Too Much Stuff - How to Manage the Clutter

Most people in America have too much stuff. In our consumer-driven society we are constantly being enticed us to want more. Before long it's all just too much, it is disorganized.

In a survey conducted by the National Association of Professional Organizers 65 percent of respondents noted that their household was at least moderately disorganized.

Having it all is getting to be too much for the average American. Getting organized is often one of the leading New Year's Resolutions. I know this is on my list this year.

January is designated by the NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers) "Get Organized Month'" promoting the idea that ousting clutter can free up valuable time and also save money.

Let's find out more about Too Much Clutter, the impact it has on people and ways you can conquer the clutter.

George Carlin's classic standup routine about the importance in our lives of 'Stuff'. This was from his appearance at Comic Relief in 1986. It does contain a few four letter words, but is a hilarious take on 'stuff'

The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns, with a special focus on the United States. All the stuff in our lives, beginning from the extraction of the resources to make it, through its production, sale, use and disposal, affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view.

Do you have or we all have too much stuff?

Unless you're extremely organized, a house full of stuff can be very depressing. A cluttered room saps one's spirits. One reason, obviously, is that there's less room for people in a room full of stuff.

But there's more going on than that.

I think humans constantly scan their environment to build a mental model of what's around them. And the harder a scene is to parse, the less energy you have left for conscious thoughts.

A cluttered room is literally exhausting.

Paul Graham

Source: Graham P. July 2007. Stuff. Paul Graham.com

We are painfully addicted to buying new stuff. And with each new purchase we consume more non-renewable resources, pollute the planet, and create lots of garbage.

Jeffrey Hollender

Source: Hollender J. June 2008. Too Much Stuff. The Inspired Protagonist on Seventh Generation.

We have impoverished our human communities with a form of materialism that leaves us in relative isolation from family, friends, and neighbors. We simply don't have time for them.

Unlike our great-grandparents who passed the time, we spend it.

Jeffrey Kaplan

The Gospel of Consumption

Source: Kaplan J. May/JUne 2008. The Gospel of Consumption. Orion Magazine.

Gopal Ahluwalia, director of research for the National Association of Home Builders, says all this stuff is costing us quite a bit in storage alone.

Since 1970, the size of the average house has increased nearly 40%, from about 1,500 square feet to 2,300 -- and that's despite an overall decline in family size.

MP Dunleavey

Source: Dunleavey MP. The hidden costs of too much stuff. MSN Money.

We can break that cycle by turning off our machines when they have created enough of what we need. Doing so will give us an opportunity to re-create the kind of healthy communities that where human welfare is the overriding concern rather than subservience to machines and those who own them.

We can create a society where people have time to play together as well as work together, time to act politically in their common interests, and time even to argue over what those common interests might be. That fertile mix of human relationships is necessary for healthy human societies, which in turn are necessary for sustaining a healthy planet.

Jeffrey Kaplan

The Gospel of Consumption

Source: Kaplan J. May/JUne 2008. The Gospel of Consumption. Orion Magazine.

Getting organized often tops the list of New Year's promises.

In a November survey conducted by NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers), 65 percent of respondents noted that their household was at least moderately disorganized. Ninety-six percent of respondents said they would save time every day if only they were better organized.

Professional organizers say the key is to pick a project, start small and to start today.

Nancy Jones-Bonbrest

Source: Jones-Bonbrest N. December 2008. New year in, clutter out. Baltimore Sun.

Nancy Jones-Bonbrest of the Baltimore Sun offers some helpful suggestions, resolutions for getting started ushering in the New Year by ushering out clutter.

Source: Jones-Bonbrest N. December 2008. New year in, clutter out. Baltimore Sun.

1. Resolve to start off small.

   Cleaning up the junk drawer seems like a reasonable task.

2. Resolve to deal with mail, children's school papers and important documents.

   Set up a paper-flow and filing system to manage incoming papers. A transitional spot - possibly located in the kitchen - can serve as a "command center," keeping important papers within easy reach and keeping the clutter controlled.

3. Resolve to sort, purge and donate any items you don't use.

   Those you must keep should be labeled and stored away, using clear storage bins or a color-coded storage system.

4. Resolve to find storage space.

   Use the backs of doors and space under beds, or install shelves, hooks and pegboards.

5. Resolve to use the garage.

   It's a great spot to store seasonal items and outdoor equipment. Get things off the floor and go vertical when it comes to finding space here.

6. Resolve to finally organize your photographs.

   Start with the newest photos and work backward. If sorting photos into albums seems too daunting, get archival, acid-free photo-storage boxes and put your pictures in them.

Mention of Chinese city kids today often conjures up an image of kids who are over-indulged, materially well off and spoiled for choices in unlimited fun.

There has been little realization of children as victims: their needs as children chronically slighted, their value as consumers overexploited, and their worth solely gauged in terms of their similarity to adults.

The relative ease of satisfying their material needs contrasts sharply with the near-impossibility of ministering to their natural spiritual needs as children.

Wan Lixin

Source: Lixin W. December 2008. Sad side of 'good' childhood: Too much stuff, too few values. Shanghai Daily News.

Too Much Stuff? was published by the National Museum Directors' Conference in 2003. The resource is intended as a contribution to the important, but often muted, debate on disposals from museum collections.

The paper, produced by an NMDC working group and approved by NMDC directors as a whole, asks difficult questions. How do museums justify retaining collections which are not well used or even well cared for? Is it really always wrong, as the current Museum Association Code of Ethics suggests, "to undertake disposal principally for financial reasons"?

You can download the PDF File from the National Museum website.

Source: Too Much Stuff? Disposal from Museums National Museums.