I’m not about to try to figure someone else out.  Maybe it was sentimental clutter for her.  A memory of her young child.  Probably the same reason I have a box in my shed of baby clothes that were last worn a decade ago.  It is hard to let go of your babies. 

                The bulletin boards that resided in my office closet were symbolic babies.  Creations from a different time in my life.  I know that the bulletin boards realistically were older than some of my colleagues.  I was, through researching the psychology of clutter, able to realize that I was holding onto them in an attempt to hold onto some place in time that is gone.  Keeping the clutter won’t bring that time in my life back.  That idea is as ridiculous as keeping a hairstyle you had at 18, hoping it will still look good on you at 45.  Clear the clutter, and keep the memories.  For most of us the memories store in a tidier fashion than the stuff.

                One of my colleagues was very eloquent in describing how she had kept everything from her first years as a professional.  “Every news article, every flyer, every class note, every iota was like one of my children.  I kept it stored on disk.  Even after I branched out into other careers, I still hauled the back-up disks from my first job with me, just in case.  When I came to my present job, I pulled out the trusty box of back-up disks and started uploading them on my new work computer.  After nearly two years in this job, I can honestly say I haven’t used them once.  Oh, every now and then I peruse them to reflect, but the times and places have changed.  If I were to hold on to the past, I wouldn’t see the needs of today and I’d become one of the professionals who got off the train back in 1988 or 1993 or 2000 or whenever they were most comfortable and successful.  No further inspiration.  Nothing new.  Just old recycled ideas from a time long gone.  As a young professional, I vowed never to get off the train.  To ride fast…no matter how often things change.  To continue to be current.  I finally realized my box of old back-up disks was tempting me to jump off the train.”

                So today, take a moment to see what you are hauling down the track with you.  Decide which things you can throw out.  It could be an actual physical thing, it could be electronic clutter or it could be a hurt from the past.  We tend to hoard a lot of clutter, whether it exists in our offices, on our computers, in our homes or in our minds.  A good friend of mine used to say, “Throw it out of your wagon.  You can’t keep carrying that with you.” 

               

Clutter Resources:

Disclaimer: The comments contained in any of the resources below are that of the originator.  Our providing them for you in no way is an endorsement of anything in particular at all.  Use your skills to determine their value to you at this place and time in your life.

Clutter Resources:

Disclaimer: The comments contained in any of the resources below are that of the originator.  Our providing them for you in no way is an endorsement of anything in particular at all.  Use your skills to determine their value to you at this place and time in your life.

How to De-Clutter Your Digital Mess – Katie Couric
Not all clutter takes up space on your desk, floor, or on the shelf. Your emails, social media, and photos all make up your digital clutter. Brittany Jones-Cooper ...
www.katiecouric.com/.../how-to-de-clutter-your-digital-mess/

Six ways to manage the computer clutter in your life
Vancouver Sun (blog)
The clutter may not be so obvious but it's lurking in your computer, ready to stall your system with a snarky message, gobbling up the email with that crucial presentation from the boss or leaving you so buried in digital debris you have trouble ...

5 Ways To Clear Out The Social Clutter In Your Life
Forbes
FOMO, or Fear of Missing Out, is the anxiety that comes with knowing that somewhere, someone is doing something more interesting than you, and you're missing it. It's hardly new, but Caterina Fake – the entrepreneur, investor and digital thinker who ...

On YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTugjssqOT0  Randy Pausch on Time Management.  EVERY lecture I’ve listened to on YouTube from Randy Pausch was absolutely worth my time.  

Clutter Busting and Data Hoarding

This year, in an attempt to clear my own clutter, so that I could feel free to give clutter-clearing advice to others, I have been able to delete six gigabytes of data out of my work email folders.  And then, because my clutter-clearing ways are catchy, we decided to reorganize some use of main office space.  At the courthouse, we have the use of three offices.  The main office is a small space, shared by two people.  In order to accommodate some shifting of items that weren’t yet purge-worthy from the main office into my office, I had to find a bit of space.

I looked to the most logical spot – the file cabinet.  File cabinets are great, as long as the only things in them are items you really need to keep or use.  I, however, had two file drawers full of discs.  Not only did I have CD back-ups of my work computer from, well, probably the time that CDs were invented, but I also had two (very neatly labeled, I might add) boxes of discs – you know, the 3 ½ inch floppy kind.  The boxed were accompanied by a three-ring binder with numerically coded print-outs of the contents of each disc.  Being an organized hoarder, doesn’t make you any less of a hoarder.

What I realized, as I finally let go of all that data and information on the 150 floppies and 89 CDs and DVDs, was that it was time to let go of the past and to let go of a point in time that would never be again.  My daughters had a blast using a hammer to destroy whatever data resided on that medium.  They had never seen the 3 ½-inch floppy disc before and about 37 discs into the destruction, my oldest says, “Hey, you know what these look like?  The little ‘save’ icon on the computer!”  Yes, there is a whole generation that doesn’t know that the save icon was designed to look like a disc.  But, speaking of ‘save’ icons, we need to get back to deciding which icons in our world are worth saving.

One helpful resource categorized clutter into four main areas – aspirational clutter (things you want to use, but don’t), out-of-place clutter (things you need to put away), sentimental clutter (things to which you’ve attached emotional value), and bargain clutter (things that were obtained for low cost or free).  It is funny, but just knowing how to assign my clutter has really helped in getting a grip on it.  Or letting the grip go, as the case may be. 

My box of discs contained aspirational clutter.  Somewhere on one of those floppies was the first chapter of a book I intended to write.  There was also sentimental clutter.  There were files from my first years as a professional.  Somehow it was easier for me to get rid of those items, once they were assigned categories.  Am I really going to write a book?  Would it be the same topic or the same thoughts as when I was 20-something? Will I forget my days as a young teacher and school counselor if I toss the discs from those years?  The answer, to all the questions, is – probably not.  If you hold too tightly to the past, you might not be able to get a good grip on the present. 

Clutter Resources:

Disclaimer: The comments contained in any of the resources below are that of the originator.  Our providing them for you in no way is an endorsement of anything in particular at all.  Use your skills to determine their value to you at this place and time in your life.

De-clutter your office desk
Wonder Woman
The ambience of your workplace affects your brain, thoughts and your actions. "Physical and emotional clutter creates mental disorganization which reduces productivity and creativity," says Dr Bhavana Barami, clinical psychologist and corporate trainer ...

The Clutter & Stress Connection
Care2.com
Time: Many people feel that clutter is a drain on our energy, but it also drains us of our precious time. Think of the time you spend looking for your glasses, keys, wallet, shoes, tools, etc. Even when you might be looking right at the item, sometimes ...

Simple ways to clear your mental clutter - She Knows
Tired of being so stressed out? May is Mental Health Month and we've got helpful ways to clear the mental clutter and ease your mind.

Workplace Clutter
Pharmacy Times
The average employee wastes 2 to 4 hours each week looking for things they need to do their work—manuals that aren't on the shelf where they expect them to be, documents that are piled in “horizontal files,” and supplies that have been misplaced.

Clutter – Katie Couric Katie's Big De-Clutter Transformation Revealed! ... Expert Organizer's Tips for De -Cluttering Every Room in Your Home ... How to De-Clutter Your Digital Mess ... www.katiecouric.com/tag/clutter/

Clutter Clearing

Last year, as a committee chair for a professional organization in Montana, I was asked to provide a series of educational articles on reducing clutter.  My colleagues felt they could increase their focus and productivity by reducing clutter.  Originally, I thought it would be a pretty easy assignment.  I love to organize and clear clutter, or so I thought.  However, I generally think that to inspire others you have to walk your talk, or at least try.  So for a year, I have been acutely aware of my own clutter.  This awareness was aided by constant messages in my email inbox regarding clutter.  I used an online “clipping service” to search the web and feed me any new information on clutter, cleaning and organizing. 

                Twelve months ago, I started with the good intention of writing a series of four articles for the professional organization and also sharing them with you.  You’ve heard, “It’s the thought that counts”?  I’ve only shared one article with you.  In February, I told about how I realized that I was a data hoarder, saving all my work related emails since this century started, every digital photo I’ve ever taken, and every letter I’ve written.  I don’t seem to hoard outside my computer, but give me a hard-drive and look out!

                Since taking on the clutter assignment, it seems the world has conspired to not only help me see my own clutter, but to give me an opportunity to clear my clutter -- from my computer crashing (new incentive to hit the delete key more frequently) to a mouse invasion at my office (complete inspiration to toss any number of nested and nasty items) and a few other incentives in between.  If you are also in need of inspiration to do some clutter-busting this year, but don’t really want to wait around for rodents, floods or fires to get you moving, I’ll offer a few tips.  Set aside one hour, one day per month.  Put the date on your calendar, as an appointment with yourself.  Set the timer.  It will be amazing what you can get done in a short amount of time.  Pick one location in your home, shop, garage or office and give a concentrated 60 minutes to the task.  Set up boxes with labels such as shred, recycle, thrift store or garbage.  When the time is up take the items and immediately shred, recycle, donate or trash.  As you clear, be realistic.  Have you (or has anyone else) used it lately?  Do you have plans to use it in the next year?  If it is broken, is it fixable?  If it is fixable, will you actually fix it and put it into use?  If so, why haven’t you done it yet? 

                You could also use a different approach by setting a number of items goal – five things, five days a week for five months.  That would clear 125 items out of your life.  More if you live with others and convince them to play along. Make a commitment not to purchase more clutter or use the rule, “An item in, an item out.” If you buy less, you can save more and you can spend less of your life on “stuff management” and more of your life living. I hope clearing the clutter will also clear some stress in your life. 

Resources to Inspire:

                Disclaimer:  The ideas expressed in the articles below (on their websites, in the advertising) are not necessarily endorsed by MSU Extension.  They are offered for your consideration only.

1.         http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/news/liveit/story.html?id=a2e8e9d4-a607-4936-9e69-d44043a48c94
The Province
Work-at-home mother Trish feels she's been left alone to deal with the clutter clogging up their home with her husband away at work as well as off on hunting trips and excursions. But Trish has tangible items of her own from her past she's reticent to ...

Points to Consider:

"We hold onto these things as talismans for what we were, what we should have been, what we still want to be, whatever that is.

"Letting go of them ... I think it's freeing because we can say: 'Who am I now and who do I want to be? And let me surround myself with those kinds of optics."

There should still be limits on what to safeguard and what to discard.

2.         http://www.terrysfabrics.co.uk/infographic/conquer-clutter-in-a-month/

Points to Consider:

Start small and make a schedule, room-by-room to declutter.

Types of clutter:  Aspirational – Things you want to use, but don’t.  Out-of-Place – Things that just need put away.  Sentimental – Things to which you have attached emotional value.  Bargain – Things that were obtained for discount or free.

3.        http://moneysavingmom.com/2013/05/clutter-busting-challenge-day-21-i-cleaned-up-the-backyard.html

Points to Consider:

Set aside a few minutes each day and get rid of seven things each day for a month. 

4.        Clutter tip of the week: Being organized is not about tidiness
OregonLive.com
Professional organizer Patty McPherson, owner of Orderly Manor, in Plymouth, Mass., writes that "The level of tolerable clutter varies from person to person. It's something I have to learn about my clients so don't try to make my standards their ...

Points to Consider:

Disorganization is a source of stress.  Clutter adds to stress.