Posted by Kerri Rodley in Declutter Your Life, Organising Tips | 5 Comments
The roots of clutter — external, behavioral, and internal
I loved this post so much from Erin at Unclutterer.com that I wrote a chapter based on it in my eBook “The Essential Guide to Declutter and Organise Your Home. Pick up a copy here: http://domesticdownsizing.com/ebook-download.htm
It is so important to work out WHY you have clutter before you can begin to tackle it.
Goodness...where did I leave the baby?
There are innumerable reasons people are plagued by clutter. Most reasons, however, fall into one of three categories:
- External: This clutter might be from living with a cluttered parent/roommate/spouse, physical disability, or inherited clutter
- Behavioral: This clutter might be from mediocre decision-making skills, lack of energy, or poor categorization and classification skills
- Internal: This clutter might be from grief, depression, anxiety, distrust, or being overly sentimental
Clutter rooted in external causes can be tricky to overcome. Since you can’t transform someone else into an unclutterer, you may be continually plagued with clutter as long as you live in the same space as your parent/roommate/spouse. If you’re struggling with inherited clutter, the situation may be stressful as you take the time to sort through the property you’ve acquired, but the clutter will likely be temporary. It can be difficult to predict or solve external causes of clutter, but there are often ways to manage it, and sometimes even solve it.
Clutter resulting from behavioral causes can be more manageable than the other categories of clutter. You can learn and/or improve skill sets, change habits, and find ways to increase energy levels. It can take awhile to overcome these behaviors, but it is possible for people of sound mind and body to do so within a reasonable amount of time.
Read more on internal clutter here: http://unclutterer.com/2010/11/18/the-roots-of-clutter-external-behavioral-and-internal/