Comments on: Uncluttered aphorisms

By: 1 Thing Done » Clutter: The 1 Thing Done Approach - Part I

1 Thing Done » Clutter: The 1 Thing Done Approach - Part I — Thu, 28 May 2009 06:33:03 +0000

[...] all, beware of mistaking guilt or a sense of obligation for real value. As a cogent aphorism from unclutterer.com has it, “Guilt is not a reason to keep something.” Guilt is not [...]

By: Room in the Inn :: Above Yourself

Room in the Inn :: Above Yourself — Fri, 22 May 2009 05:29:30 +0000

[...] Eventually I realized that we’re not ready for a house yet, and we don’t really need one. What we need for all of our stuff is a home. For some of our stuff that home is not our home. With too much stuff around, things tend to get in the way and make the whole house seem smaller. We plan on storing some of our things and getting rid of lots more. We’re learning that “guilt is not a reason to keep something“. [...]

By: M. Kempner

M. Kempner — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:31:25 +0000

The “One in One Out” Rule should be taught to children.

After every shopping trip my mother would make my sisters and I go through our closets and find an article of clothing to donate for every item we purchased that day. We wern’t allowed to take the clothing out of the bags till this was completed. The same held true for toys and books. It taught us early on that when you are lucky enough to get something new you should give something to someone less fortunate, a good lesson.

By: Organizing Your Way | Surfin’ the Net - 4/26-5/9

Organizing Your Way | Surfin’ the Net - 4/26-5/9 — Sat, 09 May 2009 10:49:02 +0000

[...] Unclutterer shares Five Uncluttered Aphorisms, all of which are valuable tidbits for living a simple, uncluttered [...]

By: Miles

Miles — Fri, 08 May 2009 10:10:41 +0000

I pay Blockbuster/Netflix to keep any movies I want to see or see every once and a while

And the library, books and magazines, I want to read (again)

TCM and the Fox Movie Channel show movies with no ads

My Sony Reader 505 is an expensive bookcase, sure, but I carry my library with me full of articles and out-of-copyright books, plus Sony’s bookstore gives away books

(My theory is any book/movie I have not seen or read is new to me)

By: Hamza’s Recommendations « Mush’s Blog

Hamza’s Recommendations « Mush’s Blog — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:00:02 +0000

[...] From Uncluttered Aphorisms: [...]

By: Why You Should Unclutter, Play, and Keep Lists? « Mush’s Blog

Why You Should Unclutter, Play, and Keep Lists? « Mush’s Blog — Mon, 04 May 2009 12:53:28 +0000

[...] Uncluttered aphorisms – Unclutterer [...]

By: Cliff

Cliff — Sat, 02 May 2009 23:36:48 +0000

Companion to, “The stuff you own, owns you”:

“We do not ride the train. The train rides us.” –Thoreau

Also, “Someone else wants to own it more than I do. And they’re probably willing to pay me for the privilege.”

By: rachel

rachel — Sat, 02 May 2009 01:01:32 +0000

A long the lines of Kate’s post, I am a mother of kids 7 and 9, I love to take pictures and write about birthdays, holidays, ect…but I never take pictures or write about the “stuff” anyone gets. I just show and write about the experiences. So not to have memento of stuff.
Also, I think I am pretty clutter free, but do find myself buy kids clothes for the “next”, which almost never works out. I will take the advise to live now, not in the future.

By: Erika

Erika — Fri, 01 May 2009 10:10:00 +0000

“If you don’t need it, it’s not a bargain”

I repeat this over and over to my parents who are both hoarders. It only works when I’m there to say it, but it works wonders when I do. It also helps me from following their hoarder footsteps

Ohhh I just noticed, Tabitha pipped me to this one! Oh well, great minds think alike. It’s a very useful saying.

By: tabatha

tabatha — Fri, 01 May 2009 03:13:57 +0000

“if you don’t need it, its not a deal”

By: twosandalz

twosandalz — Fri, 01 May 2009 01:53:46 +0000

‘If I didn’t know I wanted it, I don’t need it.’

When I see some really cool item which I’d never wished for until the moment I saw it, chances are good that it will become clutter. I go home and sleep on it. 99% of the time, I decide that I don’t really need the item. This saves me a lot of $$ too.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:10:05 +0000

I’ve read most the comments now. It all comes down one thing:

A memento is not equivalent to a memory.

However, as a human the memento has value as a trigger for memory recall and thus is inherently difficult to let go of that link.

By: Susan

Susan — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:00:23 +0000

I try to ask something along the lines of “Is this relevant to my actual lifestyle, or am I holding onto it for some previous or future lifestyle, neither of which I’m actually living?”
It’s so easy to keep things for a life I either no longer live (ie snowboard gear from when I lived in the rockies) or that I feel I should live (running clothes, because maybe the next time I start running I’ll finally enjoy it) or that I hope to live in some vague future that I’m not doing anything to bring about (rubber boots for when I move to the farm/cottage that I don’t own).

It’s a good question, because it reminds me to let go of the past while reminding me that I’m in charge of creating my future, and if what I want in my future is to move to the country, then I need to take action today to move towards that goal!

By: wendyrjr

wendyrjr — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 08:23:18 +0000

One from The Simple Dollar website, which hit home with me – don’t trade your dreams for stuff. It stops me wasting lots of small amounts of money on ’stuff’ and means that we can plan fun family activities without worrying. We can also dream big for the long term future.

By: Ajana

Ajana — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 04:40:42 +0000

Love, love, love Stephanie’s one too: “Present Me is tired of holding onto Future Me’s crap. Future Me will just have to deal with it.”

By: Moxie

Moxie — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 01:49:16 +0000

I love these! I wish I had grown up hearing some of these messages… maybe I would be a more naturally-tidy person!

While I love the feeling of being tidy and organized, getting to that stage is definitely not one of my strengths.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:04:13 +0000

“Not every memory needs to have a memento.”

That quote completely changed the way I hoarded sentimental napkins, acorns, matchbooks etc. etc.

By: glynn

glynn — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:52:00 +0000

Hanging on my wall is a saying that I found on the internet one day: “By hoarding things, it shows we have no faith that we will get more.”

By: Carol

Carol — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:37:31 +0000

Something I heard on tv was “Cherish the thought not the gift”, or something like that. Very useful when trying to part with things that were gifted to me that I don’t want/need. Also taking a picture of the item has to be the single most usful idea I’ve ever come across. Photos take up less space than the item itself.