Tag: clutter

To deal with aspirational clutter, aspire to something better (think Japanese minimalism)

As someone who struggles with a lot of clutter, I find some of it easier to deal with than others. Anything that can go in the recycling or the garbage I find easy to toss out. But even when I do that, I still have too much stuff lying around.

The stuff I find hard to get rid of is stuff I find useful and that will make my life better somehow. So I was happy when I found this article touch on that: What is aspirational clutter, and how do I get rid of it? It’s a particularly difficult form of clutter to banish from your home because you have to adjust how you think about yourself in the decluttering process.

You probably have lots of aspirational clutter at your home now: those art supplies you never use, those books you will never read, those tools you never pick up, those clothes you will never get to wear. And much more. The usefulness of things and the hope you can become better means they are especially hard to get rid of.

One way to do so is to aspire to something better than also helps you get rid of things. For me, I am inspired by these designs found here: 13 Productive Japanese Home Office Designs – Edward George – edwardgeorgelondon.com. As something of a maximalist, I doubt I will ever get that disciplined in redesigning my work space. But having a goal to become more like that could help me banish so many of the things I have lying around now that someday — SOME DAY — I will get to (but probably won’t).

If you find you still have clutter around your house even after big declutter sessions, ask yourself: is this aspiration clutter? And if it is, ask what do you have to change to be able to deal with it? Perhaps aspiring to live simpler is a way to do that.

For more on Japanese minimalist, check this out: How to Embrace ‘Ma’ (間) and Japanese Minimalism In Your Home – theartofzen.org

The 20/20 rule for decluttering

The 20/20 rule for decluttering is simple and good:

First, ask yourself, “Could I replace this item for less than $20?” Then, ask yourself, “Could I replace it in less than 20 minutes?”

If the answer to both of those questions is YES, then toss it without thinking any more about it. Note: replacing it in 20 minutes means can I replace it by ordering it online.

PS: For more decluttering advice I’ve recommended, go  here. In that list is the “Box and Banish” approach, the 90/90 rule, and more.

Speaking of more, if you want to learn more about the 20/20 rule, go here: Ask Yourself These Two Questions Before You Keep Something ‘Just in Case’ at Lifehacker.

On Joan Didion’s estate (our life in objects and what they say about us)

Joan Didion died last year. On Nov. 16, there will be an estate sale auction of her possessions. The New York Times covers it here. The piece is titled: Joan Didion’s Life in Objects.

It’s a good piece. Among other things, it got me thinking once again that we leave an impression on the world in several ways. One of those ways is what we collect from it. Some of those objects are mundane and collected by many:

Others are unique to ourselves:

Some of them, by how we collect them, tell a particular story:

Our objects are not just things laying about: they say something about us. They say what we were interested in.  They indicate what our passions were.  They tell a story about the person who owned them and what type of person they were or wanted to be. The books on shelves, the overused and the underused cookware, the tools either on display or tossed away: each and every one of them are like a shadow or a sketch of their owner. They don’t say everything about us, but they say a lot.

Perhaps after you read this you may want to go over your own objects and ask yourself: what does this thing say about me? Because it does, perhaps in ways you don’t even realize.

The BBC had a series, The History of the World in 100 Objects. Like the world, if we were to take 10 or 20 or even 100 objects in our lives, they would tell the history of ourselves.

(All images: links to the story in the Times. All items belonged to Joan Didion.)

Decluttering 101

I like this piece: Why We Clutter, and What to Do About It – The New York Times. If you never decluttered your place before, it’s a good place to start.

Decluttering is like dieting though: you can make an effort to cut back, but unless you address the thoughts and behaviors that lead to clutter/overeating, you may end up back where you started.

I recommend while you are decluttering to take note of what you have excess of. Is it too much paper, clothing, books, utensils, tech stuff, or something else altogether? Those are the areas you need to focus your analysis of if you want to have any hope of living with less clutter. In the end you may be fine with periodically paring down the amount of clothes or books or stationery you have from time to time.

 

Two good decluttering projects for you to do this week

 

One is analog and one is digital.

The analog one is to declutter the space you are using to work from home. Apartment Therapy has a plan to not only declutter it but to make it better. (I find it easier to declutter if you can image the space looking good at the end).

The second decluttering plan is for your phone. Let’s face it, you have tons of digital clutter. Here’s another Apartment Therapy plan to tackle that.

(Photo by Minh Pham on Unsplash)