The Real Cost of Clutter: Sandra Lane (Transcript)

Read the full transcript of Sandra Lane’s talk titled “The Real Cost of Clutter” at TEDxWilliamsport 2022 conference.

Listen to the audio version here:

TRANSCRIPT:

The Journey of a Professional Organizer

I spent 10 years working as a professional organizer, helping my clients to make the best use of their space. This happens when we edit, release, and organize the physical items in our home. When I started this business back in 2010, like many new business owners, I wanted to spread the word about what I do, so I attended networking events. These events would typically have a table set up at the entrance with sticky labels and sharpie markers so you could write up a name tag for yourself.

An idea shared by a friend prompted me to create my own personalized name badge, one that would be unique to me and my business, so I did. I had it specially engraved with the question, “Got clutter?” When I wore it to events, it was so easy for me to meet and connect with others in the room because when you see the question, “Got clutter?” so many people could step up and say, “I have clutter,” and a conversation would easily begin between us.

The Growing Popularity of Decluttering

There is an ever-growing popularity on the topic of clutter with the rise of cable shows such as “Tidying Up,” “The Home Edit,” “Storage Wars,” and “Clean House,” just to name a few.

Would you be surprised to know the American home size has nearly doubled in the last 50 years? Home design has changed too. We now have three and four-car garages, storage rooms and bonus rooms, walk-in closets and walk-in pantries, home offices and home theaters. All of this space, still not enough room to hold all of our possessions.

According to the Self Storage Association, one in ten households rents a storage unit. One in ten. The subject of clutter connects us out of curiosity, interest, and because the vast majority of us have it to some degree.

Understanding the Origins of Clutter

My experience in the organizing industry has given me an understanding of how it is we innocently arrive at this place of excess clutter. Hoarding disorders aside, I believe the acquisition of our clutter comes from two categories. We may experience one or both. See if you can relate.

1. Situational Clutter

Like it sounds, a life event or situation inundates us with clutter in our once organized space. For example, our adult child returns home bringing all of their possessions in tow. The death of a loved one, a move, an illness, a major disruption in our normal routine creates disorder and disorganization. And clutter usually follows it. Can you relate?

2. Self-Imposed Clutter

This is a little broader in scope and it revolves around decisions that we make or choose not to make. And with the help of TEDx volunteer Bailey, I want to illustrate to you just how easily this can happen to any of us.

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The Psychology of Accumulating Clutter

Let’s start with shopping. Today, it is so easy to make a purchase with very little thought to the necessity of that purchase. We just have to point, click, and smile, it’s on our doorstep the next day. We shop for the thrill of saving money using coupons, returning to the store the next week with cash back incentives. And it’s so hard to pass up a buy-one-get-one offer. But do we really need these items? Or are we simply motivated to buy because we’re getting a good deal?

We shop as a form of therapy: had a bad day at work, an argument with your partner? Go shopping. Over time, these shopping excursions can create unwanted clutter.

We also create clutter when we keep an excess of sentimental items, those items that might be difficult to part with, such as this Robert Goulet album that everyone in your family does not understand why you insist on keeping. Think of the family heirlooms that you may have that are holding you hostage.

Clutter comes from unmade decisions, sitting in stacked boxes and bins, and piles of paper. And have you ever noticed that clutter breeds clutter? It may start off as just a box or a little pile, but then it grows from there.

How about this? “I might need it someday.” Or one I have fallen prey to, “I might fit into it someday.” And then lastly, value mindset is a cause for the clutter we accumulate. And here’s what I mean by that. We become so focused on the original price that we paid for an item, the idea of letting go of that item in our mind is equal to throwing away money. So we keep it. We keep it even if it’s broken. We keep it even if we’re not using it or ever will use it. We keep it if it doesn’t fit, if it hurts our feet. We keep it if we believe it to be of value and we have every intention of selling it. No, you won’t, right? Can you relate? And can you see and feel the weight that is being carried here?

The Hidden Costs of Clutter

Those are your parting gifts. All right, so now we understand how we got to this place of excess clutter and it provided a few laughs. But that’s just one side of the story. I feel compelled to share the other side of the clutter story and that, that is closely connected to our physical and mental well-being and many of us do not recognize it. Here’s how.

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Our clutter can make us sick. It triggers stress and consistent long-term stress impacts our eating, sleeping, and exercise habits. When we surround ourselves with excess clutter, it competes for our attention, making it difficult to maintain focus, to be productive. That visual distraction of the clutter makes it difficult to even relax and be in the present moment.

Our clutter can bring on feelings of embarrassment and guilt.

We don’t feel good about having people come to our home and that can impact our self-worth and our relationships with others. Our clutter is a source of wasted time and money, spent shopping, organizing, maintaining, repairing, replacing, and searching for items. In the end, our clutter makes us unhappy, moody, depressed, it’s exhausting.

Starting a New Chapter: Decluttering Your Life

But the story doesn’t have to end here. Let’s start a new chapter. If clutter is getting in the way of you being the healthiest and happiest version of yourself, that can be changed. And here’s how you get started.

Make time to make decisions and be happy with each decision that you make, no matter how small, because each decision is a step towards releasing that burden of your clutter.
It begins with one drawer, one closet, one shelf at a time. Start with easy decisions, get comfortable with the process of letting go, and for the harder decisions, recruit a friend or hire a professional organizer to support you.
For those sentimental items, consider keeping some but not all, and try to honor the memory of those items by enjoying them.

I’m reminded of a client who did not know what to do with the crochet doilies, handmade by her mother, who passed away a few years before. She thought they were a little old-fashioned for her taste, but she also knew she didn’t want them sitting in a box in the attic collecting dust, so I had suggested that she choose a few of her favorite patterns and frame them, and she did. They are displayed on a wall in her home where everyone can appreciate the beauty and detail of her mom’s handiwork.

As you begin this new chapter of letting go, it’s important that you recognize the mental and physical fatigue that comes with this type of decision-making, so I suggest that you work in short blocks of time, two to four hours a day, rather than 12-hour days on the weekends.

Practical Tips for Preventing Clutter

If shopping is the weak link that leads to your clutter, then think carefully before you hand over that credit card. Ask yourself some qualifying questions first before making a purchase:

Do I really need it? Really? Do you need it?
Where will I put it when I bring it home?
Do I have something else I could wear instead?
Could I borrow this item from a friend or neighbor instead of buying one all for myself?

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As you adopt these new goals of having less, consider practicing the one-in, one-out rule. When you buy or are gifted an item, can you release an item from that same category, maintaining a status quo of what you own?

And then lastly, if you’re still trying to make space in your home, but you struggle with, “I might need it someday,” remember, someday may never come, and right now, someone, somewhere could make use of what you have and are not using, so please donate and do so often.

The Transformational Power of Decluttering

The process of letting go of excess clutter in your space is nothing short of transformational. You will see and feel a positive upswing in your mood, your mindset, and your health. I know because I’ve had the privilege of witnessing this transformation many times.

One client in particular that comes to mind, who used her basement for various activities, playing cards with friends, watching TV and reading with her husband, working out, crafting. However, after the death of both of her parents within just months of each other, this space now became a place to store boxes of unmade decisions she could not face, and clutter breeds clutter. And it did so for a few years. The floor, every piece of furniture, including her treadmill, became a surface for storage.

We worked together for four months, countless decisions, multiple trips to Goodwill, time spent sorting and organizing. The work was complete. A few months later, she sent me a thank you note, explaining how the work we did together was difficult, but worth it. She went on to share that she uses the space every day now. And she lost eight pounds, not only because she can finally access her treadmill, but because she has the desire to want to use it.

Don’t let the real cost of clutter hold you back any longer. Starting today, let’s make connections with each other that go beyond our clutter. I will close with a quote from the poet Rumi, who wrote, “The universe is not outside of you. Look inside yourself. Everything you want, you already have.” Thank you.