Chronic disorganization and organizing industry innovator, Judith Kolberg, said:

“. . . the most significant things you get from your parents are non-material. Nothing you could throw away would damage your love for your parents, because the love is non-material. It’s in your heart.”

In our conversations this month about clutter, we’ve also dialogued about letting go, making room for what’s important, freeing our minds, space, time and energy by reducing the “stuff” in our lives. Judith's quote focuses our attention on valuing the non-material more than the material. It's interesting to think about it in context of the struggle many of us experience with managing our possessions.

If clutter and letting go challenge you or someone you know, consider these questions:

• Do your things overwhelm you?
• Do you having difficulty letting go?
• Is clutter blocking forward movement and growth?
• Is clutter causing stress or anxiety?
• What becomes possible when you let go?

When we have emotional attachments to our possessions, letting go can be more challenging. Maybe our things represent treasured relationships or conjure up memories from another time. There can be comfort and freedom in knowing that memories remain long after the stuff is gone.

I invite you to join the conversation. What are your thoughts about clutter, attachments, memories, or letting go?

Our “Ask the Expert” interview series connects you with dynamic industry thought leaders. This year we’ve spoken with author Francine Jay about letting go, author Todd Henry about next steps, psychologist, Dr. Debbie Grove about change, and author Joshua Becker about fresh starts. For May, I’m excited to have with us organization expert and author, Erin Doland to share her insights about clutter.

Erin’s book, Unclutter Your Life in One Week, shares a plan for quickly clearing your clutter and simplifying your life. As someone that was challenged by clutter, Erin shares from the perspective of someone that gained new skills, cleared her clutter and became more organized. My gratitude goes to Erin for joining us. I know you’re going to appreciate her unique perspective about clutter. Before we begin, here’s more about her.

Erin Rooney Doland is Editor-in-Chief of Unclutterer.com, a website providing daily articles on home and office organization, and author of the book Unclutter Your Life in One Week. You can connect with Erin on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, website.

Linda Samuels:  As an organization consultant, author, blogger, and speaker, you specialize in inspiring others to live an uncluttered life. What suggestions do you have for those that feel overwhelmed by clutter?

Erin Rooney Doland:  Remember that being organized and living without clutter are skills, just like the skills involved in playing a sport. Sure, some people are naturally gifted, but being 6’7” doesn’t guarantee someone will play in the NBA. It takes practice to learn any skill and to maintain it. Just because life is chaotic now doesn’t mean it’s always going to be that way. With regular practice, you’ll eventually find order and you’ll discover the skills that work best with your personality and preferences.

Linda:  In your book, Unclutter Your Life in One Week, you define an unclutterer as “Someone who choses to get rid of the distractions that get in the way of a remarkable life.” What are your favorite strategies for identifying and uncluttering distractions?

Erin:  You need to define what a remarkable life is for YOU. What does it look like? How does it feel? There are many ways to discover your definition of a remarkable life – chart it out, draw it out, create a vision board, meditate on it, talk it out with a family or friend, write it down. Once you know where you want to go, it’s a lot easier to get there.

Linda:  Some of us tend to accumulate more than we release. What makes it so challenging to let go?

Erin:  There are as many reasons as to why we want to keep things, as there are items to keep. These multitude of reasons cross our minds whenever it comes time to part with something. We “just in case” and “should” ourselves into holding onto all our stuff. It’s a very natural human instinct that almost all of us possess. It’s not bad or good, it just is. Problems only arise when keeping things distract us from the life we desire.

Linda:  What is your most surprising discovery about clutter?

Erin:  I’m continually surprised by how an individual’s value of an object changes with time. One day, a pair of earrings can be your go-to piece of jewelry. You’re a little heartbroken if one earring goes missing from the pair. Two years later, the same pair of earrings is taking up space in your jewelry box and you wouldn’t even remember it was in there. The object hasn’t changed, but how you value it has. Changing perceptions is vital to the uncluttering process and how this value change comes about is fascinating to me. Ultimately, someone has to choose the life they desire over their stuff if they want to be uncluttered, but how they get there is different for everyone.

Linda:  What has been your biggest personal challenge around clutter?

Erin:  My challenges are constantly changing, but right now a lack of energy is my biggest challenge with clutter. I have an infant and a very active four year old. It has been five months since I’ve had a solid night’s sleep. What little energy I have is going toward the basic routines that have to be accomplished for our family to function. I see clutter coming back into our lives and I just keep reminding myself that when we all start sleeping better and our energy levels return, so will the order. Until then, I’m trying not to freak out about my crazy pile of filing and all the other distractions.

Erin, you’re in good company with other parents of young children and how sleep, or lack their of influences energy, functioning, and clutter levels. This circles back to your idea about living a remarkable life, which involves knowing your priorities. Your clarity is evident that sleep, basic routines, and raising the kids trump filing papers. Clutter has an ebb and flow. How we handle or reconcile those variations vary for each of us.

Please join Erin and me as we continue the conversation. Share your ideas about clutter, living a remarkable life, and discoveries. What are your thoughts?

The list is long. The day isn’t long enough. External and internal demands are abundant. Self-imposed expectations are high. This combination can cause mind clutter.

After being away for a few days to celebrate our youngest daughter’s college graduation, I’m experiencing a lot of noise above. I know it won’t last forever. It’s just the confluence of the long list, available time, responsibilities, and expectations.

To help declutter my brain, I focused on three simple and effective strategies.

3 Simple Ways to Declutter Your Brain

Self-Care.

Take care of the basics. Eating and hydrating let me restore some energy. Taking my daily walk helped me feel mentally refreshed as I enjoyed the sunshine, fragrant spring air, and colorful blooms. Simply stopping to breathe in the sweet aroma of our white irises encouraged calmer thoughts.

Reality.

Focus on doing what you can do. Recognize which expectations are self-imposed. Allow some slack to adjust the moveable deadlines so they work with the available time you do have. Reassess the list. Be willing to shift some items off today’s list if needed. It’s not a failing. It’s reality.

“Focus on doing what you can do.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO™

Perspective.

What’s most important right now? What is your next small step? Let go of overwhelm. Stay focused. Think singleness. Think mindfulness. Do what you are doing now. Do not rush ahead. While there are more productive hours left, it’s also essential to stop at a point. When stopping time arrives, go there joyfully. Let go of the guilt. Embrace relaxation. Tomorrow is another day. Rest so you can greet it with a rejuvenated self.

Is your mind feeling cluttered? What works for you to untangle the thoughts? I invite you to join the conversation!

Have you ever felt alone with the clutter challenges in your life? You aren’t. Managing clutter, which takes many forms including thoughts, time, and space, is a human condition. I was curious about what clutter looked like not just in the United States, but also in other parts of the world. I invited my wonderful organizing colleagues (Hilde Verdijk, Laurene Livesey Park, Carol Martyn, Nacho Eguiarte, Tracey Foulkes, Sue West, and Juliet Landau-Pope) to share their perspectives with us about clutter in their cultures. It’s an honor to be here with this amazing group. My gratitude goes to each of them for being here with us. Join us around the table, as we sit together, sip iced tea and share our ideas.

I asked my colleagues . . .

• How do you define clutter?
• What are the most common causes of clutter in your country?
• What is one of your favorite clutter management strategies?

How do you define clutter?

Hilde Verdijk, CPO-CD®, MRPO® – Professional Organizer & Speaker – The Netherlands:

To me clutter is the stuff in one’s house or head that is not being used regularly or properly, has no beauty, is not loved and is there for an excuse, like: "I might need it sometime" or “it was expensive (or cheap!)”

Laurene Livesey Park, CPO-CD® – Professional Organizer, Author, & Speaker – Canada:

I define clutter as an overabundance of stuff.  I like the idea of “over” abundance because it is flexible – one person’s comfortable, Zen-like minimalism is another person’s might find three extra items on the kitchen counter too much clutter, while another person who is comfortable with lots of things in their space may have a very different idea.

Carol Martyn – Professional Organiser & President AAPO – Australia:

Clutter can be defined as anything that’s regularly not used, loved or makes our heart sing. We’ve only to cast our minds back to gifts received last Christmas to get an indication of whether items have the potential to fall into the clutter category today. If you’ve children, you’ll know what I mean. 

Nacho Eguiarte – Professional Organizer, Architect & Blogger – Mexico: 

Like having rocks on a river stream, water will flow but you can't sail your boat way down safely or easily. Address the clutter and the journey will be pleasant.

Tracey Foulkes – Speaker, Trainer, Productivity & Organisation Expert – South Africa & Ireland:

Broadly speaking clutter is anything you don’t need, use or love. It is anything that gets in the way of your success. It’s the excuses that hold you back from taking action, the brain spaghetti that leaves you feeling overwhelmed, decisions left unmade, tasks left unfinished, crowded environments all causing no to slow progress.

Sue West, COC®, CPO-CD® – Certified Organizing Coach, Certified Professional Organizer in Chronic Disorganization & AD/HD Coach – United States:

Clutter, per my clients: Energy drain. “Stuckness.” Judgmental. Needy. Depressing. Makes me feel out of control and scattered. Keeps me from what I really want to do. Guilt. Shame. “You should!”  Reminder of what I didn’t do.

Juliet Landau-Pope, MA, CPCC – Coach & Professional Organiser – United Kingdom:

I define clutter as whatever’s getting in your way. It can be a surplus of household belongings that prevent you leading the life you want; clutter can also can be the accumulation of negative ideas in your mind that drain your energy and sap your creativity.

What are the most common causes of clutter in your country?

Hilde: I think people in this country have such busy schedules nowadays, they don’t know how to slow down or deal with their stuff. Instead they go shopping, making things worse. They spend their money on things, but forget to let go as well and then things start to pile up. 

Laurene: As in most developed countries, we have easy access to many, many fairly inexpensive goods. It is easy to replace something that is worn, old, out of fashion, and people do that, without getting rid of the item that they have replaced. Not enough people pass things on!

Carol: While there’s no one common cause of clutter in Australia, clients I work with sometimes haven’t thought how the new items will fit in their homes – or how they can limit the amount of space available. 

Nacho: In Mexico, because we've had so many economic crises, people developed scarcity fears. Reusing, mending, fixing and saving everything that could be useful in the future, soothe the fear but create clutter.

Tracey: People are too busy, rushing from meeting to inbox to meeting. Departments are smaller, deadlines tighter, immediate gratification rife. Despite knowing there is an escalating problem, employees are holding back from ‘rocking the boat’. It’s not working, but they aren't prepared to take the time to step back, propose a solution and make a change.

Sue: Common causes: Commitments I should not have made but did anyway. Too many thoughts swimming around in my head and no place to land. Too many things in my home, office or even in my computer devices with no place to call “home.” Memories I can’t deal with yet. Choices I never made.

Juliet: In the UK, people hold on to things for myriad reasons but material clutter is often a response to living in a fast-paced, ever-changing consumer society. There’s an emphasis on shopping for what you want rather than what you need, and more emphasis on acquiring stuff than on letting go of it.  We also accumulate things from other people such as gifts, souvenirs, and inherited items.  Ultimately, I think clutter is a habit that accumulates over time; many of my clients regret that they never learned how to manage their time or space effectively.

What is one of your favorite clutter management strategies?

Hilde: I often ask my clients: “If you accidentally lost this item, would you really invest time, money and space to replace it?” It makes them realize that they keep lots of stuff for the wrong reasons.

Laurene: I love the rule, “One thing in, one thing out.”

Carol: Most clients decide on what to keep first and then try to make everything fit.  One of the most effective strategies is to flip this around; the storage space available helps guide the decision making process.

Nacho: For letting go stuff, you should hold a thing, shutting your eyes and paying attention to mind and body; having feelings like sorrow, sadness, anxiety are signs to get rid of it. On the contrary having happy thoughts, feeling joy or energetic are indicatives of keeping the object and finding it a place in your home.

Tracey: Ditch email and shift team and client communication to collaboration platforms instead.

Sue: Favorite strategy: “What do you know about what you DO want?” What will your calendar look like? What is your next chapter? How will your home or home office feel? Motivation lies here.

Juliet: My top tip for managing clutter is to focus on clarifying positive goals. I never talk about getting rid of things but prefer to focus on creating space, order and clarity – it’s far more motivating!

Clutter challenges are found all over the world. While the definitions of clutter vary, a common theme prevails. Too much “stuff” prevents us from full, focused engagement in our lives. Causes of clutter vary too from over-acquiring to letting go challenges to scarcity fears. We read about clutter management strategies that were both practical and soul searching. What a wealth of ideas and approaches! There is so much hope in these insights. We are not alone. We have the ability to reflect, ask questions, create boundaries, and focus on positive results. What is clutter about for you? How do you manage clutter? Pull up a chair and join our conversation!