Life Doesn’t Have to Be So Messy: Experts Reveal Their Best De-cluttering Secrets
By Carolyn Campbell
I won a CHAOS contest, or "Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome," competition in 1992 because my house was so cluttered and disorganized. The prize was professional de-junking and organizational help.
When my sister suggested that my husband and I enter the competition, I laughed because I knew we deserved to win. When walking through our house, my family was in the habit of stepping over a wide assortment of clutter--everything from old magazines to game pieces. If a plastic cassette case broke underfoot, we didn’t even flinch.
We were used to looking through piles of clutter to find a paper or pencil. Our dining room table was piled halfway to the chandelier. If I cleared it, my husband knew company was coming. If we couldn’t find a battery or a box of cornstarch, we just bought another. Once, my six year-old son found an iron-on patch in a magazine. He said, "Mommy, I wish we still lived in our old house." When I asked why, he said, "Because we used to have an iron there."
I cringed every time the doorbell rang. I tried to think of a clever explanation for why my house was such a mess. Usually, I just shrugged and hoped the visitor would somehow understand and not pass judgment.
Both Pain and Hope in the Prize
When I was chosen as the CHAOS winner, I was both elated—and terrified. What would I do when they saw my hopeless house? The contest sponsors, Pam Young and Peggy Jones, two professional organizers known as the Sidetracked Home Executives, said that my family suffered from a condition known as "organizationally impaired" or "domestically challenged." Pam and Peggy used to be disorganized, but these two one-time “Slob Sisters” reformed and now helped others do the same. While at my home, the sisters commented on my situation. They said their profile of the disorganized person fit all of the contest finalists: "You are creative, charming, flexible, optimistic, and a good conversationalist. These are your gifts and they're wonderful—but you spend more time interacting than acting.”
Disorganized home executives also are clueless regarding housework. They lose track of time, collect worthless items, and love fun and excitement. They have lots of friends—and lots of excuses for not completing housework tasks.
Pam and Peggy said our home first needed to be de-junked—because it was impossible to clean over our junk. Because our house was out of control, we needed to discard 90 percent of our stuff. With Pam, Peggy, and the contest runners-up helping, we threw away 12 garbage bags—at least 100 pounds—of unneeded stuff from just the living room and dining room. Six of us working together spent four hours on the china cabinet alone! One amazing thing we found in the china cabinet was a floral hair wreath from my sister's 1984 wedding. Even though I moved slowly—another characteristic of the disorganized homemaker—Pam and Peggy said they had never seen such a ruthless tosser-outer. I was even willing to get rid of an odd piece of real silver. When we finished, the cabinet looked like a classy department store china display.
Pam and Peggy, also known as the “Slob Sisters,” believe that disorganization is genetic and that each family usually gets one "born-organized" child. They believe that too much clutter is a problem in at least 60 percent of families.
Although everyone can’t win a contest, we can all benefit from the advice of professional organizers. Christi Youd of Organize Enterprise (American Fork) and Jamie Tabish of Organize By Design (Salt Lake City) offer the following suggestions to help with the domestic challenge of decluttering:
• Remember that dejunking is emotionally freeing.
"After decades of living, your home has become an accumulation of experiences, memories, and stuff. The challenge comes when the stuff squeezes out opportunity for more memories or experiences,” says Youd. "It is healthy and liberating to identify the things that are in your space. By identifying what you have, you can then make an informed choice about what to do with each item," says Tabish. "As you address your clutter, you begin to unravel layers of memories and emotions that, if left unresolved, can become barriers in your daily life. By taking charge of your clutter, you can begin to free yourself to engage in the ‘now.’”
• Ask yourself two questions.
When sorting through belongings, ask yourself two questions that help you identify what is important to you and why. The first question is, "Are we actually using this item?” The second question is, "Do we love this item enough to save it from a fire?" Youd suggests that if the answer to both questions is no, get rid of the item so you can free up more space to live in, rather than store stuff in.
• Use boxes to help sort items.
You will sort faster if you label five empty boxes "trash," "donate," "move to another room," "take action" and "storage." Youd explains, "When you come across items that fit any of those categories, put them in the box rather than making trips around the house or getting sidetracked from what you are doing." She adds, "At the end of your sorting session, you can deliver the boxes where they belong in one simple trip."
Youd suggests you consider hiring a professional organizer if you are attempting to declutter a lifetime of accumulations. It can be a daunting and emotional task. “Working with a professional can make the process so much easier,” says Youd. It may, in fact, be the only way some of us could ever get the job done. I am a case in point.
Professional organizers help you make tough decisions and do much of the physical labor. You may choose to stay comfortably seated in a chair while they bring things to you. They will toss each item into one of the labeled boxes as decisions are made. "The professional organizers do all the lifting, bending, twisting and hauling—they deliver the boxes where they need to go," says Youd.
If you choose to dejunk by yourself, it is usually wise to do a little at a time. Pam Young offers the following tips:
• Add Smaller Sorting Boxes. While dejunking, use a small sorting box for safety pins, a small jar for coins, and a shoe box big enough for photographs that you will find. Add more small boxes for any other item (such as paper clips) that you are finding a lot of.
• Dejunk common clutter areas. To dejunk a drawer or closet,"gut it" by dumping everything out onto a table or floor. Put each item you pick up into the sorting boxes. Vacuum and/or scrub the bottom of the drawer or closet. Evaluate each item, asking yourself, "Will I keep or discard this?" Remember, drawers do not have to be full--they open and close easier when they are not. For example, Pam’s telephone drawer has only the phone book, Scotch tape, scissors, scratch pads, paper clips, and some pens. (Test each pen and toss the bad ones.)
Remember! When you pick up an item, do not put it back down until you decide whether it goes into a sorting box or back into the drawer or closet.
• Avoid Being Distracted. You may wish to set the timer for one hour, and avoid answering the phone or door during that time. Organizationally-impaired people get easily bored with housework and are easily distracted. We are tempted to let a phone call or visit interrupt us—and then we wonder why our housework doesn’t get finished.
• Live by the Dejunker’s Motto. If it's something you haven't hooked up, turned on, eaten off of, covered up in, sat in or on, looked out of, at, or over, watered or read in the last year...dare to dump it!
• Tidy Up Your Kitchen. Throw spices away if they have not retained their aroma or if they are have solidified. Throw away instruction manuals to simple appliances like toasters, blenders, and mixers unless you think you are going to forget how to use them.
• Toss the Little Pieces. Throw away "packaged parts"—the little screws, nuts, and bolts included with each product. These little packages live on long past the time you'll ever remember what they go to. In the future, write on the package what the parts belong to and put them with the tool box.
• Test Extra Batteries. Give all "mystery batteries" to someone who can test them and use the ones that are alive.
• Donate Your Single Socks. Give mismatched socks to charitable organizations such as Deseret Industries, Goodwill, or the Salvation Army, who have uses for fiber in small pieces.
• Create Spaces with a Purpose. Set up activity regions in your home. An activity region is the space where a family activity is performed and where all the supplies for that activity are stored. You may want to create a sewing region, a genealogy/family history region, a scrapbook and memorabilia region, an exercise region, or an entertainment region.
• Tame the Paper Tiger. Tabish advises separating current information from past information. Place papers you need to keep but don’t need or use regularly in a labeled folder. Store them in boxes in an unused space to free up space where you work.
She says, “Make sure all important papers are in clearly labeled file folders that can be easily accessed by loved ones in case of an emergency." That includes making sure you tell loved ones where in your house you keep them!
Basking in the Serenity of Uncluttered Space
Eight weeks after we won the contest, our home breathed with airy space. We had filled fifty 39-gallon garbage bags and many boxes with throw-away and give-away stuff. Our rooms were finally neat, we didn’t miss the things we tossed, and for the first time, life at home was manageable.
Organization is conducive to serenity and peace of mind. The decrease in chaos frees up time for important things. Who wants to spend half their life trying to find stuff? Although it may be fun to take a trip down memory lane with things from days of yore, it is more fun to make new memories with family and friends.
Before the CHAOS contest, our mess had reached the point that none of us wanted to come home from work and school to face the clutter. Now, home is where we all want to be. There’s no better reason to de-clutter.