WITH Do I need it? Do I love it?
CLUTTER and mess are the enemies of cleanliness. Piles of stuff make it harder to dust, polish and vacuum. Having lots of stuff makes it harder to find the things that we want when we need them.
We all do it – buy stuff we rarely use. The middle of Lidl would be empty otherwise. Then we keep it out of habit or guilt or because we forget we own it.
One day we go to throw it out but are stopped by a voice in our head that niggles at us: “But what if
I do need it one day? Maybe I should keep it just in case.”
And so the object becomes clutter. If left unchecked, the clutter can become a hoard. Aggie MacKenzie saw this first hand on the show Storage Hoarders, working with people who had filled their garages or sheds with household detritus.
She explained: “Clutter doesn’t just appear from the sky and sprinkle itself around, though sometimes it feels as if it does. Clutter is the hundreds of decisions we fail to make about whether we’ve finished with something and when it needs to be thrown out.
“It’s so easy to spend our lives acquiring things. We may move home into somewhere bigger and then find ourselves gathering things to fill up that extra space.
“We have a baby – we buy more things.
“We move somewhere with a garage then we fill that up with ‘useful’ stuff – often not leaving room for a car.”
Some of the things in our homes take on a special meaning because of their history. According to Aggie: “We inherit furniture and other belongings from those who have died, much of it chock-full with emotional charge.
“We keep every photo we’ve ever taken, not sorted into albums but stored away in shoe boxes and cupboards.
“We receive birthday and Christmas and other gifts we hold on to, not because we like them but because someone bought them for us.
“We may feel unable to let go of the cards we are sent, the artwork brought home by our children from school, all their work books, all their bedtime stories.”
This is why decluttering is not always as easy as buying a roll of binbags – or hiring a skip – and filling it up. A pile of gardening magazines is much more than paper to be recycled if it belonged to your beloved grandfather.
This does not mean that it’s impossible. Aggie’s method is to start with the easy bits and work up.
She said: “Many successful declutterers find the bathroom is a good place to start. There are items there which may have less emotional significance, such as towels or old toothbrushes. Others have a shelf life, such as freebie samples or unwanted gifts of body cream which have solidified in their pots.”
And once these obviously useless items have been thrown away, it becomes easier to tackle other rooms.
Aggie said: “The following questions can help you pin down the things you can let go of. “Did I remember I had it? “Do I need it? “Do I want it? “Do I love it? “When did I last use it? “When will I next use it? “Does it improve my life?” Japanese decluttering queen Marie Kondo puts it another way – does it spark joy?
It’s a good question to ask when facing an overstuffed wardrobe. Aggie advises: “When you’re gathering up your clothes to put away, be ruthless and pick out any items you don’t love. Take them to your favourite charity shop or pass them on to a pal you know will appreciate them.”
Anything that’s badly worn or damaged can go for textile recycling. (Aggie recommends using old cotton T-shirts as dusters.) Bad buys, garments that no longer fit and fashion disasters can go to the charity shop.
She said: “Try to ditch as much as you can. Notice the feeling of lightness you’ll have as you start to see more free space around your home.
“Keep on going until you are surrounded only with the things that you really love and need.”