Lose the Clutter, Lose the Weight (67 page)

Chapter 14

WEEK SIX: YOUR STORAGE AREAS (BASEMENT, GARAGE, ATTIC, SHED)

“US families have trouble getting rid of their possessions, even those they box up and move to . . . spaces such as garages and basements. Whether they cannot break sentimental attachments to certain objects, do not have the time to sort through and make decisions, or believe objects have value and could be sold on eBay, most families struggle to cope with stored clutter.”

T
hat's an observation from archaeologist Jeanne Arnold and her coauthors in
Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century.
Her project—which I discussed at the beginning of this book—provided a snapshot of the clutter in typical modern American homes.

This little passage summarizes the lives of the people I often encounter. Odds are good that it describes how
you
found yourself not so long ago, at the point where you needed to change your relationship with the contents of your home, too.

Throughout this book, I've discussed the three issues that contribute to a clutter problem:

1. An excessive urge to get more stuff.
Our society encourages us to seek fulfillment from our material possessions. The ads we see, the stores we visit, and many of the cultural rituals we share teach us to cope with our worries and celebrate our happy moments by buying
stuff
.

Since you see people every day who are so pleased to be buying cars, furniture, appliances, dishes, and toys, it seemed perfectly normal to have a fondness for possessions. Similarly, accumulating more stuff over time also seemed like a normal way to show how well you're living: An expanding pile of belongings was like the line in a thermometer climbing upward, providing a measurement of greater comfort and abundance.

On the other hand, many people celebrate thriftiness as a virtue. So you may have gotten a thrill when you found decorative baskets for 30 percent off; kitchenware at a low, low price during a closeout sale; or a mountain of hand-me-down kids' clothes for free. But what you didn't realize was that you
didn't even need this stuff in the first place.

The businesses in your community, the retailers selling through the catalogs in your mailbox, and the merchants around the world whom you can find with a computer click offer a vast, deep sea of items you can buy. In comparison, the space in your home is tiny! It's very easy to bring in more treasures from the outside world than your home can hold. Even if you carry just a little more into your home than you take out, eventually you're going to have a problem.

2. Reluctance to throw stuff out.
If you were too emotionally attached to throw away, give away, or sell possessions you didn't really need, I completely understand how you would develop these feelings.

Again, we grew up in a society that puts a value on possessions. The messages we all receive throughout our waking hours is that owning stuff is good and that owning more stuff is better! Furthermore, society tells you that the stuff you own solves problems, provides happiness, and makes you more attractive to other people. Why get rid of something that could be useful someday?

In addition, our loved ones show that they care for us when they give us gifts. We also tend to fasten memories to objects. You may have held on to many of your possessions because they felt like souvenirs of wonderful times you've shared with people you loved.

For the most part, no one encourages you to get rid of stuff, unless it's
broken, threadbare, or obsolete (like last year's athletic shoes or tablet computers that have been replaced with newer, better versions). In general, people don't understand why you would throw away something that could have sentimental value.

But just as an urge to buy stuff can cross over from being a socially acceptable value to a problem that interferes with your life, so can a desire to hang on to stuff. Most people I work with have overly cluttered homes for both reasons, to a varying degree.

3. Lack of organization.
This is the jumble of papers that should be neatly filed in a cabinet or the pile of knickknacks crammed onto a bookshelf. It's the stuff that's out of place, like the laundry basket of shoes in the corner or the jumbo box of crayons scattered under the coffee table.

When people simply own so much stuff that organizing it neatly requires great effort, it's inevitable that clutter will creep in. Even if they have a
large
home, I don't see the benefit in maintaining a bunch of stuff that they don't need in the first place.

If you own things, you have to take care of them. You have to clean them, dust them, and store them. Constantly tidying a mountain of possessions you don't really want or need is a major waste of your time, energy, and attention. Getting rid of the excess creates physical space around you, mental space in your head, and time in your schedule. I hope you've come to discover that for yourself.

For the past 5 weeks, you've been developing a new relationship with your possessions.

Before you started this program,
they
had too much control over
you
. But you've been learning to look at the stuff you own differently. You've gained an understanding of why you brought it all into your home and why you've been reluctant to part with it.

Hopefully, you've gotten to the point where you're only going to buy things that will help you attain the vision you've set for your life. And if you're going to keep each item that you already own, it's because it has a good reason to stay in your home. I hope you now know that it's not a good reason to keep something because you'd feel wasteful or guilty if you got rid of it.

I hope that
you
now have control over your possessions.

At the same time, you've been following an exercise program designed to help you get stronger and leaner. You may be carrying fewer unnecessary pounds that were hanging from your body like extra luggage. You may feel lighter when you move around. You may be able to carry heavy loads without becoming winded and sore.

All these discoveries you've made and all these challenges you've faced in the past 5 weeks of this program have been building up to this week's tasks. The entire program has led to this: It's time for you to tackle the clutter in your garage, attic, basement, shed, and any other storage areas.

Saving the Biggest Jobs for the End

These are usually the toughest areas, so I left them until now for a good reason. I hope you've been able to strengthen your body and your mind sufficiently to tackle these areas.

These tend to be the most densely packed spaces in and around the home.
You don't spend time in them every day. When you invite company over, you don't hang out in these rooms. Typically, their sole purpose—with the exception of any living areas in the basement and parking space in your garage, if you still have room for your car—is to store your stuff. So they may be even more overcluttered than the rest of your home.

When you address these areas, you're not just going to be deciding what to do with a few possessions. No, you'll likely be uncovering
hundreds
of items that will require one verdict after another: Do I keep this, do I donate it, do I give it to a friend or family member, or do I throw it out?

The stuff here tends to be big and heavy. It's often dusty and hard to carry. These are the trunks in the attic that were so hard to carry up that your back aches at the mere thought of moving them again. It's the massive mountain of boxes in the garage. It's the broken drill press in your workshop and the lawn edger in your shed.

You'll need to be strong and limber to handle these objects. You may need extra determination to make well-reasoned choices in an environment that's cramped, poorly lit, and scorching hot (or bone-chillingly cold and damp).

Another particular challenge you may face this week is that the possessions you keep in storage often have greater emotional weight. Again, clutter represents delayed decisions, and that's especially true for the stuff in storage. You may have stuck items in here not because you really wanted them, but because you weren't able to throw them out. These may be things that were just too painful to look at or address, and seeing them again is going to come as a blow.

The coming week may be hard, but the work you do will leave you in a better place going forward. Having storage spaces that are harboring these
kinds of possessions isn't good for the physical state of your home or your emotional health.

I often use this analogy: If you're in a relationship with someone, and that person doesn't honor and respect you, then it's no surprise that the relationship quickly sours. It's exactly the same with the space in your home. If your home is holding on to things that you find upsetting, they act like old resentments and grudges buried in a relationship. Even though they're not out in the open, you know they're in there. Somewhere in your mind, you're waiting for them to spring out and upset you. You'll never feel comfortable, relaxed, and motivated in that space. Whether it's with another person or your living space, without honor and respect you can't have a nurturing, satisfying relationship.

You're so close to having a space that fully supports your physical and mental health. I'm confident that the skills you've been developing will carry you the final distance in creating it.