The 12 Reasons Why People Clutter
- Sentimentality- items that have great meaningfulness and
value
- Identity- the belief that the item is part of "you", not
just an independent object
- History of Trauma or Severe Loss- possessions fill a hole in
the heart. Once we begin to see this correlation and work
through the pain of the loss, we are better able to let go.
- Financial Insecurity- have experienced a time when there was
very little and learning not to throw anything away. Recognizing
that circumstances have changed and the mindset of "let’s keep
it in case I need it" no longer serves us.
- Indecisiveness -having the "What Ifs" and ending up avoiding
making decisions by keeping everything.
- Nonlinear Thinking- a difficulty in organizing objects in a
logical left-brained fashion. Right-brain creative people see
all "stuff" as an opportunity.
- Hyper-Responsibility and Caretaking- A tendency to feel
overly-responsible for people.
- Perfectionism & Over-Control- when you throw something away
you will never be able to have it again. Fear of losing things
that had even a remotely sentimental value because there would
be no turning back and no control.
- Fear of Forgetting- the inability to accept a lack of
control, keeping items so they can be re-read at all times.
- Existential Insecurity- Failure to accept that things are
ephemeral, keeping things to prevent them from ceasing to exist,
that part of life may be forever forgotten.
- Learned Behavior- history in family of cluttering behavior
- Genetic Predisposition- recent brain research has indicated that there may be a ‘Clutter gene". Culled from the research of Dr. Duffy Spencer www.DrDuffy.com
Miriam from West Hempstead: Enjoyed our time together and loving my new desk and feeling like I can tackle some more myself.
Cynthia Braun is a certified professional organizer for Long Island, New York
