Survey #176 Response from Mavis
| Which of the following categories of vulnerable people are present in your household? |
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| To what extent do you feel that clutter in your home represents a threat to the physical health, mental health, or safety of your family? |
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| What obstacles or issues interfere with your ability to address the clutter threats to health and safety in your home? | My house is not bad as I had all the boxes stacked in the garage when I moved in. I take an item or 2 into the house and then clean it and make a decision about it. If I bring too many in the room looks too cluttered and there are too many pending decisions which paralyzes me. Then my already slow pace slows even more. It's frustrating to have the conversation continually that tiny movement is still movement. My main obstacle is breaking the emotional over attachment due to hoarding disorder. That is what is making the decision making slow. However, I have discovered a car boot sale venue this weekend (these are not a thing in my country). I will investigate. I have hopes that that will speed things up as I will be able to get rid of some of the stuff there that I'm not ready to donate yet. (I have a thing about the stuff going to someone that wants it). Hopefully seeing that either it goes to a wanted home or that nobody is interested because its value is over estimated by myself will be the reality check that I need to become unstuck which will help me move stuff. I struggle because it's good stuff. It's not old or worn. I'm not letting it go because I'm tired of it or its outdated. I just have hoarded too much and need to let some of it go. | ||||||||
| Who is your favorite organizing authority or inspiration besides The Clutter Fairy? | Dana White. Her concept is so simple. Let the size of the container dictate. Anything more is too much. And her application is practical. Where will I think of to look for it. No overthinking and overcategorizing (as I'm prone to). | ||||||||
| 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. | I often watch other people's decluttering journeys on Youtube as my brain is a pattern recognizer and it helps me set realistic expectations for myself. My journey is definitely slower than most. But I can still learn from others experiences. They all seem to follow the same pattern. A very slow start where decision making is extremely difficult. (I have improved, but only slightly), then increase in momentum in which throwing away fever seems to take them and then they purge almost blindly. They have 3 of a favourite shirt, but instead of keeping the extras for when the one dies, they get rid of the extra 2. I don't understand this. I understand getting rid of the clothes you won't wear, but why throw out common sense. You will have to now repurchase the favourite shirt again anyway. Obviously you won't carry as much overstock going forward, but why not live out the consequences of previous decisions? It's like there is no room for this sub-process to take place. This is then followed by them all calling themselves minimalists even though they aren't and actually only needed to reduce years of excess in which no exit management took place. Then only after this do they realize they aren't minimalists and don't want to be. Then they have to justify this after being so vocal about being 'minimalists' so they come up with cozy minimalism, minimalish bla-bla-bla. Please can you talk about the differences between being minimal and just living with sufficient amounts of stuff to free people from the overswing into fake minimalist territory. I feel like nobody has the courage to speak on this and you are either minimal or maximal. It's like the regular midpoint has been removed out of the decluttering world. I suspect it would bring a lot of freedom to people to be reassured that the midpoint is where the majority will end up and that it's OK. | ||||||||
| Future topics | You have spoken about this previously, but as it's a high priority for me I would appreciate more discussion about strategies to break the emotional attachment to things. Thank you so much for your commitment to doing this Gayle and Ed. I reap the benefit of your body of work. I often listen to old episodes on my to or from work. |
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