Tag Archives: decluttering with small children around

A History of Personal Clutter

By Claire Posted in Clutter, Personal Tagged , , ,

Last week I mentioned that as I’ve aged, I’ve come to prefer a less cluttered home. What I didn’t say was that I used to have a very cluttered home. Not that I was a hoarder, but I now understand that in my youth, it was very important to have everything I loved nearby…and I loved almost everything!

I grew up in a home where we were not allowed to put anything on the walls or to rearrange the furniture. My mother was very much in charge of how our rooms looked, so they looked pretty sparse, although I managed to squirrel away quite a few things in my side of the closet and on my side of the dresser.

Then I grew up and went away to college: freedom! I quickly set up my side of the dorm room with all of my beloved items and then some. By the time I had my own room during junior year, I had accumulated some real furniture, a TV, plants, and other assorted stuff. The walls were covered with many photos, a bulletin board (similarly covered) and several posters, including a 6’ version of my then-favorite actor.

Just before senior year, I got married to someone who kept everything (though he didn’t have as much stuff as I did because guys don’t usually overcollect like women do). We were fortunate that our tiny one-bedroom apartment had a storage closet, which we filled to the brim.

Of course we continued to collect things, as we moved from one apartment to another, and then to our first house. By the time our first child arrived, four years after our marriage, we were well on our way to filling that house. And so it went as each child arrived over the years.

During those years, I could only dream about having a less cluttered home. My attempts at decluttering always fell short because I had so many other things to do. Then we had the big purge after giving up our large family home, and I began to enjoy having more than just the living room uncluttered. Now I have far less clutter than I’ve ever lived with.

Losing clutter as I’ve aged is my own personal history, but I don’t think it’s the norm for people approaching retirement age (like I am). If anything, most of the people I know who are around my age have more stuff than they’ll ever be able to use. I wonder if the decluttering movement has affected more younger people than older ones?

The Effect of Decluttering Mania on Children

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

Last time I explored the mania that now surrounds decluttering: how some people are buying elaborate (and expensive) storage systems in order to have a “perfectly organized” home.

I feel sorry for the children of these people. It’s been a long time since I raised my kids, but I clearly recall how they loved to pull out all their toys and play with them. They made quite a mess, but they had a lot of fun. By the time they were toddlers, we had taught them to throw everything back into their toy box at the end of the day so that the room was cleaned up.

But imagine being the child of someone with decluttering mania….a five-year-old picks up his Legos and throws them in a plastic box, but his mom tells him, “No, the Legos go in the green box! Don’t put them in the blue box. That box is for your Matchbox cars. No, put them in the green box, not the brown box! The brown box is for your Transformers!”

The poor kid is just trying to put his toys away, as requested, but he soon stops caring whether he puts anything away because of Mom’s complicated system.

It’s important to teach children to pick up after themselves. But if you get caught up in some pricey storage system, you may raise children who stop picking anything up at all. Kids aren’t known for their patience.

My Book is Here!

By Claire Posted in Clutter, downsizing, Good News, My Books, Personal, Simpler Living Tagged , , , , , ,
My first print book is now available for purchase!

The Sentimental Person’s Guide to Decluttering just came out in print for $14.95, and it’s already selling. This is so exciting for me! What a great feeling to hold my own book in my hands. Many thanks to those of you who bought the ebook; its sales numbers made my publishers decide to bring it out in print.

You can find it at Barnes & Noble, Books a Million and anywhere else books are sold. It’s also available from Amazon, though they’re charging more than retail price.

Speaking of Amazon, a reviewer there liked it, but wishes I would have addressed how to declutter when you have little children. Unfortunately, I’m not qualified to give advice on that subject. I tried decluttering many times when my kids were small, but all of my efforts ended quickly and in failure because I was just so busy dealing with everything else: the kids, the house, meals, etc. That’s how I ended up with a basement full of stuff that eventually filled two storage units. I just couldn’t find time to go through it all until I was forced to when we sold our house. By then, my kids were teens and young adults.

So you won’t find that information in my book, because I found it too hard to declutter with several children underfoot. But if, like me, you find yourself living with way too much clutter, I can show you how to get rid of most of it while keeping only your most treasured possessions. Just read my new book 🙂