According to a survey, 54 percent of Americans are overwhelmed by the amount of clutter they have, but 78 percent have no idea what to do with it.
Spring may be the most popular time to de-clutter the house, but, after a summer of vacations, carnivals, camps and crab pickings, the accumulation of stuff around the house can rival the end of winter.
The truth is anytime is a good time and that includes now.
According to a survey from the National Association for Professional Organizers, 54 percent of Americans are overwhelmed by the amount of clutter they have, but 78 percent have no idea what to do with it.
That struggle generates needless stress says Maryland-based professional organizer D’nai Walker.
“The more things you have around you, the more decisions you have to make,” Walker says. “That’s where I think the stress comes from, is just too many decisions throughout the day.”
It’s why we stand in our closet full of clothes and tell ourselves we have nothing to wear. It’s why our countertops and tables pile up with papers, trinkets and the things we collect in daily life or get out and don’t have time to put away.
It’s why we collectively spend an average total of 2.5 days a year looking for misplaced stuff and then $2.7 billion dollars replacing the items we can’t find, according to a study from the location app Pixie.
But, Walker adds, with emotional attachment to so many things, it’s not as easy as boxing things up for the landfill and there’s not a one-size-fits-all fix for everyone’s clutter condition.
“We have a lot of identity in the things we have,” she says. “The way we dress, the car we drive …, so taking those things away can sometimes feel like you’re taking your identity away.”
Growing up in a military family and having to move every few years, Walker said de-cluttering became second nature so when clients contact her when they’re at the end of their organizational rope, she’s able to come in, give perspective, and help them break down the real and metaphorical piles standing in their way to less stress.
“If you can take a weight off of someone’s shoulders, or help take something off of their to-do list, it’s very gratifying to be able to help them out at home or help them in their office,” she says.
As Walker worked with different clients through D’Clutter by D’Nai, she noticed most falling into one of four persona categories — which she coined the “Legacy Keeper,” the “Shifter,” the “Stasher” and the “Sorter” — each with different motivations for accumulating items and struggles to let them go.
Knowing which best fits you is key, she says, “then you can create solutions that work with that style.”
The Legacy Keeper has strong emotion tied to the items, whether it’s sentimental value or guilt if it were tossed away.
“These people tend to really struggle with letting go because they feel like they’re not honoring the person that gave it to them and they’re hurting someone’s feelings,” Walker says. “I know it can be a hard conversation sometimes, and you feel bad, but it’s not fair to feel burdened of holding on to everybody’s stuff in your house.”
Don’t assume you’re the only person who can have a certain item, Walker says, and recommends talking to others in the family to see if someone else would have better use for an item.
“Think about who else it can make happy,” she says.
Failing that, finding and donating it to a someone or some place that will get real use and value out of it could be the best way to honor a relative.
The Shifter “tries to be organized but they’re moving a million miles an hour and things just land where they land.”
For this group, Walker focuses on easy and efficient systems that don’t require a lot of extra time. For example, using open bins where items can be tossed in versus bins with lids stacked on each other that have to be disassembled every time an item goes in.
The Stasher’s house is in good shape except for one room or one closet that catches all the things they choose not to deal with.
“It’s not that they’re inherently messy,” she says. “I think they just get overwhelmed and they want everything to look beautiful but just can’t figure out how to put the pieces together and so they see the piles and get overwhelmed and just shove it behind the door.”
The Sorter is hyper-organized, to a fault.
Perfection becomes the enemy of good for these folks and nothing gets finished because each little detail becomes a really big deal.
No matter which category a client lands in, Walker said the top priority in an organization project is creating boundaries and holding fast too them. That means taking a hard line on overflow, “and not trying to magically create new space with things you have.”
She’s a proponent of the one-in-one-out rule in many cases to keep strong boundaries, but admits it’s not a fix for everyone.
For all the personas, Walker says it’s key to take things slow. Start a box in a corner of the room for things you can part with and move it out when the box is full.
While decluttering can seem like a daunting task, she said it doesn’t have to mean a huge investment.
“There’s always someone who can help and that you can find support within your budget,” she says.
That might make it a less stressful decision than what to wear each day.
