I think I may be one of a very few who will openly admit that I don't mind clutter. It doesn't bother me nearly as much as it used to, although I am trying to be more sensitive to the unclutter'y needs of others, and keep my clutter to myself. In fact, about the only time clutter bothers me at all is when I can't find something in 20 seconds or less. Then and only then do I figure that it is time to wrest control back from the drifts of the inanimate, until such time as I can again locate anything within the 20-second self-allocated timespan.
Once upon a time I was just like you (if you're one of those who can't stand clutter or can't admit they're comfortable living in a cluttered environment). I would fret if more than two magazines began to stack up, carefully pitching the elder of the two. I would glance at pristine corners to make sure nothing lurked within, threatening to create a clutter center. I would arrange my kitchen cabinets with care so that I was assured that each bottle of spices was fresh, label facing outward on its lazy-susan stand, visible under any condition in any lighting. I would enthusiastically pitch any bottle of aspirin just as it teetered on the edge of its expiration date - no sense taking any chances! I would arrange yarn baskets in color-coordinated rainbows, ends tucked in with military precision to avoid even the pretense of disarray. I would alphabetize the contents of my personal library shelves, and diligently ensure their alignment.
I was miserable. BUT I led an uncluttered life. Things were boxed, packaged, crated, sorted, arranged, aligned, arrayed, and accounted for... and I couldn't find a dang thing. Why!? Well, it took a few years to figure it out, but I finally did. My mind does not function well in a perfectly linear environment. If everything was lined up and boxed, packaged, crated, sorted, arranged, aligned, etc etc, it all looked the same. With no loose ends of yarn, no loose edge of book upon shelf just slightly out of alignment, my eyes had nowhere of interest to land. Plus I was terribly hard on myself, carrying around enough guilt to fill four Rubbermaid storage bins to the brim, just in case. It took a tremendous amount of energy to maintain this perfectly organized uncluttered existence.
Once I figured out it was quite all right to have two magazines stacked up, the pressure of having stacked magazines gave way. Once I granted myself permission to have a book out of proper alignment, my bookshelves took on a life of their own, becoming giddily unsorted and gravitating into categories that made sense. Suddenly I was able to find things. Gone was the turmoil of having to remember exactly what stack of what storage box something might have gotten slipped into. My non-linear mind took control and let my organizational sciences go into directions where they were comfortable. Life became brighter, more forgiving, less straining and less energy-draining.
Now, I don't recommend that everyone immediately give up on all attempts to control their possessions and belongings. If you are comfortable in an organized environment, and if keeping that environment perfectly lined up is what puts the smile on your face, by all means - keep the smile and lose the pile.But if you are like so many who have tried for years to bust clutter out of your life and wondered why you keep finding drifts of clutter creeping back into the living room, stop and consider if it may be drifting back for a very good reason. Make a clutter drift control plan and deal with it on your own terms.
Decide ahead of time how much energy you can afford to spend on clutter drift analysis. Find a kitchen timer and set it for that amount of time - I have good luck with fifteen-minute time chunks. If you know you only have a certain amount of time to deal with clutter drifts, that can help keep you on track (and keep you from lapsing into magazine-reading and aimless clutter drift pushing).
Look at the content of the clutter drift. Pick it apart, layer by layer if necessary, and deal with it one item at a time. (We cluttered folk know just how easy it is to get a critical bit of non-clutter stuck into a stack of legitimate clutter.)
If it is Danger Clutter, spend the energy to dispose of it properly and immediately. This includes anything that contains solvents, paint, or pizza crusts. Ants and fire are not welcome guests in a comfortably cluttered home. This stuff is not legitimate clutter. It's garbage. Don't confuse the two.
If it is Crucial Clutter - things that you have to make sure never get lost, retrieve them and store them in your Place Of Things Not To Lose - fireproof safe box, file cabinet, etc.
If it is Fiscal Clutter (aka bills, tax forms, credit card statements), pull them out of the stack and put them on the keyboard of your computer. Do not type again until you've dealt with them. Buy a shredder and use it for anything that has your personal data on it. No reason to give anyone else the clues to your truly cluttered identity. Besides, shredding stuff can be fun, and bags of little shredded bits are easier to haul to the trash bin than teetering stacks of unopened Prize Patrol envelopes.
Check your timer. If you have quite a bit of time left, tackle another drift.
If there's only a few minutes left, stack a few magazines and grab some coffee or tea. You've earned a break! Remember, your goal is to control the clutter on your own terms, not to actually make it vanish (unless that's what you want it to do - in which case, mazel tov!).
© 2006 - Casey van Bronkhorst
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