Many of us took advantage of the long, lonely hours of the Covid-19 lockdowns of 2020 to clear out our closets, drawers and wardrobes from a bygone era, packaged foods well past their expiration dates, and files that are no longer relevant. In the beginning, I was there too, enthusiastically tackling the low-hanging fruit: ill-fitting dresses and suits, shoes I could no longer walk in, hundreds of empty plastic and glass containers.
It felt good at first, but I soon lost interest in cleaning up and lacked the mental and physical energy to tackle what was left.
And, I assure you, after living in the same house for 55 years, there was a lot more to get rid of. Empty spaces have a way of filling. I actually envy friends and neighbors who have been reduced in size and had to throw away dumpsters full of things that are no longer used or useful.
But when a leaky pipe recently saturated the carpet in my finished basement, where I’ve stored for decades everything I didn’t know what to do with but couldn’t bring myself to throw away, I was thrown into action again. . There’s nothing like a crisis, big or small, to force someone to deal with an uncontrollable accumulation of stuff.
Clutter is a danger
People like me, who fill storage areas as long as living spaces remain orderly, don’t take the seriousness of a hoarder, which is considered his own psychiatric diagnosis. But clutter has its own risks. This includes the chronic and repetitive tensions that can arise, for example while frantically searching through piles of miscellaneous items for an important paper or racing to clear piles of clutter before visitors arrive.
Not to mention the risk of falling over objects left where they don’t belong. When my 61-year-old friend, who seems unable to throw anything away, developed complications from a head injury that kept him in the hospital for weeks, his wife felt compelled to clear their apartment of untold objects lying around before returning home.
In addition, clutter distracts and steals attention from valuable thoughts and tasks. It takes time and energy and reduces productivity. And a 2015 study at St. Lawrence University found that a cluttered bedroom goes hand in hand with a poor night’s sleep.
The burden of clutter doesn’t even end when we die. When my friend Michael and his brothers were cleaning up their 92-year-old mother’s house in Florida after she died, among the many multiples they found, they found eight identical jars of mustard, five dozen cans of pineapple chunks, 72 rolls of paper towels, 11 walkers, and four wheelchairs. . Valuable truckloads of junk had to be hauled away. I wish my family had better things to worry about or chuckle about when I die.
Reasons why we mess up
You might be wondering why people like me and my friend’s mom collect so many things that we’ll probably never need. Fear of running out is one of the reasons I often buy in bulk, especially when desired products are on sale. A similar fear no doubt led to the frenetic run for toilet paper, pasta and canned beans at the start of the pandemic. I’ve never forgotten what a neighbor said when she was asked in the middle of a block party where she kept her extra paper towels. “In the shop,” she replied.
When I’m feeling down I’m not against indulging in retail therapy, often buying another bathing suit or cozy fleece to add to my vast collection. Scott Bea, a clinical psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic, has noted that our consumer society leads many people to collect things they don’t need.
Some also feel compelled to cling to the past, such as a friend who keeps the schedules of every event he’s attended over the past six decades. Some find it difficult to part with useless gifts from people they love or admire out of guilt or sentiment. “What if one day they come by and find out it’s gone?” is a common reason.
I have many reasons not to part with a long unused item. If it’s something I’ve treasured for a long time, like the silverware and china my husband and I bought with our wedding gifts 46 years ago, I want to give them to someone I know will appreciate and use them. And I have a quasi-irrational fear that as soon as I throw something away, I’ll find I need it.
Still, I routinely bite the bullet and donate to charities that collect clothing and household items in my neighborhood. I also live in a pedestrianized block, and if I put giveaways — from shampoos and shoes to jars and picture frames — in front of the house, they tend to disappear within hours.
When I realized it was time to get rid of decades-old professional records, I enlisted the help of a helper, who told them not to show me anything that was thrown out of my drawers. Now to do the same with the hundreds of work-related books I will never open again!
Tips to tackle tidying up
Make a plan. You may want to go room by room or focus on a category like jackets or shoes, but avoid changing course halfway through before you finish the task you started.
Set reasonable goals based on your available time and stamina. If an entire closet is too intimidating, even a small task like clearing items from a single drawer or shelf can point you in the right direction.
If a more gradual approach is more manageable, consider my friend Gina’s suggestion: keep a container in each room to house giveaways. If she tries on something that no longer fits or doesn’t look right, it goes straight into the donation bag, not back in the cupboard.
If necessary, seek help from a friend, relative, or paid adviser who does not have the same attachment to your belongings.
Make three piles: keep, donate and throw away. Don’t doubt your first assessment; immediately remove the discard pile and schedule a collection for the donations or take them to a worthy destination.
If your junk contains items that you put away for other people, consider giving them a deadline to pick them up, or suggest they rent a storage unit.
Finally, avoid relapses. Resist filling the spaces you free up with more stuff.
