Category Archives: Clutter

Has the Decluttering Craze Jumped the Shark?

By Claire Posted in Clutter, downsizing Tagged , , ,

Decluttering has been a very popular topic for several years now, and like most crazes, it produces all sorts of people offering advice on how to declutter your home.

Some of them make a lot of sense; I hope I’m one of them! Then there are the others….like this guy who sells shoes on the Internet and has curated his personal collection down to about 100 pairs of trainers.

Yes, 100 pairs.

Of course, since no one can wear more than a few pairs a day, he also uses them for his décor (check out the link and see what I mean.)

I’m worried that this means the decluttering craze has jumped the shark. I sure hope not, because freeing people from an overabundance of stuff shouldn’t ever go out of style.

An Overfilled Closet = Danger

By Claire Posted in Clutter, Personal, Simpler Living, Small-House Living Tagged , , ,

So I let my closet get a little out of control. It’s not a very big closet, so I should know not to put too much in it. But it’s so easy to just push things to one side when you add a new purchase or two.

Do that a few times over the course of a long, cold winter, in a house that apparently doesn’t have enough insulation in the walls, and you discover this:

Mold….yuck!


Fortunately, after a little mold remediation, my closet is now clean, and I’ve learned a lesson: don’t keep more clothes than your closet should hold! Now I get to pay the dry cleaners to de-funk one of my favorite dresses, the one that was up against the wall.

Words (for a Declutterer) to Live By

By Claire Posted in Clutter, downsizing, My Books, Personal, Simpler Living Tagged ,
The Declutterer’s Motto

A couple of my kids gave me this plaque for Christmas; they were completely unaware that the quote it displays is a major theme in my most recent book, The Sentimental Person’s Guide to Decluttering.

The fact is that this principle can help you whittle down your possessions. The dual parameters of what you use and what you love are really all you need.

Using a Windfall Wisely

By Claire Posted in Clutter, Personal, Simpler Living, Small-House Living Tagged , ,

What can you do with a windfall of cash that won’t fill your house back up with clutter? (Or more clutter, if you haven’t gone through all of your belongings in years.)

First off is the prudent choice: invest it, in the stock market, or in a CD (I just got one with a 3% interest rate). Someday you may need that cash and you’ll be glad you set it aside.

If you really want to have fun with the money now, however, you won’t want to put it away for a rainy day. But if you spend it on big-ticket items, you’ll just add to the clutter in your house. What to do? Why not spend it on experiences?

You can use it to travel, to go to concerts and shows, or to go on vacation. Make memories with it; take people you love with you (your treat) and make even more memories with it.

Perhaps you aren’t able to travel or go too many places right now. Why not share some of your windfall with a favorite child in your life, to pay for music lessons or summer camp? What about sending a larger-than-usual donation to your favorite charity?

If none of those ideas thrills you, and you really want a new fridge, or a new sofa, or some other “thing,” go for it. There’s nothing wrong with that. BUT, don’t keep the old one. I know it’s tempting to keep that old fridge in the garage in case you have a party and need extra fridge space for pop and beer. It’s only a little challenging to lug that old sofa down to the basement in case you need extra seating down there (and if you do, you’re never going to bring it back up—things get heavier when you lug them upstairs). But once you start keeping things you don’t really need, you’re back on the road to an overstuffed house.

Instead, give your still-usable “old” item to a local charity; Habitat for Humanity’s Re-stores are great places to donate appliances that are still useful, and some also take furniture. You can also put your item out in front of your house with a very reasonable price taped to it. Post it on Craig’s List on a day when you’re going to be home. Whatever you do with it, don’t let that “old” item stay in the house, or you will begin a bad habit: allowing clutter to re-establish itself in your home.