Survey #175 Response from Fumio Groupie
| Pronouns | She/her |
|---|---|
| Think about a decluttering project of any size that you’ve completed in the past. (The project may be as little as one section of cabinet, a drawer, or a small set of objects.) How successful have you been at maintaining the space or collection in the finished state? | Somewhat successful |
| For the project you thought about in the previous question, what habits, attitudes, events, people, or other factors contribute to your tendency to re-clutter the space? (For example, “I’m a habitual shopper” or “My family doesn’t respect my organizing efforts” or “The mail just keeps coming!”) | Not having good organization systems - stuff gets pulled out and not put back. Things are better now that I am separating stuff/volume I need for everyday/week access and what is back-stock. |
| What habits, mindsets, practices, or other factors contribute to your ability to successfully maintain a previously cluttered space? (For example, “I reset my dining room after each meal” or “I’ve set a limit of five decorative items in each room” or “I use the ‘after’ photo I took as motivation to keep my bathroom shelves organized.”) | I hate mess, I feel the burden of the sheer weight of stuff. Only having stuff out that we use daily, being able to see what fresh produce I have so when my housemate is doing the shopping I can overcome my panic hoarder greed and just ask for what I know I can reasonably use up before it goes bad. Got rid of dining room table so we have room for shelves so store what used to be piled on the dining table (we both eat in front of our computers/tv). We both live fairly simple lives (cooking, washing, crafting, etc.) Minimizing the effort to put things away (having everthing that I use each day next to my comfy chair - vitamins, sewing kit, a few books - two computers, a printer (for work things) steel bucket to hold my drink - thinking about where I use things and how often (this needs reviewing every couple weeks - swap out books, store the overlfow sewing supplies that I rarely use with the other sewing backstock, etc. My time and energy are very limited so everything needs to be chosen (or more often NOT chosen) and arranged with that as the first priority. |
| In which collections or categories of stuff are you most inclined to re-clutter—i.e., to refill areas and spaces that you’ve previously had success decluttering? (For example, “I purge my clothes closet every couple of years, but it’s always overflowing again within three months” or “My coffee mug collection is always out of control.”) | Hmmm, stocking up on pantry dry goods (grains, lentils, etc) - since organic is very expensive in my relatively small town, those 10lb bags from amazon are very tempting........... |
| Fill in the blank: “When I finish my current decluttering/organizing project, I’m going to treat myself to ___.” | Watching more Clutter Fairy of course!!!!!!!! (stupid question, mutter, mutter) 🙂 |
| Here’s your chance to ask Gayle and Ed any question you’re curious about. It need not be related to this survey’s topic(s). If we think that your question—and our answer—might be useful or instructive to The Clutter Fairy Weekly audience, we’ll share them in an upcoming episode. | When people are afraid to even start touching their stuff, how do you help them over that blind panic? |
| Future topics | Not a question but a topic idea - making detailed plans for various downsizing possibilities, even if you don't get rid of stuff (but you will) just planning, if I/we have to move to a two bedroom place, a one-bedroom place, move to only having one room in a relative's home, etc - what would I/we bring - not just in general, but making a relatively detailed plan with lists. I think this is a good way to get to thinking about the stuff without the pressure of making keep/discard decisions, and envisioning life with less stuff, and that it is quite possible (and even easier) to have a happy life with less stuff. One of the minimalist guys asked a friend "how would you feel if your rented storage unit had a fire and everything was destroyed?" the the friend immediately said "relieved". Looking at your stuff to notice what you would be relieved if it was suddenly gone (as a good first pass for what to let go of). Another topic - focusing on what you have more of when you have less stuff. More space, more time, more energy to do other things. Another topic - Analyzing your stuff exclusively on how much work it takes to deal with it. For example, that area rug you saw online is gorgeous but then thinking about how much time it takes to clean it. I switched to an immersion (stick blender) because it is so much easier to clean. And also analyzing stuff on how much room it takes up (again, the immersion blender vs a regular blender). And all those amazing recipe videos I see youtube, but realistically, I need the simplest food prep possible (also I realized I only need soy sauce, sesame oil, sake, sugar, frozen ginger and garlic pastes and asian chili paste to make superb sauce). thank you for your time. |
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