Comments on: Can a person clutter up his time by constantly uncluttering?

By: Ann

Ann — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 01:01:52 +0000

Thanks for the post. I had just been asking myself if I am continuing decluttering/minimizing to avoid doing tasks I feel uncomfortable with. In fact, I think that is the case.

Another incentive for d/m is that I feel so good when it is done.
I will have to get moving on other things.

By: The law of diminishing happiness « Becoming organized

The law of diminishing happiness « Becoming organized — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 18:45:44 +0000

[...] pm Filed under: reason, tools | Tags: cookies, law of dinimishing returns, unclutterer I thought this article from Unclutterer was interesting. The title is, “Can a person clutter up his time by [...]

By: terriok1

terriok1 — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:30:50 +0000

I had a desk in front of Bill when I worked for a Court.

He spent most of his day organizing records so they’d look neat. Never did a lick of work!

By: Tonya

Tonya — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 23:47:51 +0000

I only need look at my Dad’s desk or remember his parents home to understand why I struggle so with piles. I am also one who feels like I spin my wheels and this decluttering and organizing thing will never be done. I get very frustrated with the time I put into trying to get my house together when there are other things I would rather be doing. But I married a very neat and tidy man (of course) who finds a messy home environment to be very stressful and he has enough stress with his demanding job. My piles bother me but they probably would not bother me as much if I knew it was not affecting anyone else. I am making progress (slowly) and appreciate blogs like this one and others about living more simply to give me the push to keep going.

By: Karyn

Karyn — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:11:44 +0000

@Mo: The idea for using dated file folders to store “miscellaneous stuff” is just what I needed to conquer the last frontier of my own uncluttering: paper clutter, specifically, the stuff that just doesn’t have a “home” (at least yet) but isn’t “junk,” either. Then there’s also the problem of papers I didn’t have time to file during a busy period; better to file right away, but next best is to at least have a labeled, “findable” place to look instead of several undifferentiated “piles.” I’m going to try monthly rather than quarterly folders and see how it goes. Thanks for a great tip!

By: Karyn

Karyn — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:04:29 +0000

An idea for those of us who enjoy the processes, themselves, of decluttering, sorting, and organizing: Once you’ve gotten your own space under control, consider applying your now-well-honed talents in the service of others. I don’t mean charging in and invading their space, throwing stuff about in a mad fit of Trust Me, It’s For Your Own Good; rather, my own experience has been that when friends and family see how organized I’ve become, they tend to ask me for help when they need to sort through some stuff of their own, or even ask me to help them start their own decluttering project.

Of course, the whole point of getting our lives in order is simply to have the SPACE in which we can live those lives, so if you’ve reached a comfortably organized place, maybe now it’s time to dust off a project or two that used to be buried under the clutter.

By: Audi Byrne

Audi Byrne — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:28:25 +0000

Thanks for the great post! For me, the ideas that (1) organizing and decluttering are just means to facilitate more important priorities and (2)you are over-organizing if you find everything too quickly (i.e., past the optimum point of diminishing returns) resonate as the bits of wisdom that I was missing!

By: Thought of the day - Simpler Living - timesunion.com - Albany NY

Thought of the day - Simpler Living - timesunion.com - Albany NY — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:06:01 +0000

[...] Can a person clutter up his time by contantly decluttering? (Unclutterer) Posted in General | [...]

By: Gwen Carden

Gwen Carden — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 01:18:52 +0000

I like the distinction another writer made between decluttering and organizing. However, there’s one more distinction, which might be called control organizing. I think we’ve all known people who will dust the seat of our chair before we’ve completely vacated it, people who stress out if even one small dish is left in the sink. One of my childhood friends’ mothers was so worried about anything getting out of place that once the bed was made in the morning, the kids weren’t allowed back in their bedrooms until bedtime.

Often people like this had very chaotic childhoods where there was little they could control, other than their immediate physical environment. It’s actually frightening to them for the small things they can control to be disrupted, and this doesn’t go away just because someone is an adult.

If organizing goes to such an extreme that it interferes with the comfort of others this compulsion has gone too far, and it’s time to get a mental health professional to help you explore what it is in your background that pushes you to such an extreme. If this sounds like you, you could try leaving just one little thing sitting out, and force yourself to leave it there. Realizing that the world won’t cave in can start giving you a little relief.

I, on the other hand, could use some help figuring out why I’m so…well, not organized. But that’s for another post.

By: Simplified Simplification - dBlogIt | Dustin Boston

Simplified Simplification - dBlogIt | Dustin Boston — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:40:32 +0000

[...] realized today that if I simplify any more I will have reached the point of diminishing returns. In other words, any more simplification in my life will have a negative net [...]

By: Crystal Dreisbach

Crystal Dreisbach — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:16:13 +0000

Thanks for recognizing the differences between decluttering and organizing. I just wrote an article about cleaning, tidying and organizing, emphasizing that each is a distinct activity that involves a different thought process.

I love your post and the comparison between de-cluttering and Sisyphus.

I’d like to argue that if you are already organized – that is, if you have established *systems* in your home so that everything has a place where it “belongs” – you will not need to spend much time de-cluttering at all.

Think organization as *prevention* for time suck.

By: lizzie L

lizzie L — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:33:02 +0000

@Frances – same problem here! I am a wheel spinner when it comes to de-cluttering! Just when I think I’m making progress life gets in the way and by the time I get back to it, I’m right back where I ended… in a big ol mess again! I’m sick of it!!! Do I rent a back hoe and demolish the joint, do I push everything out the back door and wait for trash day… .or do I just enjoy my half clean, hald deculttered home? Its like Groundhog day everyday here .. . I’m stuck in a vicious de-cluttering cycle! Yikes.

By: Frances

Frances — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 08:35:52 +0000

I appreciate the post but my problem is the opposite. It seems that I am always tidying, putting away and cleaning, but the house is always far from where I want it to be. Should I just change my standards and learn to be happy with a cluttered house? Learn to unclutter quicker? Or just accept the necessity to constantly unclutter without getting all the way to a perfectly clean place? A bit of a dilemma for me.

By: Catherine Cantieri, Sorted

Catherine Cantieri, Sorted — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 03:29:16 +0000

Agreed, momofthree, there’s no real destination known as “done.” No matter how breathtakingly efficient the organizational system, it’s only as good as the upkeep on it. (Same thing with weeding, dangit.)

By: jena

jena — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 01:19:07 +0000

Amen about the cutie baskets and bins! Declutter first, then go from there. I will see a person pushing a cart full of bins and storage containers out of a store, and I always think that they look happy. I feel stressed about what they are going to put in those huge containers. Just a thought!