Categories of Physical Clutter
When we think about clutter, we often think of it in terms of one giant, oppressive mass. Seen in this light, it’s no wonder we often feel overwhelmed by it! But have you ever stopped to think about clutter in terms of different categories? Ever wondered which types are most problematic for you?
I hadn’t thought too deeply about this approach until I recently read a blog by fellow Certified Professional Organizer® and author Julie Bestry of Best Results Organizing in Chattanooga. You can find the blog on her website (juliebestry.com/blog).
In Julie’s blog, she describes the major categories she sees in clients’ homes. Reading over her list, I recalled many examples of clients who struggled with each of them. I also realized that figuring out which sorts of clutter are most prevalent in your home would be a useful exercise because you might be able to get to the real root of the problem. I frequently say, “There’s so much psychology in our relationship with our stuff,” and I believe it wholeheartedly!
No Universal Agreement
If you asked 50 professional organizers about clutter categories, I’m guessing that while there would be some overlap, there would be no consensus. How we group them depends on a host of different criteria.
For example, if you’ve read my column for long, and especially if you’ve read my book, Unholy Mess: What the Bible Says about Clutter or listened to my podcast, Uncluttered: Shaping Your Home & Heart for What Matters Most, you know that I see clutter more broadly than just related to our stuff. However, in this article, I will be focusing only on physical clutter and not including clutter in our schedule or in our mind.
Second, I’m choosing to focus on the psychological reasons for the clutter categories, not dividing them in terms of what type of objects are contained or where they’re located. My categories (and Julie’s in her blog) are defined more by the primary reason we are keeping items. What makes it even more interesting is that the same item might belong in two or more different categories, depending on the reason it’s being kept. Bear with me here, and you’ll understand more as we go along.
Categories of Physical Clutter
Without further ado, following is my list (in no particular order) of the major categories of physical clutter. This article will include a description of two types, and the remaining types will be discussed in future articles in this series.
Homeless clutter
Informational clutter
Practical clutter
Inspirational clutter
Identity clutter
Nostalgic clutter
Painful or sad clutter
Aspirational clutter
Homeless Clutter
I first heard the term “homeless clutter” on an episode of the Clutterbug podcast by Cassie Aarsen. Simply put, homeless clutter refers to items that have never been assigned a home and therefore tend to be found in random places, like kitchen counters. Establishing a home for every item is a key foundational principle of organizing. When items have a proper home, we know where to find them when we need them, and where to return them after use. A few examples of items that I’ve frequently seen as homeless clutter include keys, items to be repaired or returned, mail and other active paper, loose change, business cards, and frequently used office supplies.
The simple fix to this category of clutter is to identify a home for each of these items. If the key to organizing is assigning a suitable home, the next question is how to decide on a suitable home.
The best advice I can give is to ask yourself this simple question: If I were looking for this item, where is the first place I would look? If possible, put the item in that place. Other factors to consider in choosing a home include keeping the item close to where it is used. If multiple people in the home use the item, get input from everyone when choosing the home, and make sure everyone knows the home. Also consider that each category of items should ideally have only one location, not multiple ones scattered around the home. You can learn more about homeless clutter by reading this prior article on my website (https://bit.ly/3TSC2c6).
Informational Clutter
Informational clutter is anything we keep that we believe we might need to refer to later. Information clutter can be physical or digital. Physical items could include items like clipped newspaper articles, file folders, brochures, or books. Digital items that could qualify as informational clutter might include emails, documents, screenshots, or ebooks.
While informational clutter doesn’t seem as detrimental because it doesn’t usually take up as much space as some of the more bulky forms, it’s still a problematic source of clutter.
When it comes to informational clutter in the form of paper, while each page is very small, the accumulation of years and years of unneeded paper can lead to hours and hours of work to declutter and organize. I’ve read several estimates over the years of the amount of time it takes to sort paper. One estimate is that for an average file cabinet drawer, expect to spend 1 to 1.5 hours of time to look at and sort each piece of paper. Multiply that by multiple drawers, boxes, and stacks of paper, and you’re facing many hours of decluttering and organizing.
When we save information, be it paper or digital, we rarely ponder how long we’ll need it, when the information might be irrelevant, or whether we might be able to access that same information elsewhere. An article comparing the Top 10 Photo Scanners in 2020 quickly becomes irrelevant, and updated information on the topic could be found with a simple Google search. A clipped magazine article might have fantastic tips on decluttering, but what are the odds you’ll ever go back and look at it, much less put the tips into action?
For more information on decluttering and organizing paper, check this article on my website (https://bit.ly/3IV2tYz). By the way, if you’ve been saving my organizing and decluttering articles over the years, I’ve got a secret: all of them are available on my website! (https://shipshape.solutions/blog)
In future articles, I’ll talk about the remaining categories, including how to identify them and practical tips for clearing them. Learning about which category you struggle with most and why will give you a better chance for making lasting changes. No matter where you are in your decluttering journey, there is hope for success!