Like my Mom always use to say, “too much of anything isn’t good”. At the time, I think she was referring to the jar of pickles I was trying to polish off. But, of course, she was right. When I have too much stuff, I can’t find anything. It is often easy for me to decide that I have too many pieces of fabric, or pots and pans, books; I de-clutter people’s homes and offices all the time.
Telling a client that they have too much stuff…is tough. Especially when they have, like many of my clients, many varied interests and the “stuff” that goes along with the interests. Many sew, work crafts, collage, play instruments, paint. Rarely do I come across a serious clutter issue without a creative and busy mind attached to it.
There’s often a recent move that helps to create the situation or a combining of households. Whether it be two adults moving in together later in life after each owning a household of items or a box or many boxes of items arriving after a family member dies, there’s often too much stuff for us to deal with easily. Unless it is sorted before it arrives, it takes time to sort through it all.
Questions/Priorities:
- What do I want to focus on at this time in my life?
- What do I need to keep in order to do that?
- What can I give away that no longer serves me or fits into my current life?
Master Plan:
- What is the overall vision of the household decision makers.
- What ideas or plans do they see for that room or space?
- How does it differ from another family member?
- What is the compromise?
A Place For Everything, Everything In its Place:
This is probably something I write about a lot because it is an easy way to control clutter. If you have a home for scissors in the kitchen, that’s where you will find them; that’s where you will put them when you are finished using them. I can’t tell you how many clients have several pairs of scissors or other commonly used household items because they “lost” the first one in clutter or they did not have a home for it in the first place.
So many of us are trying to do too many things at once these days. When we do too much… we do not always finish everything we start. Many do not know about this tried and true rule. If you’re one of those people. Give it a try and see how it works. You’ll love finding things, right where you left them!
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Ha, ha, ha…I wonder who inspired this post? Ha, ha, ha! Well, you did a great job describing the dilemmas of merging households. As I brought things over from my parents’ house -things that were so very dear & near -things that my mom always referred to as’ “someday this will be yours” -things that I looked forward to having for years -I look at the now and say: “Wow, it would have been great to have you thirty-five years ago when I was acquiring things for my own household, but now you are just a big headache. I am attached to you emotionally, but your impact is now more negative than positive.” My advice to everyone out there: If you have possessions that you want to give your grown children, give them away while they are still “needed” -before your children acquire there own house full of “stuff”. If your newly-married daughter admires your crystal fruit bowl, give it to her now, before she buys her own bowl and no longer desires yours. I sure wish my mom had done that.
You did a great job too!