43 Folders

Back to Work

Merlin’s weekly podcast with Dan Benjamin. We talk about creativity, independence, and making things you love.

Join us via RSS, iTunes, or at 5by5.tv.

”What’s 43 Folders?”
43Folders.com is Merlin Mann’s website about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.

My War on Clutter: Inspiration for Independence Day

Tomorrow is the Independence Day holiday here in the US, so a lot of folks reading this will have the day off from work. If my own clutter war is piquing your interest in improving your surroundings, tomorrow could be the occasion for you to put a few minutes toward making a dent in your own pile.

Here's some inspirational (and cautionary) links to get you started.

  • Unclutterer: Tips - A major tip of the cap to Jerry Brito and his pals at Unclutterer; in addition to having great tips on doing more with less, this is the site where I first learned about Peter Walsh's book, It's All Too Much, which I will freely credit with kicking off my recent spree of de-cluttering
  • Declutter 101: Declutter Strategies - This is the first place I ever saw the "four box strategy." While this amount of sorting is a little more nuanced than my own scorched earth approach, it's much more appropriate for people with minor clutter issues or who are just in need of a little regular maintenance.
  • Declutter 15 Minutes per Day - If you can slice through the velvety nougat of prose in which they're suspended, Fly Lady's tricks are almost always fantastic. This page pulls together some of her best tips in one place. Highly Recommended and very life-hacky.
  • OC Foundation: Hoarding Introduction - Information on understanding and treating compulsive hoarding. Hoarding is real, widely misunderstood, and totally sucking for everyone it touches. While not the garden variety source of clutter, it's something to be aware of if the clutter problems of you or someone you love are spiraling.
  • Squalor Survivors - A support site for compulsive hoarders and anyone living in squalor. The before and (yikes, even some of the "after") photos from this site's contributors are dramatic, to say the least (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
  • Collyer brothers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Perhaps the most infamous compulsive hoarders, the Collyer Brothers lived and died surrounded by "over 100 tons of rubbish." That's in one Manhattan apartment, mind you.

Do yourself a favor, though. Don't just read and gawk. Take at least one step today to do something that clears a single small area or that ensures one dead piece of your world gets delivered to the curb.

Whatever your current state of clutter keeps you from doing (or being), remember it all starts with the first piece of junk you move out of your world. Talk about independence.

dave's picture

I wonder if anyone has...

I wonder if anyone has any thoughts about memorabilia-- stuff that you keep because it reminds you of other times. This is different from keeping things because they might be useful someday. I ask because I have a cubic yard or two of such stuff boxed up in the basement.

Just last night I came across an old copy of a student newspaper that is easily 13 years old. There was nothing really special about it (I had written a letter to the editor). But it was really engrossing to re-recognize all sorts of stuff that I haven't thought about in 10 years. Names of restaurants, the comic strips, etc. I'm not saying a random newspaper is worth keeping, but it was certainly just as much fun to look at as most keepsake snapshots.

Here's the issue: How does a person determine where the line is between worthy keepsake and waste of space?

 
EXPLORE 43Folders THE GOOD STUFF

Popular
Today

Popular
Classics

An Oblique Strategy:
Honor thy error as a hidden intention


STAY IN THE LOOP:

Subscribe with Google Reader

Subscribe on Netvibes

Add to Technorati Favorites

Subscribe on Pageflakes

Add RSS feed

The Podcast Feed

Cranking

Merlin used to crank. He’s not cranking any more.

This is an essay about family, priorities, and Shakey’s Pizza, and it’s probably the best thing he’s written. »

Scared Shitless

Merlin’s scared. You’re scared. Everybody is scared.

This is the video of Merlin’s keynote at Webstock 2011. The one where he cried. You should watch it. »