Sophie Mew 5/28/19 Sophie Mew 5/28/19

A history of organising and decluttering in 1000 words.

It all begins with an idea.

Hello and Welcome!

This is the first in a series of blogs that I will publish throughout the year on www.fortheloveofthings.com

Starting in July (drumroll, please) I will share monthly writings and musings on topics about ourselves and our belongings, with a special focus on the practice of organising and decluttering. Topics include the essence of decluttering, its impact on long-term sustainability, the relationships between memory and our belongings, teaching children to declutter, effective storage designs, the role of professional organisers for neurodiverse clients, and global care for our surroundings. References are listed at the end. As a mother, thinker, and 'ideas' person, I will share some of the thoughts that occupy my mind drawn from a variety of sources. Let's begin with the basics: what do we mean by decluttering and organising, and how did these concepts come about?

Declutter or organise?

Decluttering. It's a cumbersome word, and I kind of dislike calling myself a 'declutterer' (the extra '—erer' sound is particularly grating). It feels like a cruel tongue twister that’s been imposed on people who are already struggling with awkward texts or disorganised spaces. The word conjures up images of chronic disorganisation, clutter, rats' nests, untidiness, maximalism, chaos, and mess, which contrasts sharply with terms such as calm, space, emptiness, cleanliness, tidiness, as if our social worlds are already pitting these extremes against each other. What I do goes more towards organising, categorising and grouping belongings to then make decisions together about what could go and how what stays where.

A bit of background to managing our homes…

In the 19th century, displaying expensive everyday items was a way for middle- and upper-class homeowners to showcase their wealth. Victorian homes were filled with curios, the more cluttered, the better to demonstrate social status (see Prof. Jane Hamlett’s work). Young men returning from their Grand Tours of Europe displayed their objects and hung lavish paintings. By the late 1880s, there was a pushback against this excess. In 1884, Eugène Poubelle introduced the rubbish bin (la poubelle) to Paris and early movements in America began to advocate for reducing household contents for aesthetic reasons. In 1911, Elsie de Wolfe's book The House in Good Taste reminded her readers about “Simplicity!”. The national 'Better Homes for America' competition, won in 1924 by a Unitarian minister, Caroline Bartlett Crane, also known as 'America’s housekeeper', championed values of thrift and self-reliance (see Mansky 2019).

Thinking about how people maintained their house without ‘clutter’, and how they used to dispose of unwanted items led me to looking at the histories of 'rag and bone' men and women. This recalled a story from my children’s primary school archive of local history which I’ve been helping to organise in Camberwell (London). A former pupil reminisced: “We used to collect old newspapers and take them to the newspaper merchant in Camberwell Passage (where the bookshop used to be). And we’d take rags to a cottage on Camberwell Grove. I remember a local rag and bone woman called Mrs Carr. Her daughter Margaret was my best friend. She collected stuff from houses in a bassinet pram, took it home and washed and ironed it, then sold it on her stall at East Street Market…” (n.d accessed 10/06/24).

Decluttering gained momentum in the 1970s as we get closer to what some believe is the path to domestic bliss. A 1974 New York Times article described Stephanie Winston's profession of arranging jumbled files, books, and records, and optimising storage space (see Mansky 2019). Starting to feel familiar? Winston's 1978 manual ‘Getting Organized: The Easy Way to Put Your Life in Order’ was influential. In 1983, professional organisers in Los Angeles formed the Association of Professional Organizers, later known as NAPO (National Association of Productivity and Organizing) which is still going strong today. In the UK, APDO (Association for Professional Declutterers and Organisers, www.apdo.co.uk) was founded in 2004, offering annual conferences and certified training and support.

Japanese society and culture have significantly influenced global organising practices. Reflecting Buddhist teachings and Hinduism, limiting excessive consumption aligns with avoiding 'too much' rather than financial motivation. In 2009, Hideko Yamashita introduced danshari (‘less is more’), and Marie Kondo's 2014 book ‘The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up’ popularised the KonMari method, which encourages keeping items that 'spark joy'.

Sustainable habits?

So far, we see that decluttering and organising are often used interchangeably. It’s not merely cleaning; it's a reaction to excess and a practice with philosophical underpinnings. Professional organisers support this practice, and it can be seen as self-care. A German study (Muster, Iran, Munsch, 2022) found that using the KonMari method leads to more mindful consumption and sustainable habits — the study further questions whether this becomes a long-term habit or not. Clients often feel 'lighter' however, after sessions, validating the removal of burdensome items.

A balanced approach to decluttering involves managing expectations, being cautious, maintaining control, and doing what feels right for you. Whether you prefer maximalism, minimalism, or essentialism, decluttering can significantly benefit mental and physical health. This is why I love what I do, and I will continue to explore interesting aspects of this work in future blogs, so if you like this one, keep an eye out next month on www.fortheloveofthings.com

Resources to help circulate your things:

Each month I will share suggestions for donating unwanted items or other tips, particularly if you’re local to South London. I've been compiling this list since founding For the Love of Things, aiming to help promote sustainable disposals. The information is accurate at the time of publishing, but always double-check before as places close/ change/ have funny opening hours... don’t blame me!

Let’s start with A + B…

A: Artwork

Preservation Equipment Ltd

B: Baby and children banks (clothing and equipment for babies)

Love North Southwark

The Small Project (Kennington)

B: Books

- Webuybooks (scan barcode/ISBN to get a quote, can arrange collection)

- Zapper (what they can’t sell, they take to recycle)

- Ziffit (also for cd’s, dvds and games, will collect for free if boxed up)

- Bookwise

- Rescued Reads

- BooksforLondon (to find book swapping places in London)

- Oxfam

- the Book Rescuers

- Local libraries, local schools

B: Boxes

- Really useful

- Ryman

- Homebase

- Montana for really pretty ones (but check where/ costs)

- Good Ikea ones are Samla 301.029.74 (stackable, transparent, with lids)

- Muji

B: Bras

- Against Breast Cancer (send by post)

- Smalls For All (send by post)

B: Bulky waste

Lovejunk (sign up and you will be matched by the nearest/ appropriate rubbish clearer)

REFERENCES:

Mansky, J. How America Tidied Up Before Marie Kondo (Smithsonian Magazine (2019) https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/how-america-tidied-marie-kondo-180971239/

Muster, Iran, Munsch. The cultural practice of decluttering as household work and its potentials for sustainable consumption (2022) https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainability/articles/10.3389/frsus.2022.958538/full

Professor Jane Hamlett (Royal Holloway, University of London) https://royalholloway.ac.uk/research-and-teaching/departments-and-schools/history/about-us/staff-key-contacts/jane-hamlett/

Sophie Mew 5/28/19 Sophie Mew 5/28/19

On time… decluttering and organising.

On time...

August feels like the right month to talk about time — it reminds me of long summer holidays, where time and routines are suspended, and languishing about all feels a little bit indulgent!

Concepts of time are as integral in the processes of decluttering as in all spheres of life, shifting constantly between feeling tangible, intangible, lengthy, immediate, graspable and slippery, imagined and owned. In this short space I want to look at three primary angles (time will pop up again in my other blogs, for example with regards to sustainability), but let’s look at some general practical, liminal and cyclical approaches. Each one offers unique insights into how we can better understand and manage our spaces and, ultimately, ourselves.

Practical Time

Online searches often present decluttering as a quick fix: "It just takes 10 minutes to organize," "Declutter your home in 30 minutes," or "5-minute declutter rules." These catchy titles suggest that decluttering is a task that can be swiftly accomplished, like ripping off a band-aid. But why is there such a rush? Some people just prefer doing other things, which is fair enough. It can also be guilt over spending time on our belongings, or a perception that investing time in self-care is indulgent? The tension between self-care and busyness is palpable here.

Consider a local initiative at our Morrisons supermarket: two chairs and a table were set up next to the frozen food aisle with a sign inviting customers to take a seat. Does it challenge our notions of time use and self-care? Is it indulgent to sit and rest amidst grocery shopping? Allocating time for self-care, including decluttering, should not be dismissed or rushed. It is essential for maintaining a healthy home environment and, by extension, a healthy self.

Professional organizers often use the "miracle question" to help clients visualize their ideal space: "If you woke up tomorrow and your space looked exactly as you’d like it, can you describe it?" This technique can motivate clients by providing a clear goal. In his research study on house building in Maputo, Nielsen (2014) discusses the impact of imagined futures on motivating present actions. The visualization, for our own purposes, helps clients see the value of investing time now to save time in the future. It helps to project a little, perhaps imagining a future wardrobe which contains just the right number of items to find our clothes in the present. We can use this to work towards a goal: a bit of time invested now saves us time in the future.

And as such, booking a decluttering session is viewed as a time-saving task. For further reading, Greg McKeown discusses the shifts between Chronos and Kairos in his compelling book ‘Essentialism’ (2014 p.217).

In my experience, clients set aside specific hours to tackle their clutter, knowing that it’s a step towards a more organized life, jumping from the present to a future. One client informed me that she refused to do anything outside of our regular hours — she would put aside two hours a week to tackle her paperwork (which she immensely disliked) to free up the rest of her week. Many of my clients book time off work to get on top of their homes. It’s important to remember though that decluttering years of accumulated habits and possessions can’t be undone in a day. The process requires patience, we experience and perceive time in different ways, and if we question ourselves honestly, I think we know ourselves best. Avoiding procrastination and managing time effectively by hiring an objective organiser can help to make the investment worthwhile.

Reflections:

Decision-making during decluttering can be fast-paced, much like exercising a muscle that gets stronger with practice. I’ve witnessed this in practice — sometimes challenging clients to slow down! However, the process of physically getting things out of the home often takes longer and requires more effort, as Cooper (2005) and Muster, Iran, Munsch (2022) note. Clients’ commitment to sustainability and finding new purposes for items can slow the process, as they navigate what to do with each possession (‘my cousin really likes these types of cooking bowls, I will see her next month at my parents’ house, I’ll keep them here…’!).

Mentally preparing for a decluttering session by setting a date and creating the right environment can make a significant difference to being ‘in the moment’. This is particularly important for individuals with ADHD, who may struggle with time management. Booking a session and setting boundaries signify a commitment to the task, creating a temporary liminal space where time seems suspended yet constantly shifting as memories and objects are handled and reminisced over: memories come flooding from different moments in my clients’ lives.

Prompts like "When did I last use this?" help with difficult decision-making, preventing clients from getting lost in time tunnels. Shared generational experiences and reminiscing about mementos are one of my favourite parts of this job. The anthropology side of me kicks in as I enjoy listening to stories about special events or particular occasions, but I’m also mindful that my role is to keep things moving along, it’s crucial to keep the momentum going. When decisions are too difficult, a "six-month box" can provide a temporary solution, allowing attachments to shift and sometimes wane over time.

Time for a reset:

The question of when to declutter is a golden one. While marketing slogans might say, "There’s no time like the present," and wise sayings like "chaque chose en son temps" suggest that everything has its time, the truth is more personal. People often decide to declutter during significant life changes or when the time feels right. There is no universal right or wrong time; it really depends on when you feel ready to commit to change, no matter how big or small the job.

Decluttering can be seen as a reset, an opportunity for introspection and reflection. It’s a time to evaluate whether your belongings still reflect your values and ideals. The process can be therapeutic, providing dopamine hits and a sense of accomplishment. This cyclical process of editing and removing unwanted items is not new. It mirrors natural cycles like pruning plants or clearing dead leaves, making space for new growth. It can be an emotional process. I was asked to support a client whose husband had passed away, to help her to go through his belongings. It is a natural process to need change, to make space for the new and it can both heal and feel beneficial. Integral here is the understanding that to put the effort in in the present, can help make the future look and feel better — another take on the ‘miracle’ question that we started with.

But what about the maintenance question? How long does the clutter stay managed after a reset? Does it or will it ever end?! During my sessions with clients, we discuss habits that might need changing, I make suggestions, we practice some new systems together — but the process takes time and if not upheld, then the disorder accumulates again, and pretty quickly! The vision of a neat, tidy space is not a linear one-off jump into the future but a dynamic, ongoing process (again, see Nielson’s study).

To conclude, our individual relationships with time are unique and deeply personal. My fellow organiser (at ‘Free Your Space’) shared this poem with the following excerpt:

“What if I am not cut out for the frantic pace of this society and cannot even begin to keep up. And see so many others with what appears to be boundless energy and stamina but know that I need tons of solitude and calm, an abundance of rest, and swathes of unscheduled time in order to be healthy. Body, Spirit, Soul healthy. Am I enough?” (see end for ref)

It’s a reminder that we each have our own pace and needs.

Here are this month’s ‘C and D’ tips for recycling and donating goods:

C: Cameras

https://www.mpb.com/en-uk/sell-or-trade

C: Candles

The Recycled Candle Company

C: Chandeliers

https://www.chandelier.com/blogs/light-conversation/how-and-where-should-you-store-a-chandelier

C: children’s books

www.abcbookclub.co.uk

Local libraries, local schools

C: Children (storage ideas)