The Clutter Gene

ONE OF MY DIRTY secrets concerns my predisposition to accept piles of paper as part of my life. I blame my mom for the gene. In her childhood, when the family lost no fewer than three homes during the Great Depression, mom would rathole pages from the Sears catalogue along with her meager possession. Pages grew into stacks of free stuff and free stuff spawned hand-me-downs and those remnants became closets of long-forgotten keepsakes. Returning to mom's home put me back into the middle of that mess with a little voice inside my head reminding me of the stacks of boxes under my desk at work, piles of useless material at home in the study and an out-of-control rat's nest taking up parking space in the garage. I want to win against this unwelcome clutter gene so I'm letting myself roam 10 minutes on Twitter only after I finish a 20-minute clutter-busting session in one of my designated workspaces.

Some day I may share the photographic evidence. Right after I impose a 12-step GTD checklist on my daily routine.

In the meantime, I hear the sage advice of LeAnn Peterman, an organisational specialist from Fond du Lac, whenever I cast my eyes over sentimental clutter. Peterman recommends doing a few specific things that would help me in my quest to reduce my mess.

• Items that have a strong sentimental attachment should be organized in a manageable system — taking a picture of an item still retains the visual memory but not the actual bulk of the item.
• Pass along items to others that may have a more sentimental value to them such as cards, pictures or news clippings.
• Pictures that you cannot identify should be tossed or donated to a local historical society.
• Set your criteria and don’t do it alone. If you tend to hoard, invite a person opposite of yourself to help make sensible decisions.

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Sent mail2blog using O2-Ireland EDGE Typepad service near Ballyclerihan, County Tipperary.

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