Make Clutter Clearing a Daily Habit

Have you ever noticed that your space that be neat as a pin one day, and the next it looks like a cyclone hit it? How does that happen?

One way that the cyclone effect can occur in your space is for you to take a complete break and stop doing important maintenance behaviors: put things away, throw things away, give things away. You may have thought, “I’ll get to cleaning up later.” Or, you may have just enjoyed the moment, unconscious of the chaos you were creating.

Whatever the reason, completely stopping is an invitation for clutter to accumulate and take over your space. What starts out as a disheveled environment can very quickly become a nightmare. What takes only minutes to restore to order can grow into an organizing challenge that takes many hours or even days to complete.

A Musician's Path to Self-Discovery

Nickel Annie Long
By Mickey and Dorothy Cash

There was a lady named Annie Long,
lived down on Cedar Lane Road.
She lived alone in a big house that was full a long time ago.
With a half a dozen children working hard as they can,
that's what I remember about Annie and her man.

When the kids were little they spent Saturdays in town.
She'd reach inside her pocket, six nickels to go around.
A nickel for each to spend in the store,
while Annie stood behind them with that smile that she wore.

They didn't have much to speak of, I want you to understand.
Just a lot of love, one old car, and a little piece of land.
And when he died Annie was left alone, you know, Annie lost her man.
The kids all call on the telephone, say they'll visit when they can.

Could Your Thoughts Be Keeping Your Space Cluttered?

Ever wonder why some people have cluttered spaces and others do not? There are many reasons, but one dynamic I’ve noticed with cluttered clients is that their thoughts shut them down. Here are some of the most common shutdown thoughts that have been shared with me:

“It will take forever to do . . .”

“I don’t know what to do. . .”

“There’s so much stuff. . . “

“I don’t know where to start. . . “

“I can’t do this. . . “

Thoughts are powerful. Mike Dooley of www.tut.com fame says, “Thoughts become things.” When clients hang onto the thoughts above, they end up with clutter that grows exponentially. Their thoughts keep them from taking action to improve the condition of their space. And, like English Ivy, clutter left unattended attracts more clutter and spreads out over everything.

8 Tips for Bringing Parent Belongings Into Your Home

When parents downsize or have died, their stuff must go
somewhere. Unfortunately it often becomes the bud of a clutter crisis for people in the throes of exhaustion and grief associated with the death or decline of parents. Furniture, books, boxes, dishes and memorabilia that were hastily packed up at the parents’ home land in their home where ever it will fit. It’s quite common that the stuff stays where it lands for quite some time. Once it’s been there for awhile, its stagnant energy attracts other items and before long the original pain-filled pile becomes an immovable object, a major block to integrating the stuff that really matters into their home and a block to moving through their grief.

Is there another way? Can this painful “stuff crisis” be avoided? It can, but only if the "stuff recipients" are very conscious of their pain and deliberately choose to take action in spite their pain. I suggest the following:

 1. When packing up parents’ belongings to take to your house, take only objects that you truly love. Your emotions likely will be running wild. That will make decision-making more difficult. EVERYTHING may seem important because items that belong to the parent hold the energy of that parent. Don’t confuse loving the parent with loving the item. You only need a precious item or two to hold the energy of your parent. You don’t need every item.

2. Before you commit to taking furniture, have some idea where each item could be placed in your home.

3. Resist the urge to pack everything up to go through later just because that is a quick solution, easier to do than make decisions about everything. Make yourself take the time at your parents’ home to do at least a cursory review of drawers, packed boxes and papers, looking for items that can be trashed, donated or given away. That will reduce the quantity of things you will have to go through and deal with at home.