It is understood that there can be great resistance to organizing your belongings if you have a clutter problem. A huge amount of items and clutter can be enough to make someone not want to deal with it at all.

Professional organizers often deal with clutter by suggesting that clients place their belongings in piles of what they can let go, what they really want to keep, and what they don’t know. People often don’t want to let go of things they’ve held onto for years.

I would like to suggest another initial approachThis may seem less threatening and in some ways more therapeutic in that someone can actually handle their mess in a more “black and white” format. This suggestion is simply to make a list of what you havewithout the emotional burden of having to go through every room, drawer, closet and make an instant decision on what to keep, sell, let go or throw away.

I liken this approach to dieting and writing down everything you eat. People with dietary restrictions are more likely to feel “hunger”. But when you write down what you’ve eaten so far that day, or at the end of the day, your brain needs to be objectively aware that “hunger” isn’t happening.

If someone sets the task of simply documenting what they have, this task has advantages at the same time. Messy and disorganized people will find that they may actually have more than one of the same thing scattered all over the house. This reduces the resistance to organizing certain items. It can also, in essence, give a person the urge to put the same or similar things together to keep an inventory of their possessions. The reason I recommend this is One cause of clutter is impulse buying. And one of the reasons he overspends is if he doesn’t really know or remember what he has.

Last time I moved, I realized that I actually have 5 scissors. Do you really need 5 scissors? It made me think about it. You can’t use more than one at a time, so how on earth did he end up with five?There was a reason I had several in my kitchen. There was another couple at my office desk, which also made sense for my usage. One pair is large and can be used to cut heavy-duty packages, as well as cutting canvas and fabric. The other pair of scissors are very small and perfect for clipping nails or anything else that requires precision. Then there were some medium-sized scissors. Putting these together in one place, he began to find himself reaching for a pair of large scissors most of the time. The medium scissors are actually superfluous and can be disposed of.

Scissors are just one example of a number of items people may have, such as mirrors, tweezers, random boxes stored, and jackets. The list is endless. Even people who don’t have a big problem with clutter often realize that they just bought something and when they get home they magically find the same item in plain sight.

I believe that once a person starts Writing down and inventorying what you have and going through a list of them will make it easier to let go of extra items. And a property that has not been used for years. I have two raincoats, but I’ve been using the new one since I bought it. what does that say? It clearly states that the old one is no longer used and can be donated to charity.

When my mother died, I pulled 98 pairs of new nylon out of drawers and closets. Aside from the fact that my mother couldn’t resist the “Beware K-Mart shoppers” sale, why does she have so many products, especially since she retired? I had to ask one of my friends if he knew. A friend of hers said my mother was always tearing nylon during her work and she didn’t want to run out of nylon. she understood. But does she have 98 new pairs waiting to be used?

My mom is an OCD hoarder and the house looked perfectly orderly and clean as she walked from room to room. But in her drawers and closets, she was hoarding “affordable” items and things she really wanted to use. Again, personal care products such as makeup also have expiration dates. So it doesn’t make sense to hoard something that won’t last forever. After she died (2001), I found tons of toilet paper in her garage. Fortunately, paper does not have an expiration date. It took me a year to use it all up. Kudos to her OG her prepper!Her drawer had countless birthday cards which also took me years to use up but I didn’t want it to go to waste. And they were interesting cards, too.

If you take inventory of what you have and find that you have a lot of items that you use repeatedly, looking at your paper list will make it easier to let go of the excess. It becomes even more realistic. Many years ago, while packing for a move, he made sure that he had two sets of pots and pans, only to find that he usually only uses two pans and two pots. rice field. By getting rid of everything except pots and pans that are actually used, the storage space in the kitchen has expanded greatly.

Gone are the days when I cooked all the food for a 40-guest party. T.This is another task to add to your tidying up. Consider what your current lifestyle looks like. what do you wear every week? What kind of entertainment are you doing? I got rid of a lot of kitchen utensils when I thought about how to entertain a lot of guests. Meals are prepared by catering.

As I write this, I’m staring at an old-school battery-powered calculator on my desk. If you have access to a calculator app on your phone, do you need it? This is just an example of how people cling to so many obsolete things that they unknowingly take up space.

Obviously, this advice of documenting and making a list of what you have may not be effective or realistic for someone with a serious hoarding habit, but professional organizers I would appreciate it if you could give one of your clients a try. Instead, there are people who are not yet candidates for the Hoarders TV show, but who still live in cluttered, disorganized living spaces that really need downsizing. I don’t have a problem with clutter, but as a feng shui consultant, I find it difficult to even measure rooms to draw a floor plan because of the sheer amount of storage and collectibles in the house. I’ve seen it countless times.

I imagine that when a person creates these lists, they are wondering where to place and group things so that they can be found when needed, are they easily accessible, and what is clearly overkill and underused? Something will become better understood. A Logical Approach to Emotional ProblemsBut to make any progress, the logical part of the brain must take over.

Author: Kartal Diamond

Company name: Feng Shui Solutions®

From the Tao of Organizing blog series