De-cluttering sites can clutter your brain with ideas

By Martha Morgan

May 8, 2008

When I read my paper this morning I came across an item on getting rid of clutter. It gave a website, messies.com, and here I am at my computer, looking right at it.

Right off, I discover I’m doing something wrong. I’m in my dressing gown, with bare feet. The first step in de-cluttering, according to messies.com, is getting dressed. The word “shoes” is in heavy type. In order to tackle clutter, I must be in the proper, efficient frame of mind, and this means being dressed as if I mean business, right down to my feet. The second thing I am is sitting at my computer. “Don’t get sidetracked by spending time on the computer,” the site says.

There are other sites on the subject. Simply typing in the words “de-clutter” brings up a slew of them. Most of them want to sell books on the subject or storage equipment or reminder calendars. Since I’ve already failed on two counts, I’m not in the mood to start sorting stuff today, so I spend another hour or so browsing through these sites for inspiration. I find quite a few points on which they all agree, mainly the part about getting dressed and putting on shoes. The insistence on shoes puts my back up. I get dressed but I’m still barefoot. This is my home, after all. I’m supposed to be in charge here.

Another thing the sites have in common is the three-box system. I have encountered this before. It’s supposed to make sorting a breeze. You label the boxes Throw Out, Give Away and Store Elsewhere. When the Throw Out and Give Away boxes are full, you take them away, but it is only my Store Elsewhere box that fills up, and when it does I give up because I have no place to store it. I figure my only hope is to wait until I’m in a de-cluttering mood – which happens once or twice a year – or until my daughter comes for a visit.

They really should include daughters in those helpful tips.

You can reach Martha at mar.mor@shaw.ca