Unclutterer

1. Posted by Phil B - 07/05/2007

   Both my wife and I are habitual hoarders, and we moved to a larger house in October, and had a baby in March. I’m therefore looking for good ideas before we have to move again
   I came to this site through the productivity/GTD path, I think from 43 Folders or Lifehacker.

2. Posted by Eric - 07/05/2007

   Yes. Matt’s bio is probably closest, but I do like both the productivity bonus and philosophy of an uncluttered lifestyle.

3. Posted by Shade - 07/05/2007

   I live in a very small space (I’m a college student) so this 10×10 room has to hold an entire life. So I came here to be able to find a way to organize the mess that is my life, and make it possible for me to relax on my days off of school and work, and to find everything easily.

4. Posted by Phyllis - 07/05/2007

   I’m basically organized at heart but have inherited the can’t-get-rid-of-that-because-it’s-valuable gene from my mom. I have to make a conscious effort to keep stuff from settling permanently. I think, for me, it’s a control thing; I feel out of control when I can’t find things and have to wade through a mess. Cleaning the excess out and knowing where important stuff is makes me feel in control.

5. Posted by Andrew Conard - 07/05/2007

   I found and subscribed to this site soon after being married for a year. Our lives as United Methodist pastors will involve moving throughout our career. Thus, our hope together is to keep a clutter free life and live simply while still keeping things tied to strong memories.

6. Posted by Jude - 07/05/2007

   I like reading about ways to solve clutter issues (even if I frequently disagree with your solutions). I’ve been interested in the topic since the 1970s when I read a book called “This Way Out” which had a chapter which was essentially about de-cluttering. I inherited everything from a bunch of clutterers, and it’s taking me years to separate the wheat from the chaff.

7. Posted by Misty - 07/05/2007

   I first became interested in decluttering because we moved SOOO often when I was a child. Moving is a real pain in the butt when you have lots of unnecessary stuff. Now that tendancy is serving me well as we have a two bedroom home to house me and my husband, my young daughter, my home office (I work from home), all our junk, and probably another child or two. We’ll probably HAVE to move when we get too many more children, but I’d like to make this space last as long as possible.

8. Posted by Melissa - 07/05/2007

   I have always been detail oriented and have always recognized that I feel best when there is less clutter around. I am looking at ways to change my career path and have been researching the field of professional organizing. This blog has pointed me in the directions of several helpful websites and has provided a plethora of really “neat” ideas.

9. Posted by Claire - 07/05/2007

   When I was first in college I left half my stuff at my parents house, and had the rest with me. This way I ended up with more clothes than I needed, I never had to get rid of books, notes, souvenirs. I took the decision when I went to grad school to take everything with me (mainly because my parents were moving house) and now strive to cut down my clutter. I’m moving in a month (back into dorms for my last stretch in grad school) so am in the process of my annual enforced clear-out (my top tip for cutting down clutter is to move - or pretend to move - once a year, though I’m increasingly of the opinion that little and often is much less stressful).

10. Posted by m - 07/05/2007

    My husband and I moved from a large three bedroom townhouse in a rural area to a small 800 sq.ft. apartment in the DC area. While living in the small apartment, we started analyzing all of our buying habits since we were living in such a small space.

    I came to your site because of your post on clothing. We are beginning to unload a ton of clothing since we have moved to a larger house in DC with smaller closets than our small apartment.

11. Posted by Jenny - 07/05/2007

    I found Unclutterer back in April via 43F. I love reading about organization, life hacks, and generally making things easier on myself. I’m organized, but I have a LOT of crap, so reading this site is good inspiration to be mindful about what I bring into my house.

12. Posted by Diana - 07/05/2007

    I started reading Unclutterer a few months ago. My husband retires August 1st and we are planning to build a new house. We aren’t really downsizing, but I do want to downsize the amount of stuff we have to move!

13. Posted by Michael - 07/05/2007

    I’ve always loved simplicity, but my wife hoards; I think I’m drawn to an uncluttered lifestyle because it gives me a sense of freedom.

14. Posted by rositta - 07/05/2007

    Having just lost my Mother and watching my son ruthlessley throw her stuff out without care, made me decide to completely unclutter. Might as well get rid of stuff while I’m still alive. Since one month I’m going through my house like a tornado.

15. Posted by Brian - 07/05/2007

    My wife and I come from a long line of…well, not hoarders, per se, but certainly “enthusiastic collectors.” I finally realized that the sheer psychic deadweight of all the “stuff,” between trying to keep it safe and trying to keep it organized, was just killing me. I’m looking for ways to pare down and stay that way. Simple is better in every respect.

16. Posted by Bassem B, - 07/05/2007

    Growing up in a supercluttered home, dealing with aging parents who are increasingly hoardy, and having the house’s living room as my living space. While I’m a minimalist in most areas, I am hoarder when it comes to books (working on it..) and data on my computer.

17. Posted by Debbie - 07/05/2007

    I’m here because of the excellent writing.

    I’m interested in decluttering because a) I feel happier in a less cluttered environment, but b) I’m like those people who lived through the Great Depression where part of me thinks I need to collect things in case something happens. See, if the banks close and the stock market collapses, all my savings won’t mean much, and when my clothes wear out, it will be nice to have more available, right?

    Like rositta, the death of a relative influences me, too. When my grandmother died suddenly, her house was spotless except for a plate with some crumbs on it, a knife, and a glass. Amazing! If I had died that same day, my heirs would have had a lot more trouble going through all my stuff.

    Also I live in a small place and like that it has low bills and low maintenance and repair costs.

    I’m still training my subconscious that my house does not need to be a museum of everything cool, it does not need to be an emergency warehouse, and other people can make better use of some of my stuff than I am. I’m even learning that I’ve become so good at bargain hunting that I don’t need to save doubles of things in case my boyfriend and I break up. It really wouldn’t be tough to replace all of the many things I would have to replace.

18. Posted by Debi - 07/05/2007

    My top ten list of why I’m here, striving to move from being a packrat to an unclutterer:

    1. Because I moved from over 1700 sq feet to under 850 sq feet.
    2. Because for nine years I’ve been paying $30 a month for a storage space. I’m afraid to calculate that out.
    3. Because I hate the lost time looking for lost things.
    4. Because more stuff means more nooks and crannies for pet hair to hide. (The pets, too.)
    5. To reduce my footprint on the planet.
    6. To increase my peace of mind.
    7. So my “pretty” things actually look pretty instead of junky.
    8. To spend money more wisely (eg. not buying things you already have but forgot you had them.)
    9. To welcome visitors instead of dreading them.
    10. And lastly, the less stuff you have, the less stuff you have to clean. The less stuff you have to clean, the more time you have for reading helpful blogs like this one.

19. Posted by zenparadox - 07/05/2007

    I’m already naturally prone to a neat and uncluttered life - in fact it’s part of my spirituality - but I’m always looking for new perspectives.

20. Posted by Meagan - 07/05/2007

    I’m an Unclutter now after witnessing my mom and my mother in law and how they have all this stuff that doesn’t make them happy - and really makes them unhappy. Organizing also appeals to my borderline OCD personality, but really just seeing the anguish with what they have had to go through makes me want to have a neat and tidy place, focusing on what I really want and need to have a good life and cutting everything else out.

21. Posted by Kristin - 07/05/2007

    I was married once before, as was my husband. I also inherited two complete households of furniture when my grandmother died (her FL house and her summer house in PA). Add to that the changing of ‘decorating’ styles now that we were remarried and you have a ton of stuff that you don’t need. It’s taken me almost 7 years but most of the ’stuff’ is gone and I love living with less ’stuff’.

    I, like others have posted, think it’s a control thing. I want to go to the specific location where something is supposed to ‘live’. If I can’t find it, I stress. Also, I have a hard time relaxing if my house is in disorder. Still working on the kitchen … that’s the tough spot for me. We love kitchen gadgets.

22. Posted by Bakari C - 07/05/2007

    I’m here simply because our two-story house is almost unmanageable. Though we work to keep it clean as much as possible, we could easily get rid of a third to two-thirds of the stuff in it.

    I have for example a large library of books that I don’t have time to read as much as I used to. While I would l like to keep most of those books, they need to be relocated to place where they are accessible but are not taking up needed space in my upstairs office. So I need to get my entire garage cleaned out and relocate them there.

    I also need to manage all the magazines and office supplies I have. And finally, I just need a system to keep things organize. I can’t count how many times I’ve organized my office only see it fall a part again. This clearly impacts my business workflow at home.

    Now, I haven’t gotten to my wife, who is totally disorganized when it comes to her stuff. Her downstairs office is nothing more than a place to junk boxes of mail, magazines, and stuff that she doesn’t even know exist. It’s simply sad that she has all that wasted space.

    Though we may sound rich, we’re not. And we’re really not that materialistic. It’s just that we’re not organized about the stuff we have in our home. And I think in the long it effects our lifestyle and stress level.
    Couple all that with all the stuff belonging to our two young children, and you can see that we desperately need to de-clutter.

23. Posted by Ethel - 07/05/2007

    We’re lazy, and trying to organize. The easiest way to take the work out of organization is to limit what we need to organize by decluttering. We also have twin 15 month girls, and are pretty busy - but don’t have a huge living space, so keeping things organized tends to be more difficult.

24. Posted by Jessi - 07/05/2007

    I have chronic health issues and low energy. Clutter saps energy! Order is restful.

25. Posted by Louise - 07/05/2007

    I am a natural de-clutterer. My husband is a natural hoarder. We live in a 300 square foot bus with a dog, two cats, and three fish. I need to keep it neat to stay sane!

26. Posted by KAJ - 07/05/2007

    Short-term, because I’m about to move 1500 miles and need to get rid of the mountains of crap I’ve accumulated in the 17 years since I last moved. Longer-term, I want to permanently reduce the amount of crap I hang on to, and strive for a more open, serene, clean-lined living environment

27. Posted by Karen - 07/05/2007

    I like to read your site. But I’m not sure if your writers have the kinds of organizational problems that many of us have. That stem maybe from attention or obsessiveness. And I suspect that the kind of help you can give is limited if you don’t really understand the root of the problem. There are books out there that really do address some of the underlying issues better.

28. Posted by Brendan - 07/05/2007

    I am a total minimalist. My wife a horder. It has been a issue in our marriage… growing more over time as the piles continue (unfair statement from my perspective). Recently due to overwhlem at work we got into GTD, via 43 Folders (then a hop, skip and jump to you). We work together and I discovered she was hording her e-mails, hence GTD.

    Together we discovered that our home was a clutter. This was made more apparent to us as we are converting our attic to a masterbed and our house is upside down.

    Thank you for the great information. We started “freeing” ourselves from clutter on July 4th.

29. Posted by Monica Ricci - 07/05/2007

    I have to live uncluttered or I just can’t think straight and when I can’t think straight, I’m paralyzed. Over the past nine years, I’ve managed to turn this need for order into quite a fulfilling career that I love and nothing gets me fired up like knowing I’ve helped create positive change in someone else’s life.
    ~Monica

30. Posted by Erin - 07/05/2007

    Karen — People with compulsive hoarding issues should seek professional help. This website is for people who are looking for inspiration and ideas to bring a sense of order to their homes. The American Psychological Association exists to help people with serious disorders. They can be found online at http://apahelpcenter.org/

31. Posted by Baly - 07/06/2007

    I probably came to this site through Apartment Therapy, and have struggled all my life with a desire for minimalism and a taste for shiny.

32. Posted by Lori - 07/06/2007

    I’m a lifelong collector of books, mementos, and things that might be useful someday. I recently married and sold my house, so I’m trying to integrate my things into a new place with my husband’s things. He’s less of a collector than I, but there is still not enough room for everything.

    I’m slowly learning to let go of things and pass them along to someone who can really use them. I’m working on journaling the memories that the things trigger so that I can let the things themselves go free. Last week, I sold or gave away half my books; I’d like to get rid of half again.

    Sites such as this one have really helped me focus on what is truly important, and it isn’t dragging around boxes of stuff I never use.

33. Posted by Andamom - 07/06/2007

    I am one of those people who likes to streamline, organize, and remove obstacles. And based on the number of times I comment (despite my chaotic life) points out that I do truly adore unclutterer…and suggest it to tons of people.

34. Posted by elysa - 07/06/2007

    I found this site through Lifehacker. The container store has been one of my favorite places since I was a small child. I love organizing. I grew up with an extreme minimalist (my mom) so when I moved out I found myself hoarding, now I am learning to find a balance of keeping the things that I love and passing along the things I don’t.

35. Posted by carolyn - 07/06/2007

    I come from a family of clutter-bugs. I am not exaggerating when I say EVERYONE in my family ( 3 sisters, one mother, one father) lives in clutter and does nothing about it. Being the ex-wife of a neat freak has rubbed off on me, and now I seek to unclutter my space and keep it that way.

36. Posted by TallDave - 07/08/2007

    I unclutter in order to free my mind.

    I have found a secret which has been *extremely* helpful. My goal is not necessarily to get rid of the stuff, but to get rid of whatever is holding the stuff. Shelves, junk drawers, boxes, etc. An empty shelf is nice, but removing a shelf from a room is even nicer.

37. Posted by Nat - 07/08/2007

    I came to this site by way of ApartmentTherapy.com too. Even before, I was interested in decluttering and some aspects of Feng Shui (ie. creating better flow in the room, mindfulness, etc.)
    11 years ago I inherited all of my mother’s possessions. Unfortunately she was a hoarder. At first, I got rid of all the obviously useless stuff. However, it wasn’t until I let go of the unused baby grand piano that took up half the living room that really got me started on thinking about what I really want or need in my home.
    I have very basic rules for my decluttering: no stuff falling on my head, no tripping over stuff, no spending money on organizing something that isn’t worth it, and no collections unless I’m willing to invest the time and money to do it right. I still have a lot of stuff, but I’m very aware of when too much is making me feel claustrophobic.
    What I really like about the info I’m finding in this blog is that this is a process that can be done in smaller steps as you evaluate a particular object or group of objects rather than trying to do everything at once.

38. Posted by cara - 07/09/2007

    I used to be a packrat but then I went to college 12 hours from home. This meant every year I lugged a ton of crap to and from college. Each year, I took less and less stuff to college and then realized if I lived all year without this stuff, I probably didn’t need it. I eventually just told my parents they could trash all the stuff I left at home. I never missed it.

39. Posted by Chris - 07/09/2007

    I love this blog - found it (I think) through core77.
    Why I love it:
    1) My best friend trained me early that everything you own should fit in the back of a Volvo 242DL wagon. If it doesn’t fit, sell it.
    2) More stuff = more stuff to keep clean.
    3) My dad is an ebay pack rat. I’ve threatened to sheetrock up his basement door, and sell his house as built on a slab. I’m terrified of becoming him.
    4) Stuff gives me a headache. Simplicity relaxes me.
    5) I’d rather spend money on experiences, not accumulation.

40. Posted by Lisa S. - 07/09/2007

    I come here because I am a declutterer by nature, and an organizer, and I like to see if there’s an approach that I can use. So far, not so much — as someone else wrote: “I like reading about ways to solve clutter issues (even if I frequently disagree with your solutions).”

    But seeing how to arrive at your solutions is always a learning experience. And I have found that the commenters here often have very good ideas.

41. Posted by michelle - 07/12/2007

    uncluttered=clean=pretty. I move around a lot, “ownership is bondage,” I adore good design, and hate dusting.

42. Posted by pinkpillsanity - 07/31/2007

    Because my family is a long line of packrats and I am trying to get my life together after it basically up-ended itself.

43. Posted by GoVegan - 07/31/2007

    I have OCD but unlike many OCD victims who are hoarders, I am obsessed with living a severely minimalist lifestyle. Most of my time online is spent looking for other related websites on how to declutter, simplify, or live minimally. I can fit all of my belongings into one car, along with 6 dogs (small, of course). I admit - I am an extremist and don’t think many people are as severe as I am when it comes to minimalizing possessions. I edit daily. I constantly look for things to chuck. Living an uncluttered life makes me feel in somewhat control of things.

44. Posted by Alishia - 08/01/2007

    I live in a relatively small house with a (relatively) messy husband and two small children. I don’t like having too much stuff and I want the stuff that we have to be taken care of. Due to the nature of my household, we are often disordered, so I find that uncluttering things and getting rid of excess makes the clutter more manageable

45. Posted by Carol - 08/08/2007

    I was an unclutterer by circumstances- I used to move around a lot as a kid, i think the record was seven times in a year. And this meant that I had to be able to uproot quick and easy. And because my family wasn’t particularly well off, so it wasn’t like there was a lot of stuff to uproot.

    Lately I’ve been in the same house for the last three years and its gotten way too easy to build up. I used to have seven sets of clothes while I was still in uni. One for each day of the week. Work doubled it. Shopping for fun quadrupled it. And the books that were not clutter have become that since I haven’t read them in two years and are collecting dust. So I’m now trying to become an unclutterer by choice.

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