Getting Rid of Your Midlife Clutter Nancy Recker

Getting Rid of Your Midlife Clutter Nancy Recker, Extension Educator, FCS, Associate Professor Lois Clark, Extension Educator, FCS, Associate Professor

Are You Living In Clutter?

Do You Want to Feel More Organized?

Are You Suffering From Mid-Life Clutter? • • • Do you waste time trying to find things you know you have? Do you feel you don’t have enough storage space? Is your lack of organization causing you stress?

Why Do People Clutter? • Urged to buy things everyday • Can’t bear to part with a piece of the past • Don’t know where to put it and so it’s set aside

Did You Know… Clutter Facts • • More than 3000 documents can be found in an average home Cost of paying late fees and premium prices can amount to 15 -20% of a family’s budget An average household may accumulate 300 pages of paper a day Average households have 25% more furniture and 75% more toys than they need Source: Dean, S. (2002, May), Clutter and Chaos. Reader’s Digest, 90 -97.

More Clutter Facts • • • Lack of space is not the cause of clutter in the home. Disorganization results in 80% of the clutter in most homes. In the average home, getting rid of clutter eliminates 40% of housework Americans waste more than 9 million hours looking for lost items Source: www. Orgcoach. net/clutter. html

Midlife Clutter The Challenge. . . Midlife • Realizing that life has a time limit • Taking stock of what we have • Organizing, simplifying, downsizing to give ourselves peace of mind • Determining what you want to do with the rest of your life • Completing estate plans

Why So Much Midlife Clutter? • • • Feel guilty You might need it It’s hard to let go Everything we own, every piece of paper has its own story There just hasn’t been time Don’t know where to start

The Definition of Clutter • According to Webster the definition of clutter is “Clutter Clut"ter, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Cluttered; p. pr. & vb. n. Cluttering. ] To crowd together in disorder; to fill or cover with things in disorder; to throw into disorder; to disarrange; as, to clutter a room. [1913 Webster]

Or Clutter Can Be. . . • • Clutter: Anything you own, possess, or do that does not enhance your life on a regular basis. Orgcoach. net/clutter. html accessed 2/10 Clutter is a cute word we use to make us not feel so bad about our bad habit of being disorganized and sloppy

Organizational Styles Time Personality Styles And Space Personality Styles

Time Personality Styles… Drop and Hop • • Have a number of irons in the fire Thrill of doing something new is motivator Easily distracted Want immediate gratification

Clutter Ends Up Where You Drop It

Time Personality Styles… Perfectionist • • • Want to have everything just perfect Get over-involved with details Seldom satisfied with results

Time Personality Styles… Detail Dodger • Can’t be bothered with details • Others are forced to pick up the pieces • Appointments missed, details ignored, and thing forgotten

Time Personality Styles… Procrastinator • Put things off as long as possible • Work better under pressure • Hate to start a new job • Do what you like to do and postpone what you don’t like to do

Putting Off Cleaning Your Basement?

Time Personality Styles… See-Saw • • Go back and forth between “should I” or “shouldn’t I” Worry about not having enough information to make a decision Let others make important decisions for you Don’t like to take risks

Space Personality Styles… Sentimentalist • • • Never met a memento they didn’t like-or keep Memories are tied up in things Throwing away is like giving up the past

Space Personality Styles… Hoarder or Pack Rat • • • You keep everything because you might need it someday Accumulations are security blankets Feel guilty getting rid of things

Of Course it Still Fits!

Space Personality Styles… Minimalist • • • Nothing out in the open Clear space means clear mind Hide things from sight and forget where you put them

Out of Sight. .

Space Personality Styles… All Out • • Everything needed is out in front of them Waste of time to put things away when they’re going to use them again

Space Personality Styles… The Piler • • Confuse neatness with organization Arrange things in neat piles without actually putting anything away

Space Personality Styles… The Total Slob • • Totally disorganized More important things to do with life than be neat

• "Out of clutter, find simplicity. " --Albert Einstein

Clutter Happens…Why Organizing Systems Don’t Work Most people fall into one of three groups: They’ve tried and tried to get organized but never quite succeed. They used to be organized but something happened somewhere along the way. They are basically organized but are always looking for different ways to improve the system. Source: Waddill, K. (2201). The organizing source book. Chicago, IL: Contemporary Books, 8

Classify Your Clutter • • • Travel Clutter- Souvenirs you got on a special vacation and can’t bear to throw away It Used to Be Important Clutter-Keys that don’t work, clothes that don’t fit, toys no one plays with Phony Clutter-posing as a bargain-garage sales, 2 fers-2 for one

Classify Your Clutter • • • Inheritance Clutter-Anything someone gave you because they didn’t know what to do with it-Video collections, Mom’s old dishes Bequeathed clutter-stuff you get as a present Rabbit Clutter-clutter that multiplies fast -Beanie Babies, fabric, needle work kits

What Am I Supposed to Do With Aunt Tillie’s Stuff?

The More You Buy, The More You Need

Classify Your Clutter • • • Imposter Clutter-Clutter disguised as good stuff—musical instruments, outdated cameras and video equipment, electronics Ambiance clutter-Household accessories that you put away after you changed your decorating schemes Get-to-it-someday clutter-anything you need to fix, finish, or get to someday

And You’re Saving These Toys Because…?

Classify Your Clutter • • Eclectic Clutter- miscellaneous clutterstuff in your drawers you don’t know what to do with, clothes that still fit but don’t match anything else, a lone sock, a lone glove Car clutter-fast food bags, empty water bottles, bits and pieces of handouts from programs, kleenex, broken car scrapers, matchbox cars, old maps

Kids’ Closets…An Eclectic Mess

Classify Your Clutter • • • Bob Hope Clutter-Thanks for the memories-love letters, honeymoon matchbooks, babies first birthday card Snob Clutter-Crystal vases, silver platters, silver tea service Mysterious Clutter- objects you find and don’t know what they are but they must go to something important • Adapted from: Paauwerfully Organized-What is Clutter? www. orgcoach. net/clutter. html

De-Cluttering • • • How did I get to this point? How much time do I have? How much do I have to get rid of? What is my plan? Where do things belong? Put things away.

Organizing System • • • Space Things Information Time Relationships Waddill, K. (2001)The organizing sourcebook. Chicago: Contemporary Books.

“Strategies of Reasonably Organized People” • • • Make your system fit your own life Sort and classify Clean out constantly Label Use storage devices to fit your system K. I. S. S. Make a decision Ask for help if you need it Is your system still working?

Make Storage Work for You

Store Hobby Items Together

Organizing Year 'Round • • • January – Mail in warranties for products you received as holiday gifts. Purge your filing system. February – Prepare files to file income tax information. Straighten your desk drawers and toss out the junk. Etc.

Get Started Before You Get Too Old Step 1 • • • Take a good look at what you have If something is working, stick with it Make a list of everything that needs to be fixed What’s important for you to keep Why do you need to get organized

Plan Your Strategy Step 2 • • Plan around activities in your home Make a time table for action

A Good Way to Say “No” to a Request…“I’m Cleaning My Sock Drawer. ”

GET STARTED!!!!! Step 3 • • Go through everything including all piles Attack what’s visible first to show results Do one space at a time Don’t get sidetracked

What Better Way to Start…Go Shopping!!!

What Does This Have to Do With Midlife? • • • It’s a time for re-evaluating your life. Have you accomplished you life long goals? Is your estate in order? Where do you go from here? Who’s going to get your stuff? How are they going to find the stuff you want them to have?

The Laws of Stuff • The more you have, the more you need.

The Laws of Stuff • • The more you have, the more you need. Useless stuff crowds out the good stuff.

The Laws of Stuff • The more you have, the more you need. Useless stuff crowds out the good stuff. • Dirt and bugs love stuff. •

The Laws of Stuff • The more you have, the more you need. Useless stuff crowds out the good stuff. Dirt and bugs love stuff. • Stuff stays where you put it. • •

The Laws of Stuff • • Useless stuff crowds out the good stuff. Dirt and bugs love stuff. Stuff stays where you put it. Stuff multiplies to fill the spaces you have.

The Laws of Stuff • • Dirt and bugs love stuff. Stuff stays where you put it. Stuff multiplies to fill the spaces you have. Over time, you don’t see your stuff.

The Laws of Stuff • • Stuff stays where you put it. Stuff multiplies to fill the spaces you have. Over time, you don’t see your stuff. When you have a lot of stuff, you pay over and over for it.

The Laws of Stuff • • Stuff multiplies to fill the spaces you have. Over time, you don’t see your stuff. When you have a lot of stuff, you pay over and over for it. Stuff affects your mental health.

The Laws of Stuff • Over time, you don’t see your stuff When you have a lot of stuff, you pay over and over for it Stuff affects your mental health • Stuff is valuable only if you use it • •

The Laws of Stuff • When you have a lot of stuff, you pay over and over for it Stuff affects your mental health Stuff is valuable only if you use it. • Stuff can’t buy happiness. • • • Adapted from: Georgene Lockwood, 10 Laws of Stuff, The Oaks, Menomonie, Wisconsin