Dealing With Clutter

Why do people keep clutter?

There are many reasons why people keep clutter and generally put, clutter is symbolic of our
ability to hold on or let go appropriately in our lives. The meaning of clutter is as unique and
dynamic as the clutter collector. In answer to the question, Why do people keep clutter a
number of common themes have surfaced in the courses I teach.
Many clutter students say it is hard to let go of things from past relationships for sentimental
reasons. They feel that if they hang onto the object they are hanging onto the experience or the
person who is no longer in their life. Many group participants have said their stuff represents part
of their identity, part of who they were in the past, whether that was a productive
businesswoman, versus who they may be now, - a retired senior. One woman said, My stuff
defines me. This is very common in North America where we define ourselves by what we have.
Many people spoke about clutter being a source of comfort, security and safety, filling the
emptiness they feel inside.
Buying things you dont need
It is important to examine what is going on in your life when you are shopping for things that you
do not need. Some of my students have identified feelings of anger, powerlessness, and a fear of
poverty that drives them to accumulate more. One women in my group told us about an
experience of going in the store with a friend, not wanting to buy anything but ended up buying
some ornaments because she did not want her friend to think she couldnt buy it, she wanted her
friend to think she was okay. Many women find themselves shopping for clothes when they are
feeling fat or uncomfortable in their bodies, believing that they can find the perfect dress to
make them feel good. They end up buying clothes they many never wear. Even books can be
something that people buy and dont read, one women said she tells herself I doesnt know
enough, I cant do it on my own and tells herself she needs that buy that book. Feelings such as
unworthiness, comparing yourself to others, feeling disconnected or lonely drive you to purchase
things you dont need or may not even use.
Ask yourself what do you tend to buy that you dont need, or dont use?
What feelings are usually driving the shopping for these items?
Since clutter has a purpose in our lives; some people have said that it feels familiar, providing a
sense of security and safety. I believe as humans we dont do things that do not have a benefit.
One women in my workshop realized that she was unconsciously keeping all the household
clutter in her bedroom. She said all her friends tell her to find a man, yet she knows she is not
ready. She said, My room is so messy that there is no way I can bring a man in there. For her
the benefit to clutter was to keep men at a distance, creating a boundary. Other workshop
participants said that clutter helps distract them from dealing with their problems, some women
felt they could not go out and have fun, or change jobs while their apartment was such an
overwhelming mess.
When asked, How does your clutter affect you? many people say clutter slows them down and
is grounding. This is in fact true, as clutter will slow the pace of change in your life. Clearing
clutter can bring up a lot of emotional issues for people. Many people have spoken about
anxiety, feelings of grief, and the fear of letting go of past relationships. Many students in my
groups spoke about the fear of their sense of self-changing. Like most people, you probably fear
change to some extent. Unconsciously, holding onto clutter may serve as a way to hold onto the
familiar and insulate you from change. Talking about clutter is not something people do. Many
clutter students call it their dirty little secret, and feel a lot of shame. Clutter can also trigger
feelings of frustration, irritation anger and feeling of being out of control.
When we start to clear clutter a lot of feelings may come forward to the surface. It is important to
explore these feelings before clearing clutter so that you dont get overwhelmed in the process
and get stuck.

Before you start to clear clutter you must ask yourself the following questions:
What are the effects of clutter on you?
What emotional issues/memories are attached to your clutter?
What emotional states do you connect to accumulating more clutter?
What is hard for you to let go of?
What are the benefits to your clutter?
When you start to clear clutter what feelings come up?
The positive effects of clearing clutter
In my workshops participants described feeling relaxed, liberated, independent, happy, peaceful,
proud, joyful, freedom, energy, in control, closure, and a sense of new opportunities as they let
go of clutter. They all spoke about creating space for new things to come into their lives. These
feelings are very common when you clear your clutter with awareness. Clearing your clutter with
conscious intent allows you are making space for something new. This is one of the key principles
of Fengshui that the internal and the external are connected, and in fact the external is a
reflection of the internal. This is why clutter clearing is so powerful. It helps you release stuck
energy from the past, allowing more energy to flow into your life to create the changes you want.
The Definition of Clutter
Karen Kingston author of Creating Sacred Space defines clutter by asking three questions:
1. Have I used this in the past year?
2. Do I love it?
3. Does it lift my energy when I look at it, use it?
If you said no to 2 out of 3 questions then it is clutter, let it go, let it go!
Questions to ask yourself as you are clearing out the clutter from your closet or any
part of your home.
I like to call them clear the way questions
(from the website: www.fengshuiontario.com)
1. Do I love it?
2. Do I need it?
3. Does it reflect who I am at this time in my life?
4. How does it make me feel? What positive and/or negative thoughts, memories or emotions
do I associate with this item?
5. Does it need to be fixed or repaired? If so am I willing to do it now?
6. If Im letting it go, will I sell, give, or throw it away, and when?
Questions To Ask About Your Clutter
How many do I already have, and is that enough?
Do I have enough time to use, review or read it?
Have I used this during the past year?
Do I have a specific plan to use this item within a reasonable time frame?
Does this fit with my own values and needs?
How does this compare with the things I value highly?
Does this just seem important because Im looking at it now?
Is it current?
Is it of good quality, accurate, and or reliable?
Is it easy to understand?
Would I buy it again if I didnt already own it?
Do I really need it?
Could I get it again if I found I really needed it?

Do I have enough space for this?

Will not having this help me solve my clutter problem?

Helpful Books:
"Clear your clutter with fengshui" by Karen Kingston
"Compulsive Hording and acquiring Workbook" by Stekete and Frost
"Messies" series by Sandra Felton

When I'm ready to let my clutter go, what do I do with it?

These are useful questions to ask yourself when sorting through your clutter, ask the
question about each object, sort into three piles, keep, donate, garbage.
How many do I already have, and is that enough?
Are you saving things until you have more time to deal with them? If so ask yourself:
Do you have more reading material than you can possibly read? If so do you really want to
spend the time necessary to read them? Do I have enough time to use, review or read it?
What other parts of your life will you miss or will suffer by doing so?
Do you have more__________________ (fill in the blank) than you could possibly use?
If so do you really want to spend the time necessary to deal with them? What other parts
of your life will you miss or will suffer by doing this?
Have I used this during the past year? How much do you actually use it now?
Do I have a specific plan to use this item within a reasonable time frame?
Do you keep this because you like it? How much do you actually look at it?
Are you keeping it for sentimental reasons? Is this the best way to remember him or her?
Do you keep this for emotional comfort or vulnerability? Does it really protect you?
Does it offer information or opportunity? How real and important is that?
Does this fit that I am now?
Would I buy it again if I didnt already own it?
Do I really need it?
Could I get it again if I found I really needed it?
Do I have a place for this? Enough space for this?
Does this fit with my own values and needs?
How does this compare with the things I value highly?
Does this just seem important because Im looking at it now?
Is it current?
Is it of good quality, accurate, and or reliable?
. Does it need to be fixed or repaired? If so am I willing to do it now? If not now when?
Will not having this help me solve my clutter problem?
Questions to ask yourself in evaluating your urge to buy something.
Good questions to ask:
Do I already own something similar?
Am I only buying this because I feel bad (angry, depressed, and so on) right now?
In a week will I regret getting this?
Could I manage without it?
If it needs fixing do I have enough time to fix it or is my time better spent on other
activities?
Will I actually use this item in the near future?
Do I have a specific place to put this?
Is this truly valuable or useful, or does it just seems because I am looking at it now?
Is it good quality (accurate, reliable, attractive)?
Examine the advantages and disadvantages of acquiring an object before you make the
decision.
Carefully consider how much you actually need, rather than merely want, an item you are
considering acquiring.
Will not getting this help me solve my clutter problem?
Work to set your own personal rules for acquiring that you decide on. For example you may
decide not to buy something or accept a free item unless you plan to use it in the next month, or
if you have an uncluttered place in your home to put the item. Or one-person suggestion, one
thing comes in, one thing goes out as her personal rule.

How can you help someone with clutter issues?

Nagging and belittling does not work, acting like a drill sergeant or task master just makes
people feel nervous or angry and interferes with their ability to learn new approaches,
they feel even more isolated and misunderstood and revert to bad habits.
Provide emotional support, express empathy statements like I can see how hard this is for
you.
Help the person make decisions but do not make decisions for them. The person with the
clutter needs to develop their own rules for deciding what to keep and what to let go of. As
a support you can remind them of these rules by asking the sorting questions like Is it
useful? Do you need it? Can you do without it? In the long run are you better keeping it or
letting it go? See the list of questions to ask.
Recognize that if you do it for them, you give them the message that they cannot do it
themselves, and does not allow them to learn new behaviors and may feel threatened and
secretly acquire and hide more clutter, quickly filling the space that you have cleared.
Be a cheerleader, sometimes we all need an extra boost when things get difficult. Calling
the person to remind them of their agreement or homework, telling them you believe they
can do it, and tell them when they are doing a good job increases motivation to do more.
Dont make decisions for them; help them to feel in control of the clutter clearing process.
Be willing to help them with hauling, many people who have a lot of clutter it would take
them a year or more to discard it all by themselves. This makes it easy to get discouraged
because progress is slow. Let the person with the clutter make the decisions and remain
fully in charge of the process.
Be a supportive coach by keeping them focused and asking the clearing questions, if you
are agreeing to work with them, work for 15 minutes at a time maximum.
Goal of exercise is to sort into three piles with your coach
Keep

Garbage

Donate

Then stop after 15 mintues and do something that feels good- go for a walk etc.

At other times accompany them on fun non-acquiring trips. For people who acquire too
many things, it can be extremely helpful to have someone go with them to a yard sale or a
tempting store to help them resist temptation and ask the acquiring questions, and make
the trip a success.
Realize that change does not happen overnight and what you are practicing is challenging
all or nothing thinking, perfectionism and internal criticism.

More Tips
Return things you may be storing for others to them. If they decline to take possession
of their items, inform them that the items will be donated/removed by a specific date. If
items have not been reclaimed by that date, move em out!
If you have inherited family items that you do not wish to keep, offer them to other
family members. See instructions above. If those who want to have the items ask you to
continue storing them, the answer is NO. They must retrieve them by a certain date, and
arrange storage themselves. You are moving the items out!

Where do I take things?

Newspapers, bottles, cans, plastics can be recycled, (and in some communities even
compostable wet wastes) often with your regular garbage collections-make sure to keep
those items moving into your blue and green boxes.
Clothing and small household items: Thrift shops such as Value Village and Salvation Army
have locations in many communities. Churches sometimes also sponsor such locations.
Womens shelters, and charities holding fundraising yard sales welcome your donations.
The next time one of the charities calls to pick up the things you dont need any more
make a date with them. The items you donate are sold to Value Village, with the shop
selling them and providing employment, while the charity benefits from the $ they receive
up front for the items.
Books: some libraries accept donations of good used books for their shelves, or to sell to
raise $ for programs. Some communities have resale book stores that will offer you up to
the cover price for recent publications in good condition.
Craft supplies: inquire if your local school, day care centre, scout or brownie troop could
use them.
Household interior and exterior paints: Cans in good shape can sometimes go to a specific
location at the dump where folks can pick through them and take away what they think
they can use.
Vehicle fluids like oil, brake and transmission fluids: NEVER, NEVER dump these into the
environment or into your sewage treatment system. Sometimes used motor oil can be
reused to lubricate chain saw cutting blades, but otherwise any of these fluids should be
taken to a hazardous waste disposal location.
Some communities have added reuse it centers to their landfill sites to divert good useable items
of all kinds from going into the landfill.

Questions to ask yourself while decluttering

What's the worst thing that would happen if you didn't have this item?
What do you think other people do with similar items?
If you needed this information later, how could you access it if you threw this away now? Online?
By: Elaine Birchall, MSW RSW, Social Worker, Ottawa Public Health;
Coordinator :Ottawa Community Response to Hoarding Coalition, March 2006
SELF HELP QUESTION TO ASK YOURSELF
(to get you started or keep you going)
Questions About Acquiring
Do I have an immediate use for it?
Do I need it? How many do I already have?
Can I get by without it?
Do I feel compelled to have it?
Can I afford it comfortably?
Do I have time to deal with it appropriately i.e? maintain it?

Questions About Discarding

Do I need it?
Do I have a plan to use this?
Have I used this in the last year?
Can I get it elsewhere i.e.. the library?
Do I have enough space for it already clear and available?
Do I love it?

Questions About How to Organize & Let Go

Start with one area; spend as many future work periods as needed to complete your goal for
this area.
If entrances, exits or areas near heat and ignition sources for example, (furnaces, stoves,
portable heaters, baseboard heaters, water heaters or uncovered light bulbs, are a cluttered,
start with them first for safety reasons and continue working in that area until clear. The 1st fire
safety priority is clear routes into and out of the residence. The 2nd priority is entrance and exits
from each room.
Caution: Extension cords should not be used for permanent wiring purposes i.e.. instead of
adequate electrical outlets connected to the electrical panel. Make sure smoke detectors are
functioning.
Begin by creating categories for possessions
Sort into discard, recycle/giveaway & keep piles
Use questions provided in "Acquiring & Discarding" Sections to decide.
Continue until chosen area is clear
Imagine and plan and a more pleasing use for the cleared area
Plan for preventing new clutter build up for that area by following the ideas in "Relapse
Prevention."

Relapse Prevention
Evaluate current reasons for cluttering
Get yourself support:
1.trusted family & friends
2.knowledgeable counselor
3. Knowledgeable professional organizer
4. Online support as provided above
Schedule regular times to organize & let go
Invite visitors home
Anticipate known stressors and your reactions
Apply skills developed so far and search out others to build on
Identify resources for the future

 Be gentle with yourself and keep working at it.

It's what you do every day, no matter how much, that will get you where you want to be.
Remember: "The person who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones."
(Dane County Elder Abuse Office - "This Full House"), Dane County, USA - 2000

What is Fengshui?

History
4 Levels
Intentions

History of Fengshui and the different approaches

Fengshui means Wind and Water. It is putting your intentions into the physical environment in
which you live or work to manifest what you are working on in your life.
The belief behind Fengshui is that everything has a spirit, and your living and working
environments are part of who you are. This belief crosses many cultures. In India this spirit is
called Pranna, in Bali it is called Manna, and in China where Fengshui originated it is called Chi, in
North America we call it energy. There are many arms of Fengshui such as:

Cleaning and consecrating buildings

Reading earth energies and choosing auspicious sites for buildings

Orientations-building position
Astrology, colour, diet and medical diagnosis
Fengshui enhancements and cures
Interior Design and Furniture placement

There are also 4 main approaches to Fengshui:

Land-Form Approach

Based on building shapes and arrangements of rooms in conjunction with the surrounding
terrain.

Cosmology Approach

Uses geomancy compass, called a Luo Pan, to see how home is situated in relationship to the
solar system, the stars, the sun, the moon the elements and directions.

Symbolic Approach

Looks for the meaning of objects and symbols with which a person surrounds him/herself.

The Chi approach

The practitioner enters the home and reads the energy of the room or house. The Chi method
stresses a more direct interface with the house, rather than reliance on specified rules. The
house is likened to the body of a living spirit. The windows are the eyes and the door is the
mouth. Energy is inhaled into the home and flows according to the interior structure. The layout
of the rooms as well as the positioning of the furniture, will either be favorable to the flow of
energy or will impede it. If the energy flow through a house is good, then the occupants will be
healthy and have good fortune.
The Chi approach is the method that I work with. Usually a practitioner will train and specialize in
one method. The Chi method is considered a modern approach to Fengshui. What is the

difference? Let me give you an example, if a traditional Fengshui master came to your house
using a Luo pan compass, he may tell you to move, as it is not suitable for you based on your
birth date and the direction the home is built in. However if I came to your home using the Chi
method based on the Black Tantric Buddhist Sect we would acknowledge that you cannot always
move or structurally change your living space. We would look at adjustments and cures to bring
harmony into the current space. The Chi method works with what is there and seeks to enhance
it.
In the East, Fengshui is used before a building is built. A consultant will sense the earth energies
for the right placement of the building, including the directions the windows face, based on who
will occupy the building. In Western cultures Fengshui is often used after a building is built and is
curative. We adjust living spaces that already exist; this is considered a very modern approach.
People are taking an eclectic approach to creating a sense of meaning and harmony in their lives,
people are rebelling against formalized religion and being eclectic in drawing on different
practices to create a personal spirituality in their home or life.
Fengshui is based on the principle of creating ease and harmony in your home to create ease
and harmony in your life.
Four Levels of Fengshui
1.
2.
3.
4.

Physical
Mental
Emotional
Spiritual

Fengshui is a profound holistic system for examining our lives. Originally Fengshui was used to
consecrate land, diagnosis illness, bring about balance in the body and in the living space. Only
in the west have we picked up one branch of Fengshui that deals with interior design or furniture
placement. Like everything in North America we want things fast, like our food. We buy a
Fengshui book, read it, move our couch and wonder why we are not rich or in the perfect
relationship.
Fengshui was designed to function on four levels: the physical, the emotional, the mental and the
spiritual. When we examine our clutter on all four levels of our being and decide to clear on all
four levels of our being we are activating power to create what we truly want in our lives.
So when I teach my students I let them know that they need to do the internal Fengshui before
they do the external Fengshui of furniture placement. Once you have done this internal work
(mental, emotional and spiritual) and then make a physical placement in your home or office, it
has true power to create change in your life.
Setting Your Intentions
Before you start to clear clutter internally or externally it is important to set your intention,
otherwise the space you clear will fill right back up with what you just cleared. That is often why
piles of clutter keep returning to the same spot.
The belief under Fengshui is that energy flows where intention goes. This means that once you
set your intention, energy that you release from clutter clearing internally or externally naturally
flows towards what you intend.

Every six months it is an important ritual to write your intentions for the next 6 months. Intention
statements include those things that you want to have happen in your life.
Include anything else that affirms what is important for you at this time, such as clarity around
what you want, or feeling deserving of good in your life, any affirmation that you think is
important and vital and positive for you at this time. It is important that you handwrite this
statement rather than print it on a computer.
Now that you have drafted some idea of what you want to have happen, there are some
important guidelines to consider when you write your intention statement.

It needs to be in present tense as if it is already happening in your life.

It needs to be positive, (focused on what you want, rather than what you dont want)
The more specific you can be, the better.
Once you feel satisfied with your statement, double check that it is in the present tense
and focuses on the positive.

Last step: write the following sentence at the bottom, May this or something better now
manifest for the greatest good of everyone concerned. This last sentence is an opening to the
universe; it asks that whatever comes to you also benefits others. Sign it and date it.
Place your intention statement somewhere special and private.
Applied Fengshui

Clutter
Colour
Bagu Map

Clutter
Clutter represents our ability to hold on or let go appropriately. Clutter is defined as
anything you dont use or dont love. It is important to examine the role of clutter
in your life.
Why do people keep clutter?
In the courses I teach many students say it's because it's hard to let go of things from past
relationships for sentimental reasons; they fear that they might need it someday, and they find
that they have just thrown it out. Many students said their stuff represents part of their identity,
part of who they were in the past and who they are now. One woman said, My stuff defines me.
This is very common in North America where we do define ourselves by what we have. But you
are not your stuff. Many people spoke about clutter being a source of comfort, security and
safety. For many this was represented by books and papers. It is important to ask yourself what
is your clutter?
What are the effects of clutter?
Many people when asked this question say it is anchoring or grounding, and that clutter slows
them down. This is in fact true, as clutter will slow the pace of change in your life. If change is
something you are afraid of, you may be unconsciously holding on to clutter to slow the pace of
change down. For some people in my workshops clutter brings up issues of shame, and makes

them unable to focus. Clutter can also trigger feelings of frustration, irritation anger and feeling
of not having control. It is key to ask yourself what are the effects of clutter on you?

The process of clearing clutter?

Since clutter has a purpose in our lives some people have said that it creates security, safety and
is familiar. One women in my workshop said it helped create a barrier to intimacy. She said that
all her clutter is in her bedroom. She said all her friends tell her to find a man, yet she knows she
is not ready. In one workshop on clutter she realized that she was unconsciously keeping all the
household clutter in her bedroom. As she said my room is so messy that there is no way I can
bring a man in there. For her the benefit to clutter was to keep men at a distance, in effect
creating a boundary. Other workshop participants said that clutter helps distract them from
dealing with their problems, some women felt they couldnt go out and have fun, or change jobs
while their apartment was such an overwhelming mess. There are many benefits to clutter. I
believe as humans we dont do things that do not have a benefit. Many workshop participants
were seeking security, safety etc, which are important to them. Becoming aware of the benefits
of your clutter is very important.
Clearing clutter can bring up a lot of emotional issues for people. Many people spoke about
anxiety, feelings of grief, and the fear of letting go of the past - people and relationships. Many
students spoke about the fear of their sense of self-changing.
Before you start to clear clutter you must ask yourself the following questions:
What is your clutter? What gets in the way of clearing clutter? What emotional issues are
attached to your clutter? What emotional states do you connect to clutter? What is hard for you
to let go of? What are the benefits to your clutter? What would help you get started?
The effects of clearing clutter
In my workshops, participants described feeling relaxed, liberated, independent, happy, peaceful,
proud, joy, freedom, energy, in control, closure, and a sense of new opportunities as they are
creating space for change and for new things to come into their lives. These feelings are very
common when you have done the internal work of examining the purpose and benefits to your
clutter and then starting to clear with the consciousness of what your clutter is really about. The
key is that everything inside is outside. So when you clear your clutter with conscious intent you
are making external changes and internal changes as well. This is one of the key principles of
Fengshui that the internal and the external are connected and in fact the external is a reflection
of the internal. This is why clutter clearing is so powerful.
Getting Started.
In my workshops we strategize with each other about how to get started. These are some of the
strategies of my Fengshui students:
Schedule a time to clear clutter, just as if you would doctors appointment.
Start by visioning what the final result might be, and how you would feel when you look at the
room. Some students even wrote a statement as their clearing vision. One woman was clearing
off her desk; her visioning statement was I want to feel calm and peaceful sitting at my desk
Start with a micro movement, one drawer, and one part of the desk or closet. We are so good at
setting ourselves up for failure and beating ourselves up when we dont accomplish everything.
Think small when starting: the process is as important as the final product.

The subject of clutter seems to be universal; everyone in my workshops has clutter. When we
look at clutter from a Fengshui perspectives we need to look at one of the key principles of
Fengshui. Everything inside is outside. What does this mean? It means we need to look at clutter
from an inside out perspective. We also need to look at clutter from all four levels of our being,
physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.
So ask yourself what is your clutter?

Physical?
Emotional?
Mental?
Spiritual?

Take some time to write out your clutter on these four levels. When you clear on one level it
impacts all four. It is important for you to notice the links between these four levels of being with
your clutter. I will give you an example. You have an object left over from a failed relationship
(physical level). Every time you look at it impacts you on the emotional level with memories,
then on the mental level, where you may tell yourself that you failed at that relationship, which
leaves you with self doubt about reinvesting in a new relationship, and on the spiritual level you
decide not to trust men. It is important for you to decide what level is the easiest place for you to
start clearing.
When we start to clear clutter a lot of feelings may come forward. It is important to explore these
feelings before clearing clutter so that we dont get overwhelmed in the process and get stuck. In
my workshops I do an automatic writing exercise to explore these feelings. Automatic writing is a
way to bypass our critic that wants to stop us. The key to automatic writing is to use speed, to
write whatever comes into your mind without thinking, so if you are feeling hungry or stuck you
write about that.
Automatic Writing Exercises
So get out a piece of paper and a pen, and write at the top of the page when I start to clear
clutter what feelings come up? WAIT dont start yet. Next we do something, which is called quiet
mind. This brief exercise helps to quiet our mind of chatter before we start. Pick a spot across the
room. Stare at it for a short time, now let your mind travel up to the ceiling and back down, as
your eyes come back down ask yourself the question when I start to clear clutter what feelings
come up? And start writing. Pick one feeling from the list, Write what does ________(feeling)
mean? Again do the quiet mind and answer the question. Continue this process 5 times with your
answers.
This process helps to clear internal clutter and explore the feelings that prevent us from letting
go of our clutter on the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual levels.
Visualization Exercise
Pick one object of physical clutter from your list. Shut your eyes take three deep breaths, in
through the nose and out through the mouth. Imagine going to the place in your house where the
object is. (If you can physically go and hold the object do it). Take three deep breaths, let your
mind travel freely, be open to memories, associations, fears, smells, visual pictures, sounds, or
feelings in your body, even small feelings, thoughts that may seem unrelated. Breathe.
When you come out of the visualization jot down anything that came to you.
Colour

Under Fengshui there are colours that are suited to you based on your birthdate and gender.
These individualized colours are part of your consultation. Colour has been studied and proven to
impact your sense of well-being. For example, in the U.S., they are using pink rooms in prisons to
subdue violent prisoners. Now when babies are born with Neo natal jaundice they are put under
blue light, rather than having invasive surgeries. There have been studies that show that we are
affected by colour even when we are sleeping. Under Fengshui, colours are used as
enhancements (see mapping your room section for more info). Here is some general information
about the use of colour under Fengshui.
Red- stimulates appetite, good for a workroom or exercise room or an activity group room as it
stimulates movement and activity. If you are a procrastinator or in a sluggish time in your life,
paint a wall red and get ready to take off.
Orange- a social colour. It stimulates optimism, expansiveness, emotional balance, confidence,
change, striving, self motivation and a sense of community. Great for group rooms. A good
gathering colour.
Yellow- excellent for a home office. Stimulates flexibility and adaptability to change. It is also
associated with good luck. Yellow is a good colour in a counseling room. It gets people talking
and at the same time brings forth uplifting feelings and optimism. Clear yellow is a good colour
for a room where children will be, as it creates a positive feeling and contributes to the
development of thought processes.
Green- stimulates feeling of balance, and healing. Good colour for any room. Excellent for use in
bathrooms, the green you use in a bathroom should be a spring or a clean, leaf green.
Blue- stimulates you to seek inner truth. Blue allows for gentleness, contentment, patience and
composure. It has also been used for pain reduction. A study done in 1982 with 60 women who
had rheumatoid arthritis concluded exposure to blue light could substantially reduce pain. Blue is
excellent for a meditation room, or any room where you want to have feelings of peace.
Purple- stimulates our spiritual perspective. Do not paint an entire room this colour as it is best to
use as accents, or for one wall. Gold is a good balance for the purple. Lavender rooms are also
beneficial to use for convalescence.
White- good colour for all rooms. It holds within its energy the power of transformation. However,
if you have an all white room, use colour accessories or furniture, otherwise people will comment
that it feels unfriendly and too sterile.
Black- black room accessories are excellent for adding power to a room. Do not use black for a
whole room, as it is too overwhelming and depressing.

Mapping your room

Mapping is the term used for establishing the different areas of each room. In each room there is
a love corner, a wealth/abundance corner, a self-awareness corner and a helpful people and
travel corner. The maps that we use in Fengshui are called the Bagua. On this site you can see a
modern map that everyone can use. The Bagua is overlaid from the mouth of Chi, which is the
door to the room. You line up your door to the entrance quadrant on the map.
Mapping is useful for determining where your clutter tends to go, and what part of your life it is
affecting. From my experience clutter tends to migrate to the areas that reflect the challenges in
our lives.
Mapping is what a Fengshui expert does when they come to your home, in order to recommend
enhancements.
In order to use this map, print yourself a hard copy of the modern Bagua. (Click here for a printerfriendly map) Stand in the doorway of your room with the map and you will be able to determine
the different areas of the room.
Below are some suggested enhancements used in each area.

WARNING: before you enhance any area you must clean and clear the area of clutter.
If you enhance an area without clearing it you will be aggravating the problems in
this area of your life.

Wealth and Prosperity - SUN

Connected to abundance. This area is about financial wealth. However abundance is more than
money: it is about how you attract what you want into your life.
Good enhancements are the colours blue, purple and red. Place objects that remind you of
abundance and wealth in this area.
Fame and Reputation - LI
This area is about how other people see you. This can mean your community, your co-workers,
and your business partners. Good colours for this area are reds, and something that represents
the element of fire is greatly beneficial. Place certificates and awards of recognition in this area.
This is also a good area to place your intention statement for your work.
Love - K'UN
This area is about self-love, and intimacy in a relationship. Good colours for this area are reds,
pinks and white. To enhance this area you may want to put photos of yourself and your partner
during happy times. If you are not currently in a relationship and are seeking a relationship, place
objects that speak to you about the things you want in a relationship. For example, one client
wanted passion in her relationship, so she put the image of "The Kiss" by Gustave Klint in her
love corner. Pairs of things are also useful in this area; for example: two candlesticks with
candles, two doves, etc. This area is about self-love. Place images in this area, which support
how you want to feel about yourself.
Health and Family - CHEN
This area is about your physical health and the health of your family. Good colours for this area
are blues and greens, and something that represents the element of wood is highly beneficial.
Place images of vitality and health in this area. This is also a good area for family photos. If you
are facing a chronic disease or have ongoing challenges in the area of your health consider
writing an intention statement for your health and place it in this area.
Knowledge and Self-Cultivation - KEN
This area is about your self-awareness. Good colours for this area are black, blues and greens.
This is a good area to locate your books, representing knowledge. This can also be a good area
for meditation and self-reflection. Place objects in this area that speak to you of self-awareness. If
you use your computer or television as a source of knowledge this can be a good place for them.
Career - K'AN
This area is about your purpose in life. This area is more than just your job. It is about getting
clarity for what you want to do in your life. Good colours are black and dark tones, and

something that represents the element of water is greatly beneficial in this area. This is a good
area to keep clear, especially if it is the entrance to a room. This can be a good place to locate
your desk and work related materials.
Helpful People and Travel - CH'IEN
This area represents your ability to network in business. In life it is about getting the right help at
the right time. On a spiritual level this area is about trusting your higher self or source. It is also
about travel. You may put images of your faith or symbols that represent your spiritual beliefs in
this area. Good colours are white, grays and black. This is a good place to locate your altar. It is
also a great place to locate photos of your good friends that are helpful to you. If this area is in
your office, place awards or plaques from business partners in this area. It is also a good place to
put your phone,fax and computer if you expect to network through these mediums.
Creativity and Children - TUI
This area is about your personal creativity and projects. Good colours for this area are white and
pastels and something that represents the element metal in this area is highly beneficial. If you
are working on a big project, place images or supporting materials for the project in this area. For
example, one client was finishing her thesis and chose to locate her writing area in the creativity
and children area of her home. Another client was completing a large project at work and used
the creativity area as his "thinking wall", mapping out all stages of the project.
This area is also about children. If you are trying to conceive, keep this area clear of clutter. This
can be a great area for children to play in and display their own creativity and artwork.
Centre
This area is about your ability to stay grounded in your life. This area is also about maintaining
balance in your life. This is represented by the element of earth. Good colours for this area are
yellow and earth tones. Keeping the center clear and free of clutter or furniture is highly
beneficial to maintaining the flow of energy in a room. If you find yourself scattered in your life,
this would be a good area to focus on.

Further Resources

Excerpts from Bridget's upcoming book: "Clutter and Perfectionism" (password required)
Newsletter
Additional books and links

Newsletter
Subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter. You can hear about upcoming workshops or what's new in
Fengshui. Each month we will tackle a Fengshui problem from our questions. Subscription is free.
Just send an e-mail to fengshui@interlog.com with the word subscribe in the subject line or in
the first line of the e mail.
Sample Newsletter
It is critical that you set your intentions for this year. On my website it gives you instructions
about how to write an intention statement. See intentions in the menu on the left.
One of the key principles of Fengshui is that energy goes where intention goes. This means that if
you plan to get organized in your home and clear clutter, you are releasing stagnant energy
which is fantastic. However, you want that energy to go where you want it to go, rather than
have it cause chaos, or go back into the same reoccurring issues in your life. When people don't
set their intentions before clearing clutter, the clutter returns. That is why there are areas of your
home or apartment that you just can't seem to keep clear.
Powerful Fengshui starts inside you. It means being clear about what you want to have happen in
your life. Think about setting an overall intention statement - that is positive and describes how
you would feel if you accomplished what you dream of - and write it as a statement. Then go
further and write about the specifics of what you want to have happen in your life in a positive
way, and in the present tense, as if it is already happening. End your statement with this phrase:
"May this or something better now manifest for the greatest good of everyone concerned."
This statement creates an opening for the universe to bring you perhaps something better than
you could imagine, and that benefits others as well as you. Sign it and date it and keep it
somewhere special. Getting clear about your intentions and writing them down is the first step in
"Fengshui-ing" your life.
Good Luck, and don't forget to check out all the great new clutter info on the site - it's like taking
a free Fengshui course online.

Books by other authors

Both of these authors are famous for their simple approach to Fengshui and work with the Chi
method:
Karen Kingston's books: Creating Sacred Space and Clear your Clutter with Fengshui
Denise Linn's books: Sacred Space and Fengshui for the Soul
Some other books by various authors that use different method of Fengshui:
The Fengshui Handbook by Master Lam Kam Chuen
The Fengshui House Book by Gina Laxenby
The Modern Book of Fengshui by Stephen Post
Fengshui Design by Sara Rossbach and Master Lin Yun
Harmony by Design by Nancy Santo Pietro

Other Web sites:

Heart and Soul Healing, www.kenpage.com

Dr. Eric Pearl, Reconnective Healing, www.drericpearl.com

Individual Consultations
Bridget is a trained social worker, Fengshui consultant, Reconnective Healer-level III (Dr. Eric
Pearl), and Heart and Soul Healer (Ken Page). She brings all of her skills together to help you
reconnect to your higher self and your living space.
We provide a range of consultation and educational services. Whether it is for your own personal
healing, planning a staff retreat, or conference, our services are diverse and allow you to decide
what is right for you.
Home Consultations
Garden Consultations
Office Consultations
Inner Fengshui Healings
Fengshui as a gift
Home
The home consultation consists of using placement and colour to readjust the chi or energy
flowing through your living space. We also combine this with balancing the energy of your inner
space in your body. This is useful in addressing such issues as: letting go of the past, wanting a
fresh start in your life, or releasing a physical illness.
A consultation is key in moving forward in your life and releasing the past from in your living
space and in your body.
Our consultant will let you know what colours are highly beneficial for your healing energy, based
on your birthdate. These colours are to be used on your body and in your environment to support
you in your healing.
Consultations may include space clearing. This is a ritual that clears out the old stagnant energy
within the home. It gives you a new beginning and a fresh slate to work from.
Cost for home consultation is $100 per hour. (Two hour minimum)
Garden Consultation
Fengshui for your garden is as important as it is for your house. From May-October your garden
becomes the most dominent room in the house. Garden consultation for healing is useful.
Under Fengshui your garden does affect your overall well-being in the areas of love, health and
wealth. By the end of the consultation you will know what element (wood, water, fire, earth,
metal) dominates your garden and what colours are excellent for your garden based on your
birth date, and the birth dates of those who live in the home. We can also recommend some
excellent landscape architects with whom we work, who are Fengshui sensitive.
You can combine your consultation to include home, and garden.
Cost for Fengshui Garden consultation is $100 per hour. (Two hour minimum)
If travel is required outside Toronto, travel time is charged at $50 per hour.
Office/Business Consultation
Business consultation is useful if you are having a large staff turnover, a high rate of illness
amongst your staff, or if there has been a lot of change or chaos within your business. Fengshui
consultation is geared towards maximizing the business goals, while creating a supportive
healing environment so your staff work at maximum efficiency while maintaining their energy.
It is usually advised that the office consultation include a space clearing. This is a ceremony that
clears all of previous stagnant energies out of your business space. This allows for new
beginnings and a fresh start.
On Site
Cost: $100.00 per hour for space clearing and consultation.
If travel is required outside Toronto travel time will be charged at a rate of $50 per hour.
Inner Fengshui

What is Inner Fengshui? Inner Fengshui addresses all four levels of our being, the physical, the
emotional, the mental and the spiritual. Inner Fengshui refers to getting clear about what we
want to create in our life.
Individual Inner Fengshui sessions are 2 hours in length and are only required once. Many people
find the session life changing. This session removes the energy around any recurring issues and
patterns in your life. By doing this you raise your vibration and become less reactive. You heal
your past and change your future.
We look at blocks or breaks in your energetic field using hand scanning. We look for energy you
are using subconsciously to attract people who reflect your issues. The second thing we look for
is pieces of you out of time due to unresolved issues in your past. We look for any programs that
have been set in the past that tell you it's not safe to love, it's not safe to take your power or be
who you are. We also look for anyone you are energetically looping with in a negative way.
This session breaks Karma around men and women, women and women, and Karma around any
recurring issues and patterns in your life. We also offer a one day workshop that looks at Inner
Fengshui on the physical, the mental, the emotional and the spiritual levels called Fengshui for
the Soul. Individual Inner fengshui sessions cost $180 and are only required once. To book an
individual session contact fengshui@interlog.com or call 705-786-7806.
Fengshui as a Gift
Give the gift of Fengshui for a birthday, an anniversary or for friends moving into a new home.
Many people give consultations as gifts to their loved ones.
Some options include:
Consultation
Fengshui placement and color to readjust the chi or energy in the home.
This consultation can address issues in career, wealth, health and relationships.
Cost: $100 per hour. Usually time is based on the size of the home, and a flat fee is discussed.
Space Clearing Ceremony
Space clearing cleans on an energetic level, giving the occupants a "fresh start". Occupants can
participate in this ceremony if they wish.
It is often used as a consecration ceremony for new homes, or for new renovations done on
existing homes.
It is also useful if the occupants have been experiencing illness or chaos in their lives.
Cost: $100 per hour. Again it is based on the size of the home, and a flat fee is usually worked
out.

Adult Personality Characteristic Assessment

This screening test, developed by Robert Ackerman, Ph.D., asks questions about personality
characteristics common to adult children of alcoholics.
Please indicate how often you engage in the following behaviors using the scale below to rate
your responses:
1 = never 2 = seldom 3 = sometimes 4 = often 5 = always
I guess at what is normal.
I have difficulty following projects through to completion.
I lie when it would be just as easy to tell the truth.
I judge myself without mercy.
I have difficulty having fun.
I take myself very seriously.
I have difficulty with intimate relationships.
I overreact to changes over which I have no control.
I feel different from other people.
I constantly seek approval and affirmation.
I am either super responsible or irresponsible.
I am extremely loyal even in the face of evidence that the loyalty is undeserved.
I look for immediate as opposed to deferred gratification.
I lock myself into a course of action without serious consideration to alternate choices
or consequences.
I seek tension and crisis and then complain.
I avoid conflict or aggravate it, but rarely deal with it.
I fear rejection and abandonment, yet I reject others.
I fear failure, but have difficulty handling success.
I fear criticism and judgment, yet I criticize others.
I manage my time poorly and do not set my priorities in a way that works well for me.
Scoring:
20 40 Low probability of ACOA/ACOSA
40 60 Some probability of ACOA/ACOSA
60 80 Probability of ACOA/ACOSA
80 100 High probability of ACOA/ACOSA

Measuring squalor
Measurement tools have been developed to quantify the scale of a clutter and hoarding
problem.. The National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization has developed a Clutter Hoarding
Scale, which measures four dimensions (Structure & Zoning Issues, Pets & Rodents, Household
Functions, and Sanitation & Cleanliness) on a scale of 1 to 5.
The material available online to go with the <cite>Treatments That Work: Compulsive Hoarding
and Acquiring workbook</cite> include material for a Clutter Image Ratingyou look at nine
pictures of a progressively cluttered room and pick the best match for your situation.
The "Degrees of Squalor" scale below was described by Kimmy in the Living in third degree
squalor...where do I start? (Internet Archive copy) thread that sowed the seed for Squalor
Survivors. This scale is purportedly used by psychologists, but I have not been able to find a
match in any textbooks or academic papers. I am keeping it online to give context to the name
and beginnings of this website.
First degree squalor
You are getting behind in tasks that you would normally manage, like laundry and
dishes. You are not the tidy person you once were. Little piles are starting to emerge and
your disorganization is starting to affect your life and inconvenience you. Things are just
starting to get out of hand and become unmanageable. A sign of first degree squalor could
be that you might be embarrassed for other people to see your mess...but you would still
let them in the house.
Second degree squalor
Now things are really starting to get out of hand. Signs that you have reached second
degree would include losing the use of normal household items like your bed, table,
television or telephone, because the piles have expanded to cover the items up. You start
to develop new methods of moving around your house, as normal movement is
impeded by your piles of stuff. You might start making excuses to discourage people
from entering your house.
Third degree squalor
At this stage, you have all the above, plus you have rotting food and animal faeces and/or
urine in the house, and this is the rule not the exception. You cannot cope with the
growing mess. Essential household repairs may not be done, because you are too afraid
to let a tradesperson see your house. Just the thought of someone seeing your mess
causes you great stress.
Fourth degree squalor
At fourth degree squalor, you have all of the above, plus you have human faeces and/or
urine in your house that is not in the toilet.
Finally...
Whatever stage of squalor you are at, know two things:
1. You are not the only person to have reached this degree of squalor. Other people have
been where you are...and come back.
2. You deserve better!
I was sitting here reading posts and it dawned on me that I am at level 1 in every room of the
house except the mud porch where my laundry is, and that is a level 1-2.I don't know what I
expected... fireworks to go off, or something magical when I hit that milestone... It just happened
slowly but surelythough there was a lot of kicking and screaming along the way, lol. This
happened over the space of two years, but it did happenone baby bite at a time. I still let

things go and have to run a maintenance marathon now and then but it is now all manageable!
Thank you, Squalor Survivors, and all the SS members for giving me the tools, encouragement,
laughter, and for always having a hankie ready for the giving along the way ......I could not have
gotten this far without you all. DustyDiva

"Saving the World"

By Fred Penzel, Ph.D.
I was recently reminded of a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) known as
"compulsive hoarding" when a patient brought me an article from a British newspaper that
jokingly looked into the homes of several people afflicted with this problem. The reporter, in his
ignorance, seemed to think it humorous that these homes were knee-deep in possessions,
papers, broken or useless things, or just plain trash. Even in our own country, those who
compulsively hoard and collect are sometimes kiddingly referred to as "pack rats," and they are
laughed at as being eccentrics.
Unfortunately, compulsive hoarding is no joke. It can in fact be quite excruciating, just like
any form of OCD. When you look closely at the lives of compulsive hoarders, there is no doubt
that they can become incapacitated and disabled by their habits, and their lives frequently
become disorganized and unmanageable. Their home lives can be rather isolated, and socializing
is often a problem. They are unable to have visitors or even repairmen come into their homes,
due to the serious embarrassment they would feel at having someone see the clutter.
Hoarders may collect large quantities of old newspapers and magazines, greeting cards,
bottles, junk mail, plastic containers, broken appliances, old clothes, shoes, furniture, etc. They
not only save broken and useless things, they also tend to save quantities of stuff that can
greatly go beyond what a person could possibly ever need. This could include buying things such
as soap or paper goods several cases at a time, or dozens of an item that might bean sale, but
which most people would only own one of.
Typical symptoms of compulsive hoarding could include any or several of the following:
- Saving broken, irreparable, or useless things
- Buying excessive quantities of goods beyond the amount needed for reasonable usage
- Purchasing large amounts of useful items and storing them away for future usage, but never
using them
- Retrieving numerous materials from the trash on a regular basis
- Having difficulty discarding anything due to a fear of accidentally throwing out something
important
- Saving excessive quantities of printed matter (newspapers, magazines, junk mail, etc.)
- Making and keeping extensive lists or records of certain things, even after they are no longer
needed
- Saving large amounts of certain items for possible use by others or for future recycling
Actually, the urge to hoard and collect may well be strongly instinctive in many species.
The familiar sights of squirrels storing seeds and acorns and birds gathering nesting materials tell
us that humans are certainly not alone when it comes to collecting and saving. Among our fellow
human beings, we can observe a whole range of such behaviors, both positive and negative.
However, when it is expressed through OCD, it may be that an instinctive program we all carry in
our brains has been inappropriately activated. This may resemble trichotillomania, where it has
been theorized that grooming instincts are wrongly turned on.
I have observed that one of the main rea-sons for hoarding is this: a fear that if things are
thrown away, they will almost certainly be needed one day, but will be gone for good. This loss
will then lead to some kind of serious hardship or deprivation. This symptom is due to the chronic
doubt of OCD. Because of this, many hoarders seem to lack the ability to discriminate between
what is truly useless and what isn't. Ironically, hoarders rarely use, much less look through, the
things they save. Even when they do search through their piles and heaps, they are usually
unable to find what they are looking for.

There are some who hoard for what seem like sentimental reasons they keep many or
most of their old belongings. One adult patient of mine had all of her childhood toys, as well as
all the clothes she had ever owned since she was a youngster. There may be a number of
reasons behind such behavior. One may be superstitious bad luck may occur if they let go of any
of these things. Another may be the previously mentioned fear of the loss of something needed
one day. Such doubts may be further compounded if the individual is reluctant to grow up or has
some reason for not wanting to give up the past.
A different type of hoarding seems to relate more closely to the sort of hyperresponsible
thinking often seen in OCD. Here, hoarders save things they believe will be useful to others
rather than themselves. They would feel guilty and worry about being neglectful if they didn't
have these things around for others who might need them someday. They may also feel guilty if
they don't save a potentially useful item that could be repaired or recycled rather than discarded
or wasted. In reality, no one ever really needs the things they save, and most of the things saved
never get repaired or are too damaged to be fixed in any case.
Some who appear to hoard actually don't save things for their own sake. Their obsessive
doubts cause a fear that, when throwing trash away, something important will be thrown out
with it by mistake. These people compulsively thumb through every page of newspapers or
magazines, and they double-check the seams of paper bags, boxes, and envelopes to be certain
they have not thrown out money, jewelry, or important papers. Throwing things out can involve
hours of searching and checking. This can become so difficult and time-consuming, that they
may eventually just stop throwing things away altogether: This type of saving may not really be
true hoarding, but something more like a type of double-checking.
Compulsive hoarders can accumulate such large amounts of things that they create
storage problems and fire hazards. In particular, huge stacks of papers, excessive furniture, old
clothing, non-working appliances, etc., can quickly overwhelm a house or apartment. The range
of items saved can include something potentially useful such as reusable containers, except that
hoarders may have hundreds. The other end of the range may include such unlikely things as
cigarette ashes, pet hairs, or used tissues. Entire rooms become completely unusable. I know of
people who have been evicted or threatened with eviction due to the large amounts they have
collected. I also know of divorces resulting from a spouse refusing to live under such
overwhelmingly disorganized conditions. Several years ago in our are, a case was reported of a
woman who burned to death in a house filled with newspapers.
In the most extreme cases, homes can almost look as if they have been vandalized, with
floors covered with debris and rooms filled to overflowing with boxes and bags full of
possessions. The most famous example of a compulsive hoarder was Langley Collyer who,
between 1933 and 1948, filled a mansion on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan with 120 tons of refuse,
junk, and human waste. He would prowl the streets of Manhattan at night looking for items to
rescue from the trash. Both he and his invalid brother, Homer, were found dead among
possessions that included 11 pianos and all the components of a Model T Ford. Langley was
actually crushed by a falling heap of heavy items he had rigged as a booby trap for burglars.
There are other types of hoarding, such as having to make a "complete" collection of a
particular item to get a sense of "perfect" closure. There is "mental" hoarding, which is having to
memorize all informa-tion on a particular topic. There is also the hoarding of memories or
experiences. These symptoms seem to overlap with the problem of compulsive perfectionism. It
is not unusual for some hoarders to buy and save large amounts of useful things that they then
must maintain in a pristine and perfect condition. The items may be carefully wrapped,
packaged, and stored away, never to be touched by anyone. Ironically, many of the saved items
often deteriorate after years in storage, becoming totally unusable. Certain types of compulsive
buying may be related to hoarding, depending upon what is done with the purchase.

Proper treatment for compulsive hoarding relies heavily on behavioral techniques.

Hoarders need to be encouraged to gradually discard items that they find harder and harder to
part with. A therapist may have to accomplish several goals: first, visit the home in order to
survey the dimensions of the problem; second, determine the order in which things need to be
tackled; and third, assist in the throwing-out process if the person can't seem to get started or is
too great a procrastinator. I have sometimes encouraged people to begin by bringing bags of
belongings to my office to start the discarding process.
Hoarders also need to be given guidelines for what is to be saved or discarded, now and in
the future. We often use a "two-year rule." This states that if you haven't used it, worn it, or read
it in the last two years, you don't need it. This obviously doesn't include valuables, heirlooms, or
tools used only for special purposes. Some need even more specific rules. Most are discouraged
from keeping more than the current week's newspapers or the latest issues of magazines, and
articles are saved rather than entire issues. Mail must be sorted the day it arrives. Many also
need help in organizing important personal papers and bills, and the purchase of filing cabinets is
encouraged.
In serious cases, medication may help a sufferer approach the therapy process with less
anxiety and fewer obsessional worries. It can also relieve serious depression that robs someone
of the energy needed to clean house. The usual antidepressant drugs shown to help OCD are
recommended. It is important to find a psychiatrist who is sympathetic and experienced in the
treatment of OCD, which can take a certain amount of expertise to do properly.
With determination and support, hoarding can be conquered. I have seen people clean up
some of the worst accumulations and keep them cleared up. There is no cure, however. In order
to stay well, hoarders must learn to think differently and to keep up their new habits.
Interestingly, upon recovering, the hoarder's reaction is often one of relief rather than anxiety. If
this is your problem, get help. You don't have to drown in a sea of possessions and junk.

Behind Closed Doors

Garbage houses made the news briefly nine years ago when police discovered the
notorious Eggert house in St. Paul. But the truth is that Twin Cities-area inspectors
have been finding them for over 20 years. How do lives fall so completely--and so
privatel
Josie Rawson
published: March 12, 1997
What police found inside on that day--May 29, 1988--became a local legend for a short time, and
has remained one around the city inspections department. The first hint of something wrong was
a stench emanating from the living room, a pungent mixture of urine and mildew that sent one
officer back through the door for air. As they went in, he said later, "The place turned into a kind
of funhouse where the ground rises up and the walls seem to shrink."
Piled four feet high on the floors of the living and dining rooms were bags of garbage, strewn
clothing, rotted food, busted toys, small appliances, mail-order catalogs, and newspapers that
dated back as long as five years. A photograph, taken by an inspector who was immediately
called to the house, shows the two uniformed officers hunched over at the waist, arms up, to
keep from hitting their heads on the ceiling in the dark--the electricity had been cut off for three
years by then--as they made their way through the house.
In the kitchen, they found three other children, 9-year-old and 6-year-old girls, both functionally
deaf, and a 2-year-old boy in diapers. The baby sat on a stack of mashed papers and candy
wrappers in the middle of an excavated pathway. The girls sat together near the refrigerator,
from which years-old food and roaches spilled out. The pair seemed to share a rapid-fire sign
language no one else could comprehend.
Farther back, in the first bedroom, behind a five-foot barricade of milk cartons and debris, they
discovered a bunk-bed where the girls slept. The mattresses were buried under soiled clothing
and food containers, packed down over the years by the weight of their bodies. To get into bed,
as another inspector still remembers nearly a decade later, "these little girls had to climb up a
mountain of trash and slide down the other side, which was slick with human feces."
The other bedroom was no better. The bathroom door could be opened only a few inches. Inside,
the toilet and bathtub were overflowing (water service, too, had been cut off long ago) and the
sink was barely visible by flashlight under a heap of stained papers.
Brian Eggert, the girls, and the baby were escorted outside. A photograph from that day shows
the four of them standing on the front stoop huddled and squinting against the afternoon light,
the teenager with a kind of bewildered smile on his face, the baby on his hip and his sisters
staring straight ahead into the camera. The head of St. Paul's housing inspection department
issued an immediate condemnation order, citing "gross unsanitary conditions" inside the house
as a public health hazard, and began making calls to arrange for a clean-up crew the next
morning. The children's father, when he was finally located, told a local television reporter that
the garbage in his house started piling up years ago and had "somehow gotten out of control."
Somehow, Michael Eggert said, he'd just lost track of it all.
Within days, city workers had shoveled out six 40-foot dump trailers full of refuse from the main
floor and basement--about 20 tons in all. Several public officials went on record announcing their
shock at "the lack of a social safety net for these people," "the utter breakdown of the system,"
"the failure of any trace of civic responsibility toward those whose lives consign them to a dump."
Meanwhile, both the St. Paul and Minneapolis health and housing inspections departments found
themselves swamped with calls about other gross unsanitary houses from residents who'd been
following the story on the news. Sometimes it was a neighbor, sometimes a relative. A pastor. An
anonymous voice. Even a pizza-delivery driver who reported having to hand the box in through a

side window because the customer couldn't get to his door anymore. It quickly became clear that
the Eggert house was not the unique occurrence everyone thought it must be.
Things fall apart. You mean to, but then you don't. Or you do, but then you just lose track of it all.
For awhile, perhaps, there was the desire. Later, a kind of fatigue. Time gets away. Something
slips--a disconnect--and the heat goes. Tomorrow you will have to set everything right. But the
idea gets lost underneath, in the piles. No one is watching, anyway. No one's coming over. No
one's been notified.
"First, let's talk about the secret." Frank Staffenson, who headed St. Paul's environmental health
department until 1995, is sitting in his den running through his "dirty picture show," which
consists of slides from various garbage houses. For the past half hour, we've been touring
basements and kitchens discovered by postal workers, pizza drivers, scouts sent out to check the
premises after the utilities were cut off. This one, he says, eyeing the screen, inspectors went
into on a condemnation after a call from the neighbors, "which is like having your door kicked in
by cops--not a nice way to go. It means somebody's found out."
Inside, flashed up in the projector's illuminating beam, is a baby's crib coated in gray mold.
Beneath it, scattered across the carpeted floor, are boxes of breakfast cereal--Wheaties, Life--and
a pile of snagged lingerie. "Conception," Staffenson says, nodding at the next slide, "believe it or
not, occurred here," on a stained mattress covered over with crumpled newspapers. "This was
the home of a young couple who'd left the farm. The husband couldn't make it there--this was
the late '80s and the economy was pretty rough for some. They came down to the city and he
couldn't get work. She was 16, 17 maybe, pregnant, and just couldn't keep up with things. This is
the toilet"--click--"past full, spilling over, so they just shut the door and started using a bucket in
the kitchen. The nurse who drove out to the house went in the backyard and puked before she
called me."
We spend another hour in the dark, tracking cases whose addresses no longer matter much. The
particulars inside, after a while, appear like set objects in a series of still-lifes: the industrial
strength garbage bags, the spoiled food, the buckets, the stacks of newspapers. Broken glass
and a toddler with bleeding feet. Wrung-out diapers drying on a radiator. Kerosene lamps.
Captain Crunch. Fly-paper. Aluminum cans. Cat litter trays made from detergent boxes. Coke
cartons. TV Guide. The Eggert house, with a hide-a-bed buried four feet deep in trash, its sheets
still on. The kitchen of another house where a 70-year-old man, living alone, was found in the
middle of winter frozen to death, surrounded by junk mail and pet-food cans, with his feet stuck
in the oven.
In the days before visiting Staffenson, I'd dug through dozens of photographs, case files, and
court records at various city departments. In the wake of the news spectacle on Sherwood
Avenue, these garbage houses seemed to hit the media radar screen with alarming frequency
and, with each subsequent report, to take on an uneasy, morality-tale tone. As a series--a
"beat"--they constituted a ready-made story that came to stand for a whole host of suspicions
that many readers of daily papers were probably harboring about the breakdown of what one
report called "the environment of civic order." There was, too, in many accounts, the notion that
these personal narratives could be traced back to some unmanageable crisis--the death of a
spouse, the loss of a job, bankruptcy--that had by its tragic nature overwhelmed the victims (or
the perpetrators; the media couldn't seem to decide) and sent them into retreat, resignation,
surrender.
In August 1988, following the discovery of "yet another garbage house," St. Paul City Council
member Janice Rettman told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that these stories "blow people's
minds, because any one of us could face a personal tragedy that would cause us to lose track of
reality." In June 1992, city inspectors in Richfield located a man by the name of Richard
Schalekamp, a retired widower, living in a garbage house whose contents, in the days following

his removal to an assisted-living apartment, filled two dumpsters. "It's a real mess here," he told
one reporter who'd come along on the raid. "I don't know how it got so messed up. I guess things
just got out of hand."
Of the slides I viewed at Staffenson's house that morning, many were shot before the "original"
garbage house surfaced in the spring of 1988. Disturbing cases had been around for as long as
he could recall, Staffenson said, back to the early 1970s, though none was reported in the press.
It wasn't until the late '80s that the public attention needed to turn a handful of scattered,
unsanitary houses into a phenomenon reached critical mass. The secret began making news.
The Eggert house, or at least the one built by the media, seemed to hold a larger resonance;
seemed to offer, in the words of writer Joan Didion, a "conflation... of personal woe and public
distress." The father, we learned, was a Vietnam Vet, a former city worker who had recently lost
his job. The mother, a registered nurse. Somehow, on the way to a normal enough American life,
something had gone terribly wrong. Failing in their vigilance--against the accumulation of
everyday junk, against mundane dread--they had, as one national TV reporter put it, "simply
thrown up their hands, closed their doors, hung an invisible Do Not Disturb sign out, and gone
into private hiding."
Said another: "In this era of free-floating anxiety, when the world of hyper-technology, infinite
information, environmental overload, and constant assaults on the individual psyche is too much
with us, it seems this family, and others like them, just let go and got buried." A local
psychiatrist, after reviewing the salient details of the Eggert case, suggested "anti-depressants,
perhaps something on the order of Prozac, as a possible out for these people."
Last year, the Housing Inspections department in Minneapolis fielded 203 calls on its complaint
line about potential garbage houses. It's hard to tell, says supervisor Mike Osmonson, how many
of those turned out to be valid--meaning so full of litter as to constitute a fire or health hazard to
the residents. The office's current computer system isn't capable of culling them into a category
separate from, say, "clutter houses," with pathways through organized rubbish, or garden-variety
"cat houses," the worst of which, he recalls, had more than six dozen animals in its basement.
Among the garbage house cases that did prove true from those calls and from police department
referrals, the lessons suggested in the Sherwood Avenue reports kept playing out.
* On Valentine's Day, 1996, the house at 2119-21 Fremont Ave. N. was found to be occupied by
an elderly woman whose bathroom sink, toilet, and bathtub had been filled with "human waste"
years ago and the room sealed off. A grand piano sat in the living room under piles of aluminum
cans, microwave food cartons, and filthy clothing. It seemed, inspector Jim Strong said after
reviewing the file, "that nobody went to visit her anymore, so any reason to keep things from
turning into a chaos were gone. Nobody'd seen her in weeks. With houses like this one, you
know, we've to go in and search on the chance that, under all the stuff, there might be a body."
* That same year a search warrant was issued on Oct. 2 to the Minneapolis police, the
inspections department, and Animal Control, allowing them to forcibly enter the house at 2758
Sheridan Ave. N. An orange cat was found on the doorstep "literally covered with fleas." Inside,
the search party came across over 50 other cats and the occupant who, according to a later
report, "had scabs and sores on her hands and appeared to be ill." Her husband had phoned the
inspections department three days earlier, a Monday, canceling their arranged visit because, he
explained, "someone had died on the back steps Sunday night." In the snapshots, the living room
floor is a squalor of newspapers, ashtrays, TV sets, lawn chairs, bottles of vitamins. In the
basement, which was inaccessible, garbage bags and pans of cat litter obscure any view. In the
kitchen, shoes, plastic bags of human feces, Jell-O boxes, Dawn detergent. A loaded shotgun, as
one inspector mentioned in the file, was retrieved from a back bedroom, with "one round already
in the chamber."

* In May 1996, inspectors left their calling card on the door at 2809-11 Harriet Ave., with
instructions to clean up the shopping carts, clothing, and miscellaneous debris from the
premises. By the end of September, the female occupant, who was buying the property on a
contract-for-deed, was issued official clean-up orders. Two 30-yard dumpsters had been parked in
the driveway, but were removed that month for "nonpayment," though, the file notes, she was
working at two jobs to cover the cost. A search-warrant application, signed in late fall, stated that
"the inside of the house is filled with garbage and trash to a height of four feet throughout the
first floor." On Dec. 5, the occupant was officially notified that her house had been condemned,
with apologies from an assistant city attorney that "due to the Thanksgiving Holiday, there was a
delay in communicating this decision to you." In the Polaroid photos shot the day she was
evicted, three police officers stand in the entryway in what looks like outer-space gear--plastic
full-body suits, heavy duty gloves, rubber masks, and white boots, with their walkie-talkies and
guns strapped to black belts around their waists. In another shot, a Hennepin County Medical
Center ambulance sits idling at the curb, waiting to take her in. A handwritten note, presumably
penned by an inspector, mentions that the woman "wants to know, bottom line, what she has to
do."
The first night I drove down to Farmington to visit Brian Roman Eggert, who is now 23 years old, I
stopped at a service station for directions. The woman working the counter pulled out a local
map from beside the cash register and flipped it open, running her finger over the creases and
tracing the vague border between suburban Apple Valley and rural Farmington. "The trailer court
you're looking for is called Country View," she said, pointing to the cross-streets. "It's in this kind
of no-man's land between towns that everybody seems to want settled but nobody wants to
claim."
On the way, the road winds along past acres of new tract housing in enclaves with names like
Deer Meadow. There are bright yellow banners for Twin Cities Model Homes, and a sign
announcing the opening of a SuperAmerica "arriving soon to serve you." I knocked on the trailer
door several times before a woman who turned out to be Eggert's girlfriend opened the door.
"He's not home right now," she told me. "What do you want?"
I said I'd come to visit with him about--what should I say? A story? The garbage house he grew
up in? His suicide attempt a Minneapolis inspector had mentioned to me the week before? "I
wanted to ask him about the time nine years ago when he lived in St. Paul," I said. She stared at
me for a minute, then offered, quietly, "Well, that's a difficult subject for Brian to talk about." She
jotted down my number, but said they didn't own a phone.
The next morning, Brian Eggert answered the door and invited me in, apologizing for the mess
inside. Sit down, he said, gesturing to the couch. Nothing in the room was out of place. We talked
for a few minutes in stops and starts, about his two kids, about his job at Domino's pizza in
Farmington, the habit he'd picked up lately of ironing and folding his socks and lining them up in
a drawer, his plan, maybe next year, to train as a sign-language interpreter "so people who've
lost their senses won't feel so cut off." Finally, I turned on a tape recorder and asked him to talk
about what it had been like.
"The house I grew up in was full of garbage. When I was 12, my mom and dad moved out. They
went off to live somewhere else--her with a new boyfriend, him with a girlfriend. So it was just us
kids. I took care of my sisters and my baby brother then. Sometimes my folks would come
around and bring us clothes from Goodwill. I guess they just left, and abandoned us to the
garbage.
"The last three years we didn't have water. So we didn't have heat. I tried to collect some
blankets I found to keep us all warm. There weren't any lights. Sometimes the phone was on,
sometimes off. The stove and refrigerator, you know, didn't work. I'd go around the corner to the

Holiday station and steal food--bread mostly, and candy. I got real smart. I had to feed my family
and stay alive. Also, I'd take my baby brother down to the gas station for a bath. The people who
worked there must've got to wondering what we were up to.
"Nobody came to our house. Inside, it was just trash, newspapers, pizza boxes, buckets of, you
know, stuff, every type of litter you could imagine. Somebody later called it chaos. I tried to get it
cleaned up but that was hopeless. I thought for a while it might be normal, but then I figured out
it wasn't. I got scared that people would come in and find out. We had a front door, then an entry
way, then another door. So I'd slip between the two and stand there if somebody knocked, like
when my uncles came over sometimes. They'd just wait outside.
"Raising my little brother, Michael junior, was a hard thing. He used to call me dad. I taught him
how to talk, because my sisters couldn't really. I tried to teach him how to walk, too, but there
was so much garbage that he couldn't balance or stand up right.
"Somebody said, I can't remember who, that there was more trash in our house than there was in
the stadium after the '87 World Series. What happened was it just kept growing. We filled up
spaces, but we couldn't really get it organized. The day the police came to my door, I was so
scared. They were looking for my dad. I said he's not here. They said we have to come in and
look. When they did, one man just let out a long breath and said, 'Oh, my God.' They put us all in
the squad car then, and took us to the station. The next day, and this was pretty weird, I went to
school. I was sitting in social studies class and the teacher pulled out the newspaper to read out
loud to us. Like current events--politics, sports, the environment, crime, that type of thing. And
there it was on the front page. She started reading it. I just sat still. I wanted to turn invisible. It
told my address and my last name and all about the garbage and I just sat there listening to the
story about my house, like sitting in hell. After that, it was like our own little world just blew
apart."
"Is there a cure?" Dr. Thomas Mackenzie, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota
Medical School, turns from his office computer and poses the question, to no one in particular. It
hangs a moment in the air as he clicks the next slide up on screen. "Well, you would know there
isn't. There's no relief from your life," he answers, switching to a checklist that runs the spectrum
from hoarders to pack rats to bag people to syllogomania (the pathological collecting of rubbish).
"There's whatever your life's become, you try to distract yourself, find times when you can feel
productive or passionate. Do people recover? Yes. Is there a cure? No. And that's where things
get interesting."
Let's get a feel for the terrain here, Mackenzie goes on, leaning back in his swivel chair. First, let's
get in the model of accumulation and disposal, the ebb and flow of how we live: You take stuff in,
you feed stuff out--food, information, belongings. Maybe you own a house. You put in some
furniture. You fill up the closet with clothes. You commit the day's news to memory. There's room
for what's necessary. It's purposeful. You survive, carry around what you can, dispose of the rest.
Now, for a twist, let's throw in the notion of imagination, which on the American landscape these
days can be a highly mediated territory. You flip on the TV: rain forests, the latest genocide, noise
downloaded online. You flip on the radio: genocide in the Balkans, terrorist cults, Flight 800
plunging on fire into the sea. Advertisements, accidents, events piling up that you couldn't even
imagine might occur, and it seems that they all occur eventually if you just stay tuned in.
"That's the culture we're traveling in, late '80s, mid-'90s America," Mackenzie says. "Not much
about its effects can be demonstrated scientifically, remember, but we can agree it gets to
feeling pretty crazy after a while. How do you know what's of value and what's not? All the ads,
all the news scream out that 'this is important, this is essential!' And somewhere in the
imagination the idea gets planted: Without this stuff, I'm without protection. I'm lost. Anything
could happen. The possibilities seem infinite, in part, I suppose, because there's so little evidence
that as individuals we can control much of anything. Take technology--it's hyped as 'access to

information,' as x, y, and z, the solution to the crises. As freedom--from anxiety, from fear. But it
turns out that instead of being liberating, it's imprisoning. It's overload."
In late 1989, a 67-year-old woman, living alone in St. Paul, let city inspectors enter her home.
They found inside nearly a ton of newspapers piled halfway up the living room walls, filling all
available floor space save a pathway into the kitchen, where her stove was buried under more
stacks. She'd meant, she told a social worker later, "to clip out the recipes, but for some reason I
never could get around to it." In February, 1995, as reported by the Star Tribune, a young
suburban couple were taken from their garbage house after the sheriff's department discovered
"so much clutter and mess that there was nowhere to sit down in the house." According to the
complaint, William Pfozer, the husband, admitted during questioning that "things are getting
weird" and that conditions inside had "passed beyond hope."
"It's a wonderful notion," Mackenzie goes on, "to hold that the human nervous system, under the
conditions we're talking about, may not be evolving at the same speed as technology and
information." That we may be living now past saturation level, at overkill. "The question then
becomes, where do we look for meaning? How do we create meaning in the midst of all this
confusion, this inability to get rid of all we're made to take in? Look, the function of every
spiritual model that civilizations have ever created has been to relieve the pain of staring into the
abyss. They make meaning out of the chaos. So in this sense, how does one connect it to the
woman who saved every newspaper for 20 years, intending to cut out the recipes? It was, I
suppose, functional for her--a way to secure meaning. It was a solution once--a way to ensure a
future. And then, in time, it became a kind of surrender. With garbage houses, we surmise that
the resources their occupants have and the demands of the universe are badly mismatched."
The behavior of garbage house residents, figures Mackenzie, absurd as it may appear in passing
news reports, appears to be intentional. "You dive into a dumpster and come out with a pizza
box. Is that random? How many monkeys working like that would've done this act?" You could
argue, he says, that human cognition is all about organization, about discrimination: This is of
value, this is not. But remember, we're talking here about a society in which discriminating
between what's essential and what's garbage is nearly impossible. So, he adds, you develop the
tendency to accumulate everything--in case it might be useful. It might, on the off chance, be of
value, even critical to your existence.
"I tend to work an economy where there's got to be a pay-off, even if it's pain. And the pay-off,
for people who collect, must be the security of knowing. Knowing what is the question." That
somehow, even if it's garbage, it's a sort of security against panic? "Perhaps.
City Pages news intern Todd Renschler contributed to this story.

The Psychology of . . . Hoarding - What lies beneath the

pathological desire to stockpile tons of stuff?
10.01.2004
by Mary Duenwald

MIND UNDER
MATTER: Years of
excess
accumulation left
the resident of
this New York City
apartment, an
older woman,
little room in
which to navigate.
After the
Newspaper accounts of the avalanche duly noted that Moore was luckier
photographs were
than Homer and Langley Collyer, two pack-rat brothers who for four
taken, she threw
decades crammed their Harlem mansion with heaps of debris:
out several dozen
newspapers, old Christmas trees, sawhorses, perhaps a dozen pianos,
garbage bags
even a dismantled automobile. On March 21, 1947, Homer was found dead
worth of her
of starvation. It took another 18 days for city workers to uncover Langleys
belongings.
smothered body.
Day after day, year after year, Patrice Moore received a load of mail
newspapers, magazines, books, catalogs, and random solicitations. Each
day the 43-year-old recluse piled the new with the old, until floor-to-ceiling
stacks of disorganized paper nearly filled his windowless 10-by-10-foot
apartment in New York City. In late December, the avalanche came, and
Moore was buried standing up. He stood alone for two days, until
neighbors heard his muffled moaning. The landlord broke in with a
crowbar; it took another hour for neighbors and firefighters to dig Moore
out and get him medical help.

Scientists long assumed that compulsive hoarding is simply a symptom and

a subset of obsessive-compulsive disorder. But new studies suggest it may
be a distinct disorder with its own unique signature in the circuitry of the
brain. The ongoing research has taken on a certain urgency as cities across
America have set up task forces to help landlords and relatives deal with
thousands of people like Moore whose health is endangered by their
compulsion to stockpile.
That compulsion, scientists now theorize, is a natural and adaptive instinct gone amok.
Elsewhere in the animal kingdom, the instinct to hoard offers clear evolutionary advantages. One
of the most avid hoarders is the Arctic gray jay. To ensure that it has enough food for the long,
dark winter, the bird caches over a wide area some 100,000 mouthfuls of berries, insects, and
spiders, says Tom Waite, a biologist at Ohio State University in Columbus. Hoarding may also
function as a mating strategy. Male black wheatears, avian residents of dry and rocky regions of
Eurasia and Africa, spend considerable time and energy piling up heavy stones before mating
season. Those with the largest piles are more likely to mate. Its called resource-holding
potential, and its a way of advertising to a mate your true Darwinian
fitness, Waite says.
Humans appear to be the only species that takes hoarding to pathological
excess. In extreme cases, compulsive hoarders may fill their houses so full
of stuff that they can no longer use the bed, the table, or even entire
rooms. They cant invite friends over. They cant keep track of their bills.

They cant organize themselves sufficiently to hold a job. As they age and their memories fade,
they may no longer even remember what theyve been hoarding. One 61-year-old man who
attends the Clutter Workshop, a support group in Hartford, Connecticut, gathered so many books,
papers, and pieces of junk mail that he filled as much of the house as his wife would tolerate.
Somewhere in there he lost a six-figure check for the sale of his parents house. You cant
imagine my total embarrassment at having to call the attorney and ask for a new one, he says.
How widespread is the disorder, and why is it so acute in certain individuals? Answers are hard to
gather in part because hoarders tend to be secretive about their habits. Nonetheless,
researchers have identified various interesting patterns. For example, hoarding often runs in
families. People with this problem tend to have a first-degree relative who also does, says
Randy O. Frost, a psychologist at Smith College. So it might be genetic, or it might be a
modeling effect.
+++
Hoarders tend to be emotional; they attach sentimental value to most of
their belongings, even used paper coffee cups or outdated calendars.
Theyre thinking about all their stuff the way you think about the contents
of your jewelry box, says Nicholas Maltby, a psychologist who works with
compulsive hoarders at the Institute of Living in Hartford. Hoarders are
often intelligent and well educated, and they typically think in complex
ways. They may have more creative minds than the rest of us in that they
can think of more uses for a possession than we can, says Frost.
Most fundamentally, scientists say, hoarders possess a profound inability to make decisions.
Frost describes combing through the possessions of one patient and coming across an article
from a travel magazine. The patient could not decide whether to throw away the article or, if she
kept it, whether to file it under travel or one of the various countries it discussed. So she made
several copies and put one in each category.
Indecisiveness extends to other areas of hoarders lives. They cannot
decide what they should be doing, so on any given day they may start a
dozen different projects. They bounce from one thing to another, says
Sanjaya Saxena, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California at
Los Angeles. They also have trouble deciding how much to say. They are
overtalkers. They have to give you every possible detail, rather than a
simple answer to a question.
Compulsive hoarding, unlike obsessive-compulsive disorder, does not respond to treatment with
antidepressant drugs, and unlike sufferers of obsessive-compulsive disorder, hoarders actually
enjoy being surrounded by all their stuff. Hoarding seems to be more like compulsive gambling
or compulsive shopping because its pleasurable to the person, Maltby says. Moreover, positronemission tomography brain scans indicate that hoarding and obsessive-compulsive disorder may
be quite distinct. In a study published in the June American Journal of Psychiatry, Saxena
reported that hoarders have lower activity in the cingulate gyrusa structure that runs through
the middle of the brain, front to backparticularly in areas known to be involved in decision
making and focusing attention. People with obsessive-compulsive disorder who are not hoarders

do not exhibit this characteristic at all; their brains, in contrast, show elevated activity in areas
that generate concerns about danger, contamination, and order.
Saxenas findings are corroborated by a recent study from the University of Iowa, involving a
group of people who had suffered lesions in various parts of their brains as a result of strokes or
other neurological diseases. Thirteen patients had never shown a tendency to hoard until they
suffered lesions in the mesial frontal regionwhich encompasses the anterior cingulate gyrusat
which point they fell victim to what the scientists described as a massive and disruptive
accumulation of useless objects.
The findings suggest that doctors may want to look outside the realm of obsessive-compulsive
disorder for drug treatments for hoarding, Saxena says. He plans to experiment with stimulants
typically given to people with attention deficit disorder. Well try Ritalin and also drugs that
seem to improve cognitive functioning in people with Alzheimers, he says. The goal would be
to improve attention and concentration and find out whether that helps hoarders.
In the meantime, Frost and Gail Steketee of Boston University are working to develop an effective
cognitive-behavioral treatment. Three different behaviors must be addressed, Frost says: the
organization of stuff, the acquisition of new stuff, and most important, the timely discarding of
stuff. The researchers are developing a
treatment model that calls for six months of therapy in which patients articulate their mental
struggle as they try to discard some of their possessions.
Maltby agrees that hands-on therapyhelping hoarders analyze their thoughts as they sift
through their stuffis crucial. The problem isnt solved by cleaning. Its not solved by coming in
and throwing out the hoarders stuff. They can collect it again. You have to solve the problem at
the decision-making level.

The psychology of collecting

By Mark B. McKinley, Ed.D.
Everybody collects something. Whether it be photographs of a persons vacation, ticket stubs
from ballgames, souvenirs of trips, pictures of ones children, athletes trophies, kids report
cards or those who collect junk (pack-rats) and dispose of it in garage sales.
The evolution of collecting
On the more formal side of collecting, it does seem that growing up we all collected something
we made into a hobby. It could have begun with baseball cards, marbles or stamps. Then it
moved on to antique books, Longaberger baskets, state quarters or Atmos clocks.
For others it was collecting the really unusual that worked best for them. People actually collect
bad poetry, barbed wire, knock-knock jokes, wax paper liners out of cereal boxes, swizzle sticks,
string, mouse pads, phone books, type fonts, clothing of famous people or Mersenne primes
(prime numbers).
Indeed, some collectors even collect collecting guides. And, speaking of the unusual, what about
the names for the people who collect things? An archtophilist collects teddy bears, a deltiologist
collects postcards, a numismatist collects coins, a vecturist collects subway tokens and a clock
collector is a horologist. Possibly Noah was the most famous collector of all. After all, he collected
two of every living animal and housed them in one place.
During the 1700s and 1800s there were aristocratic collectors, the landed gentry, who roamed
the world in search of fossils, shells, zoological specimens, works of art and books. The collected
artifacts were then kept in special rooms (cabinets of curiosities) for safekeeping and private
viewing. A cabinet was, in part, a symbolic display of the collectors power and wealth. It was
these collectors who established the first museums in Europe, and to a lesser extent in America.
The motivations to collect
Why do we collect things, e.g., Cracker Jack toys to manhole covers? Some people collect for
investment, yet one must wonder how a penny can become worth thousands of dollars. Some
collect for pure enjoyment its fun. Some collect to expand their social lives, attending swap
meets and exchanging information with like-minded souls.
And still other folks collect to preserve the past, but there can be risk here. Medical scientists and
anthropologists collected human remains for the purpose of study. Yet the courts have been
called into the fray as to who is the proper owner of the past, e.g., the Kennewick Man
archaeologists legally fight to study the bones, whereas, Native Americans legally fight to bury
them.
For some people collecting is simply the quest, in some cases a life-long pursuit that is never
complete. Additional collector motivations include psychological security, filling a void in a sense
of self. Or it could be to claim a means to distinction, much as uniforms make the man.
Collections could be a means to immortality or fame vis-a-vis Dr. Louis Leakey.
For some, the satisfaction comes from experimenting with arranging, re-arranging, and
classifying parts of a-big-world-out-there, which can serve as a means of control to elicit a
comfort zone in ones life, e.g., calming fears, erasing insecurity. The motives are not mutually
exclusive, as certainly many motives can combine to create a collector one does not eat just
because of hunger.
collecting vs. hoarding

Sigmund Freud didnt see collecting as stemming from these kinds of motivations. He postulated
that collecting ties back to the time of toilet training, of course. Freud suggested that the loss of
control and what went down the toilet was a traumatic occurrence and that, therefore, the
collector is trying to gain back not only control but possessions that were lost so many years
ago. Well thats Freud.
While Freud may clearly have overstated the issue, his explanation serves as a nice segue into
the dark side of collecting, the psychopathological form described as hoarding. The
abnormality of the hoarder shows up in those instances where the aberrant behavior interferes
with an otherwise reasonable life. This can sometimes even include gross interference with the
lives of others, even leading to enforcement issues.
Some theorists suggest that the behavior associated with hoarding can be an extreme variation
on compulsive buying. Compulsive buying, in turn, is closely related to major depression,
obsessive-compulsive disorder, and in particular, compulsive hoarding.
According to a study by Kyrios, Frost and Steketee, compulsive buying is thought to be influenced
by a range of cognitive domains including deficits in decision-making, emotional attachments to
objects, erroneous beliefs about possessions and other maladaptive beliefs. Some experts
have described the psychopathology of hoarding as repetitive acquisition syndrome.
hoarding as pathology
Probably the extreme illustration of this is the person who harms others in his/her passion for
collecting. Such extreme pathology is referenced by animal or people hoarders. The former is
the person we read about in the local paper with a headline that reads: Local Woman Found with
100s of Filthy, Diseased, Malnourished Cats. On the other hand, there are those collectors who
collect people, as in serial killers. Movies such as The Collector, The Bone Collector and Kiss the
Girls portray such persons in a context of a thrilling mystery for the entertainment of movie
goers.
In extreme instances of aberrant collecting what is one to do? Dr. Phil, The TV mental health
guru Philip McGraw, came to Amherst, Ohio to video and heal a Mr. Mishak who had a 10-year
accumulation of collectibles that ranged from old cereal boxes, windows, and toothpaste tubes
to dead cats. Dr. Phil interpreted Mr. Mishaks problem as compulsive hoarding that served as a
coping mechanism for managing anxiety and fear of losing control. The proposed therapy was
to provide a convoy of six big-rigs to haul away the collectibles Accompanying the trucks was a
requisite Dr. Phil TV crew. Since researchers have not agreed on the accountabilities for the
pathology of collecting, therapies have had limited success with such persons. We do not yet
know the full outcome of Dr. Phils therapy.
Mark B. McKinley, Ed.D., is professor of psychology at Lorain County Community College in
Elyria, Ohio. His e-mail address is: mckinley@lorainccc.edu.
References:
Jeffery Kluger, Who Should Own the Bones? Time, March 13, 2006, from
http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1169901,00.html (April 4, 2006)
Kyrios, M., Frost R.O. Steketee G., Cognitions in Compulsive Buying and Acquisition, (Kluwer
Academic Publishers, April 2004), 28: 241-258.
Hawk, Jason, Dr. Phil Confronts, Amherst New Times, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2006.

Cluttering Meditation Primer

Making a daily meditation period part of your decluttering routine energizes you, helps you focus
and accomplish goals in your personal and business life. At first, ten minutes of meditation will
seem like an eternity. Eventually, twenty minutes meditation will be about standard. You don't
have to do it in the morning. Whenever you have uninterrupted quiet time will do fine.
This excerpt is from Mike Nelson's book, Clutter-Proof Your Business, which oddly enough,
has a chapter on Feng Shui and was translated into Japanese and Korean.
I start every day with a short meditation, asking for guidance on whatever projects I may have
planned. More importantly, I ask my inner, authentic self, to speak to me through the day to keep
me on track. It's like having a personal coach with me through the day. My authentic self will tell
me when I am doing things that are outside its paradigm. It doesn't chide me, or blame me, it
just asks something like, Is this what we want to do? At first, you'll confuse your inner-self-talk
with inner-guilt-talk. The difference is that your inner self will not ever say should or make you
feel guilty. It will be gentle.
Close your eyes and relax. Breathe slowly, deeply, through your nose. Pull the air all the deeply,
all the way down to the bottom of your lungs. You'll know you've done this right when you feel
your rib cage expanding at the very bottom. Exhale from the bottom of your lungs by contracting
your stomach muscles and pushing the air back up through your lungs, and out your slightly
open mouth. You should both feel and hear the exhalation.
Do this several times until you feel pleasantly relaxed. Release the tension in your neck by
rotating it left to right, right to left. Shrug your shoulders, imagining them touching your ears. Let
all the tension leave you. To relax even more, imagine that waves of relaxation are flowing
through you, like ocean waves rolling to the shore as you inhale. As you exhale, see those waves
rolling back to the sea. Using your dominant learning skill, you may want to visualize the word
Relax, in front of you, or hear the ocean flowing through you. You may wish to chant (silently or
in a low voice out loud), Relax or Peace or whatever word feels right to you.
Feel each area of your body, your neck, chest, abdomen, thighs, legs, feet, relaxing in turn. (If
you get distracted, merely note it and move on. Let the distraction evaporate like smoke). When
you are sufficiently relaxed, feel yourself sinking into your chair, the floor or wherever you are.
Your body will be supported. You don't have to put any effort into maintaining your body.
Go inward to your quiet, calm center. You can visualize yourself as a light beam going deeper into
the center of your body. Deeper inward. Direct your vision to your day ahead. (Whether you do
this in the morning or evening, it's good to look forward). Without directing, ask for peace and
guidance on living this day according to the principles of your life. You may get visions of specific
actions, or you may just get feelings of doing the right thing at the right time. Other people
may be part of them: family, coworkers, bosses, strangers. Whatever comes to you is authentic.
Notice the feelings that dominate. If a person with whom you are having a conflict appears, bless
them and bathe them in a glow or warm, loving energy. You will be amazed at how they become
less of a challenge in the real world. This may happen immediately, or it may take some time,
but their negative energy will dissipate and your conflicts will dissolve.
Make these feelings real. Pull them into your inner self. Make them part of you. What you have
done on this spiritual, psychic level is real to your inner self. Make those feelings strong enough
and you can call them up during the day whenever you lose focus, get angry or scattered.
Sometimes you can do this immediately and sometimes you'll need the brief visualizations below
to help you.

When you feel ready, slowly return to the room and sit for a moment with your eyes closed. Feel
yourself integrating with your surroundings. Slowly open your eyes and take on your day, or have
a peaceful sleep.

Visualization For Changing Cluttering Behavior

This visualization comes from our Clutterless Recovery Groups meeting format. The spiritual
component of changing our cluttering behavior can be a great ally is we use it positively. We
welcome people of all religious beliefs and want to make it clear that visualization is not
meditation and has no religious overtones.
Close your eyes and relax. Breathe slowly, deeply. With each inhale take in the positive, healing
energy in this room. With each exhale, let go of the tension and frustration you brought in. Listen
to your breathing. Focus on the sound of your breath. Relax your forehead and neck. Let the
tensions you carry flow down through your bodies to your hands and out of you. [Allow about 30
seconds]
Release the tension in your shoulders. Your chest. Arms. Legs. Tension and worry flows out from
your body like a stream to a river, a river to the ocean. [Allow a couple of minutes in silence]
Go inward to your quiet, calm center. Deeper inward. Direct your vision to a clutter-free life.
[Here, expand on, or create a new visualization as you feel correct. Some suggestions are to
imagine a small clear area and make that a sacred space. Or focus on mental or emotional
clutter. Whatever feels appropriate is what is correct. There is no wrong way to do this.) Imagine
a place where your clutter has ruled. This could be your bedroom, living room, office, or
anywhere that bothers you. Put a clear barrier between you and your clutter. You are not your
clutter. It is only stuff. View it as unemotionally as possible. You are stronger than your clutter.
You are in charge. Clutterless self taking charge. See yourself creating a clutter-free space. Don't
worry about where things go. Just get them out of your field of vision. Your goal right now is just
to create clear space, not organize. Create order where there was disorder. Feel the texture of
the objects you discard. See and feel clarity where there was chaos. Feel the joy and pride that
decluttering creates in you. Hold that vision. Draw it into your heart. This is how your life really
is. This is your reality. [Spend about twice as long as before in silence while members see this.
When you feel ready, or sense fidgeting, begin speaking again.]
Slowly, when you are ready, return to this room, slowly coming back from your vision. When you
are ready to begin making it real on the physical plane, first return to this vision of a clutter-free
environment.

AN INTERVIEW with FUGEN NEZIROGLU

Fugen Neziroglu on Overcoming Compulsive Hoarding
Thousands of Americans feel an overwhelming need to acquire and save items of
little or no value. This disruptive and often dangerous condition is called compulsive
hoarding. People who hoard wrestle with a range of psychological and social issues that have a
great impact on their quality of life. The subject of increasing media attention, hoarding is also of
ever-greater interest to psychologists, who are actively researching the causes and best
treatments for the condition. New Harbingers book Overcoming Compulsive Hoarding: Why
You Save and How You Can Stop is the first self-help book written for people who hoard and
their loved ones. It offers a workable program for dealing with compulsions, clearing away
clutter, and achieving realistic lifestyle goals. We asked psychologist and professor Fugen
Neziroglu, one of the booksauthors,a few questions about this disorder.
New Harbinger Publications: How can you tell whether someone hoards compulsively or just
likes to collect things?
Fugen Neziroglu: The indicator is the way the individuals feel about their collections. People
who hoard are embarrassed by their possessions and often take pains to conceal them, while
collectors feel proud of their caches and enjoy showing them off. People who hoard tend to keep
their possessions in disarray and disrepair, but collectors tend to organize and dote on their
prized objects. The acquisition of new possessions is a source of shame and distress for someone
who hoards, whereas a new item will excite and delight a collector. In general, people who hoard
suffer some impairment due to their behavior and collectors experience some kind of
enhancement.
NHP: What are some items that people who hoard typically save?
FN: People who hoard can save anything. Most commonly they save newspapers, magazines,
paper, flyers, plastic bags, mail, tools, clothing or shoes, and food.
NHP: You say that there is some indication that hoarding is a symptom of obsessive-compulsive
disorder (OCD). Can you tell us a little about why some clinicians suspect this?
FN: People who hoard, like other individuals with OCD, experience obsessions, compulsions, and
doubting. They obsess about their possessions, have compulsions to save them, and doubt what
to discard. Their doubts can also focus on whether theyve accidentally thrown something
valuable away, how best to organize their possessions, or whether someone has touched their
belongings. These persistent thoughts are similar to the obsessions or compulsions experienced
by people with OCD.
NHP: What are some different types of hoarding?
FN: People hoard for sentimental, instrumental, and aesthetic reasons. Sentimental saving
happens when a person associates an object with a particular emotion and event- You might
hear things like, My husband wore these shirts during our last cruise, or These clothes and
toys belonged to my children when they were young. Instrumental saving refers to the fear of
losing some valuable information or object that may be needed in the future. People may buy
several of one item, believing that they might need it in the future. Aesthetic hoarding is less
common than the other two, but it is often seen. Someone who hoards for aesthetic reasons
might save things like vases or plates because they are pretty or have a particular interest in a
class of objects like airplane models.

NHP: What effect does hoarding have on the family, particularly the children and the spouses of
people who hoard?
FN: Hoarding can be devastating for the family. You have to remember that people who live with
someone who hoards dont get to choose how they want to utilize their space. The person who
hoards has total control over what goes where. This can cause a lot of anger. Also, because most
hoarders are ashamed of their behavior, they usually wont let others into their homes. This can
cause all sorts of problems: leisure activities and social behaviors get disrupted, routine
maintenance of things around the house becomes impossible. Functional spaces in the home like
beds, kitchen tables, couches, and so forth can get lost under collections. And, of course, the
collections themselves can create health problems.
NHP: What causes people to hoard?
FN: We dont really know what causes hoarding. There are some theories.
Neurobiological bases are being investigated. It is believed that serotonin, a substance in our
bodies, might be involved. On a psychological level, it seems that hoarding almost serves as selfpreservation. People who hoard might associate loss of possessions with loss of identity and self.
This feeling might be related to deprivation. We also live in a society that puts a lot of emphasis
on acquiring objects, and this kind of sentiment might incline people to save things. Our selfworth is often equated with the number of possessions we have.
NHP: People who hoard may be evicted or lose their children because of the safety hazard posed
by clutter. Can you tell us what the hazards typically are and what local governments are doing
to address the problem of hoarding?

FN: There are currently many task forces being formed to deal with hoarding.
Previously, many tenant-landlord disputes led to the eviction of people from their homes and the
dumping of their possessions. Some of these people attempted suicide or simply quit functioning
after they lost their belongings. Now we recognize that hoarding is a disorder that needs to be
dealt with seriously and somewhat therapeutically. More and more, landlords and civic authorities
who are familiar with hoarding try to work with tenants that hoard to help them deal with their
possessions in more constructive ways, like letting people who hoard decide for themselves what
to discard. The welfare of children with parents who hoard, of course, is a major concern for local
governments. Some children may be removed from their homes if they dont have a bed to sleep
on, a place to do homework, or space to walk and play around in. Its certainly the case that their
physical health can be endangered by molds, infestations, and excessive dirt conditions that
can cause asthma and other health problems.
NHP: Hoarding must cause a lot of problems for the spouses and partners of people who hoard.
What would be your advice to the partner of someone who hoards?
FN: Now that its available, Id recommend that he or she read our book and then offer it to his
or her mate. Id suggest they talk about the problem in a non-threatening way and acknowledge
together that the hoarding is a serious problem causing further serious problems in their
relationship. Id advise them to go to a therapist together to work on the problem-after, of
course, first checking to make sure the therapist is familiar with hoarding and will actually do the
type of therapy we suggest in the book. If the person who hoards refuses to see a therapist for
hoarding, Id try to get him or her to go for the relationship issues. Getting your foot through a
well-trained therapist's door is the first step. If all else fails, the partner of the person who hoards

can do the intervention technique we suggest in the book, organizing friends and family
members to talk to the person who hoards about the problem.
NHP: What are some of the treatment options for compulsive hoarding?
FN: We recommend treatment using a cognitive behavioral approach because it directly
addresses the problematic thoughts and behaviors that incline someone to hoard. We feel
strongly that talk therapy, in particular, doesnt help hoarders at all. We also recommend
cleaning and clutter-reduction techniques as part of treatment. In particular, the three-and-a-halfbox technique weve devised and described in the book is very effective at helping people who
hoard deal with clutter. It is important for therapists to engage clients in therapy, but this is also
very difficult to accomplish. We think its imperative that people who hoard seek out therapists
with experience in treating hoarding. It is not like other forms of OCD.
NHP: Once people who hoard have overcome their compulsion to save, what can they do to
prevent relapse?
FN: Probably the most important thing for someone recovering from hoarding to focus on is the
careful use of functional space for its intended purpose. If a recovering individual experiences a
relapse, its important for them to return immediately to the techniques we describe in the book
without letting themselves feel overwhelmed or defeated. The good news is that once someone
who hoards accomplishes his or her goals and overcomes an urge to hoard, he or she will
probably never hoard with the same degree of severity as before. I advise people to keep
plugging along, setting up new goals and working on them everyday.

Your Junk is My Treasure! The Psychology of Compulsive Hoarding

April 12th, 2007 by The Lounge Wizard
Today I am going to write about a very different type of psychological problem, called compulsive
hoarding. The Boston Globe had a very interesting article about hoarding. Researchers Gail
Steketee and Randy Carlson have a new book, called Buried in Treasures, which documents
their new approach to treating this disorder.
First of all, what is compulsive hoarding? Its when you cant get rid of anything, and cant put in
order what you have, so much so that you end up having difficulties using the spaces you live or
work in.
Are you a hoarder? Of course not! But Steketee and her colleagues developed a simple photo
test for hoarding . Take a look at these photos, and pick out the one that looks the most like your
bedroom. If it is number 4 or higher, then you probably have a problem with hoarding. (Hoarders,
it turns out, are very accurate at identifying the level of chaos in their spaces.)
Your official Lounge Wizard, Dr. Psychology took the test, and scored a 2 or 3, which puts him in
the normal range, but right on the borderline of hoarding. So this article is close to his heart.
What causes hoarding? Its not what most non-hoarders think; laziness, messiness, or even
depression. Although many hoarders have some elements of depression or anxiety, the core of
hoarding is that they have strong attachments to things. They are sentimental about
possessions, and often have very intense feelings about them. They tend to be creative, and can
think of many uses for objects.
Most hoarders function fairly well outside their homes. They have jobs, friends, and active
involvements. Where hoarding seems to impact them is in romantic relationships. The hoarders I
know tend to not have long term romantic relationships, which isnt surprising, as girlfriends and
boyfriends tend to want to come over to your house, and for a hoarder than is a painful
experience. Why do you have all of this stuff? Why dont you get rid of all this junk? I cant
believe you live this way! are all typical comments they may hear. Needless to say, there are no
more invitations after that. Steketee finds that at least 50% of hoarders are single.
So is there any hope for hoarding? One thing that doesnt seem to work very well is traditional
medicines for depression like antidepressants. Although these medicines work well for regular
obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) they dont appear to do much for hoarding. Traditional
psychotherapy doesnt work either.
Steketee and colleagues have developed a very nice cognitive behavioral model for treating
hoarding. They find that hoarders have similar cognitive models. For instance, hoarders have four
common fears: 1) missing important information or opportunities, 2) forgetting something
important, 3) experiencing loss, and 4) being wasteful. They tend to focus on lost opportunity, so
getting rid of a newspaper entails a possibility of losing some opportunity that was in the
newspaper. In general, all of their possessions get elevated in value.
Another common issue is needing to keep things in sight. This is tied into the need to not forget
anything. Out of sight, out of mind, is the hoarders mantra. This causes the visual chaos that
creates many of the problems of hoarding, since if one just had many possessions, but they were
well organized and stored, hoarding would not be a big problem.

So it is not surprising that Steketees treatment plan focuses on helping hoarders learn to
organize their space, rather than focusing on getting rid of stuff. This is more palatable goal for
most hoarders, who know that their space is poorly organized.
The treatment also focuses on helping hoarders overcome the need to acquire things. The rules
for acquisition are: 1) immediate need for the object (this week), 2) time enough to acquire and
use the object, 3) money to buy it, and 4) an appropriate space for the object. This nips the
problem in the bud.
The treatment works, but its not a miracle. According to Steketee, its not unusual for someone
to move from 7 to 3 on a 9 point scale where 1 is neat and organized, and 9 is total mess. But
relapse is always a danger, as there is something very compelling about hoarding.
So what is the core of hoarding? Even Steketee and her colleagues are a little baffled about this.
As a borderline hoarder who closest friends include some hoarders, I can give some intriguing
answers.
Hoarding is about possibility. The thought I could use this item someday, is central to the
decision to hold onto something. For instance, I have a box of scrap pieces of wood and plastic,
which I keep because I might have a use someday. Every once in a while, I use a piece from my
scrap box. And that reinforces keeping it.
Or papers. I used to clip articles from papers, thinking I would write about the topic someday. I
had many files of articles on travel, psychology, and technology. The technology innovation that
has changed that is computers, and more specifically, the email program Gmail. Instead of
printing out articles, now I email them to myself. Since Gmail can hold thousands of articles, and
with a simple search I can find any of them, Ive tossed out my article files.
One of the beauties of computers is that even massive hoarding of articles or writing takes very
little space on a hard drive. I can hold every email Ive ever written in my life on a single USB
memory stick. So if you are a hoarder of articles, or papers, consider buying a scanner, and using
computer technology to hoard more effectively.
Another aspect of hoarding is sentiment. I hate throwing out something that reminds me of a
good time in my life, or almost anything that has significant meaning. So Id never throw away a
photograph or a letter from someone I care about. I will throw out cards, though, unless they
have a significant written message inside.
And some of hoarding is simply about difficulty in making decisions. For instance, I have too
many books. But it is hard to figure out which books to toss. Some rules are easy. A bad
paperback novel is easy to toss. But a good novel is tougher; maybe I will want to reread it
sometime.
And reference books are still arder. Will I need the information in this book sometime? I try to ask
myself realistically if the info is something Ill need in the foreseeable future, and especially if the
information is still even relevant. Thus old computer books are easy to toss, since in the
computer world things date quickly.
One trick Ive used successfully in de-hoarding is to remind myself that one of the advantages of
getting rid of things is that you can get new things! For instance, if you go through ones clothes
closet and toss all the clothing that doesnt fit and doesnt look good, then you get to buy some
cool new threads! The same is true with books. The key is to replace less than you toss.
Conquering hoarding is about psychological growth. Central to the process of growth is letting go
of the old in order to make room for the new. New things, new people, and new experiences.

Another aspect of de-hoarding is traveling through life less encumbered. That gives you more
flexibility to move, and change. The irony of hoarding is that the biggest hoarders I know love to
travel. And when they travel, they leave almost all of their stuff behind. And they are perfectly
happy living out of a suitcase or backpack, and dont miss their stuff at all.
Maybe this is really a metaphor for our psychological baggage. Travel light, and leave the junk
behind. Throw out old stuff, and organize what you keep. Let go of things, and make room for
new things.
Copyright 2007 The Psychology Lounge/TPL Productions
1. Brother Dan
April 19th, 2007 at 11:42 am
As the hoarding brother of a famous blogger, I heartily concur with your hoarding article.
Some tricks I use are:
1) taking long trips and using other peoples guest rooms, invariably less cluttered than
my apartment.
2) Moratorium on purchasing certain items. No books. I hoard 10-20 library books (few of
which I actually get around to reading) and then return them and get new ones (few of
which)
3) Donate generously to Goodwill! If you havent used it in a year or two, it goes in the
donation box.
4) Trial separation. Put a bunch of books, clothes, junk, whatever into boxes, close them
up, date them and then leave them in a corner for a year. If you havent missed whats in
them, just bring them to Goodwill and get rid of them sight unseen as the psychology guy
would have you do, or open them up and see what you havent been missing, then get rid
of them.
5) Pretend you are about to move a long way away and that it would cost big bucks to
store or move junk, then toss accordingly.
6) Pretend you died. Whats really important is not stuff, but is memories and people
connections. Toss accordingly.
2. An anti hoarder
April 19th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
Hallelujah!
Maybe this is really a metaphor for our psychological baggage. Travel light, and leave the
junk behind. Throw out old stuff, and organize what you keep. Let go of things, and make
room for new things.
One of the best lectures I attended was about this exact concept: traveling through life
with a lighter backpack. I say, throw out the old stuff, file the sentiments in boxes, be
realistic about what you keep, and get rid of old reference material and outdated, worn
clothing. I believe that clutter also clutters the mind so start tossing away. Plus its dust
collecters. Its also most rewarding giving to others who dont have much.
3. Lounge Wizard
April 30th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Thanks for the comments. I like the suggestions for de-cluttering.

In thinking more about hoarding and accumulation, Im of two minds about it. Half of me
thinks its vitally important, and is key to flowing through life smoothly. But the other half
thinks its a false target. The New York Times often runs photos of famous successful
people in their offices. These offices usually are incredibly messy and cluttered. These
folks are too busy doing interesting things to straighten up.
So maybe its both things. But I think the key thing is to figure out: Is my life working the
way things are? If there is stress and strain on me or my significant others due to the
clutter and stuff, then its worth targeting. If not, then maybe it doesnt matter so much.
Probably better to figure out how to make life work better and have more meaning. To
paraphrase the rock star Warren Zevons biography Ill Sleep When Im Dead, maybe the
attitude we should take towards some decluttering and organization is Ill Straighten Up
When Im Dead.

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CREATIVITY: REDEEMING OUR INNER DEMONS

An Interview With Stephen A. Diamond, Ph.D. by Douglas Eby
A clinical and forensic psychologist, Dr. Stephen Diamond works with many talented individuals
committed to becoming more creative. "Creativity," he states, " is one of humankind's healthiest
inclinations, one of our greatest attributes."
As he explains in his provocative book, "Anger, Madness, and the Daimonic: The Psychological
Genesis of Violence, Evil, and Creativity," our impulse to be creative "can be understood to some
degree as the subjective struggle to give form, structure and constructive expression to inner
and outer chaos and conflict. "It can also be one of the most dynamic methods of meeting and
redeeming one's devils and demons."
Anger, he asserts, is one of the most troubling emotions for psychotherapy patients in general.
Yet, there is, Diamond says, a "very strong correlation between anger, rage and creativity, one
which most people are not aware of. Most of us tend to view anger or rage negatively,
associating it almost exclusively with destructiveness and violence. Certainly this correlation
exists. But anger can also motivate constructive and creative behavior."
In his brief foreword to Diamond's book, psychologist Rollo May introduces and defines the
classic Greek conception of the "daimonic" or darker side of our being, noting that "the daimonic
(unlike the demonic, which is merely destructive) is as much concerned with creativity as with
negative reactions. A special characteristic of the daimonic model is that it considers both
creativity on one side, and anger and rage on the other side, as coming from the same source.
That is, constructiveness and destructiveness have the same source in human personality. The
source is simply human potential."
Diamond holds that creativity may be a powerful and often dark endeavor: "The more conflict,
the more rage, the more anxiety there is, the more the inner necessity to create. We must also
bear in mind that gifted individuals, those with a genius (incidentally, genius was the Latin word
for daimon, the basis of the daimonic concept) for certain things, feel this inner necessity even
more intensely, and in some respects experience and give voice not only to their own demons
but the collective daimonic as well. So they are kind of like little oracles of Delphi, or canaries in
a coal mine, sensing the dangers, the conflicts, the cultural shadow, and trying to give it some
meaningful expression."
Speaking of his gifted patients and artists in general, he adds, "Who wouldn't be a little neurotic
having that kind of responsibility? But, as FREUD recognized, we're all neurotic to some degree.
And as Jung once said, we all have complexes. That is not the question. The only question is
whether we have complexes or they have us."
He claims that most mature artists "realize the relationship between rage and creativity. It is
their rage that, when redirected and channeled into their work, gives it the intensity and passion
that performing artists such as actors and actresses seek.
"Al Pacino's, Robert DeNiro's, Jack Nicholson's and Jessica Lange's work are good examples.
These artists have learned how to harness the power and intensity of their own rage (among
other daimonic emotions), deliberately tapping into their personal demons to animate and
intensify their acting.
"Creativity, then, can in part be thought of as the capacity to express the daimonic
constructively. This is what all great artists do."

Another powerful actor, acclaimed for her performance in "Mulholland Drive," Naomi Watts
commented about working with director David Lynch, "David saw me for myself and was OK with
my self-doubts. And I gave him the part of myself I felt I'd been hiding for so long, that didn't
need to be hidden. But he's an artist and he knows that creativity, humor and sexuality all come
out of a dark place."
Diamond believes an artist "can be understood as someone who strives to express him or herself
creatively rather than destructively. I see it as a conscious choice one makes in life, to aspire
either toward the light or the dark, positive or negative, the creative or destructive. The daimonic
demands expression, one way or the other. The artist -- be it the actor, musician, painter,
playwright, poet, novelist or simply a person who lives life very creatively -- is able to give voice
to his or her demons constructively rather than acting them out destructively. So acting and
"acting out" are two different things.
"Acting out is a compulsive, unconscious and generally destructive expression in life of the exact
same feelings the actor expresses on the stage or set. But the actor deliberately, and largely
consciously, chooses to express the daimonic artistically -- and this is therapeutic insofar as he or
she is liberated in some measure from the need to act out such passions literally as, say, a serial
killer or other violent criminal does.
"But to confront consciously one's inner demons -- the daimonic -- takes great courage. It is an
enormous struggle with one's self, a coming to terms with who one really is and how one really
feels, an arduous, demanding process in which pursuing or persisting in artistic work can be
instrumental."
In his book, Diamond writes about a number of prominent and accomplished artists who exhibit
varying degrees of success in accessing and expressing their demons in positive ways. One such
example, painter and sculptor Niki de St. Phalle, was able to find "a fertile outlet for her ferocious
rage toward men -- and the dominant masculine art establishment -- via the creative expression
of violence in her highly controversial work. Her famous 'shooting paintings' resulted from firing
live ammunition at paint-filled, white-washed balloons mounted on a blank, virginal canvas.
"Thus, rather than becoming a crazed killer or vengeful victimizer of men, de St. Phalle's fury -some of which stemmed from having been sexually abused by her father -- fostered a fecund
creativity, that served her well throughout her prolific career."
Picasso was also someone who prolifically expressed much violence and dark emotion through
his work, but was, Diamond points out, "also quite destructive, especially regarding the women
in his life." He is an example of what Diamond calls an angry "dysdaimonic genius" -- someone
possessed by the daimonic.
Other examples he cites include novelist Richard Wright and painters Jackson Pollock and Vincent
van Gogh. "The fact that van Gogh suffered from severe psychopathology -- including substance
abuse -- is indisputable," Diamond writes. "Indeed, the presence of marked psychopathology is
one of the defining hallmarks of dysdaimonia."
A "career criminal" and writer, Jack Henry Abbott "is an example of someone primarily evil, a
furious sociopathic personality, who abruptly became extremely creative, producing a criticallyacclaimed book championed by Norman Mailer, prior to committing murder and eventually
committing suicide in prison."
The difference between violent offenders like Abbott, Ted Bundy or Charles Manson and the
artist, Diamond suggests, is that "the artist endeavors to express his or her antisocial and
aggressive impulses (i.e., the daimonic) via acting, painting, music, etc., whereas the murderer is
driven to act out these destructive impulses in reality, imposing them unconsciously onto the

canvas of real life with little or no concern as to the devastatingly negative effects on the victims,
their families, and society in general."
All true artists at times function "in a state of daimonic possession to some extent," Diamond
says. "In Steven Spielberg's classic, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Richard Dreyfuss gives us
an incredibly compelling, dynamic and utterly convincing view into the daimonic drivenness of
the artist. He actually is compelled, against all convention, to become an artist, a sculptor, in
order to find some way to realize and give meaning to the vision in his head -- in that story, a
vision implanted by extraterrestrial visitors.
"Dreyfuss' character says, 'I know this means something.' "
"He can't figure it out; that's what he's struggling with: trying to give meaning to his experience."
"But there is also a lot of destruction in that state: he's wrecking his marriage, wrecking his
home, his health, and this is very much true of that kind of daimonic possession state in intense
creativity. But art in general can be conceived of as a process of trying to perfectly realize in the
outer world a particular interior vision, emotion or idea, regardless of its origin."
Regarding the paradoxical coincidence of creativity and destructiveness (or evil), Diamond cites
Jungian analyst Liliane Frey-Rohn: "Evil is of fundamental importance also in the creative process.
For although creativity is usually evaluated as exclusively positive, the fact is that whenever
creative expression becomes an inner necessity, evil is also constellated."
This closeness of evil and creativity can be seen in the lives of those who are unsuccessful in
finding a positive creative voice. "If once the daimonic has been wakened," warns Diamond, "and
no constructive conduit for self-expression can be found, violence, destructiveness, and evil offer
convenient alternative outlets. Hence the perils and importance of assisting patients in pursuing
their creative proclivities."
The goal for psychotherapy with artists and other creative individuals, he explains, is "not to
eradicate the daimonic, to drug or rationalize the demons out of existence. Not only is this not
desirable; it is not possible, at least not in the long-run." As Rollo May put it, the therapist's task
is to awaken and confront the demons, not put them to sleep.
"There was a recent study done which concluded that psychotherapy was at least as effective for
treatment of at least some psychiatric disorders as psychotropic drugs -- and the positive effects
are more enduring! Why is this? Because when therapy is done well, the patient has integrated
cognitive and other tools to deal more constructively with his or her demons. Some artists like
Ingmar Bergman, for example, have learned to live with their demons rather than trying to
simply suppress or divorce them."
"In therapy, one learns to accept and even befriend one's demons -- the daimonic -- recognizing
that they not only make us who we are but that they participate in and invigorate our creativity."
The poet Rainer Maria Rilke dropped out of therapy after only a few analytic sessions, fearing, "If
my devils leave me, my angels will too."
"But that is a false fear as regards any therapy that respects, fosters, and cultivates the
daimonic," Diamond feels. "Still, many artists understandably resist therapeutic treatments
aimed at toning down or suppressing the daimonic cognitively, behaviorally or biochemically. "
"Creativity can be simplistically defined as the constructive expression of the daimonic. When the
artist gives voice to his or her darkest impulses in his or her work, the destructive impact is
minimized and the daimonic energy positively informs the work. When the serial killer or mass
murderer or terrorist gives voice to these antisocial impulses, evil is the result."

During the creative process, Diamond finds, "one can enter into what I call a state of 'benevolent
possession.' It's a sort of trance. The artist allows herself or himself to be swept up in the raging
current of primordial images, ideas, intuitions and emotions emanating from the daimonic or
unconscious, while, at the same time, retaining sufficient conscious control to render this raw
energy or prima materia into some new creative form."
"This kind of voluntary possession can be a constructive, integrating, even healing experience.
But its inducement demands specific attributes, discipline and skills, including adequate ego
strength to withstand and meaningfully structure (rather than succumbing to) daimonic chaos.
The boundary between benevolent and malevolent possession is perilously permeable."
"The insight, creativity, inspiration and ecstasy of voluntary possession," he explains, "can
quickly deteriorate into destructive, involuntary possession, otherwise known as madness or
psychosis." This is the dark side of creativity. This is, for example, one way of thinking about
mania in bipolar disorder, which has long been associated with possession, madness, and
creativity.
"Many artists with this syndrome welcome or seek to intentionally invite possession in order to
enhance their creativity. Drugs and alcohol are often employed precisely for this purpose, a sort
of chemical lubrication of the creative process. But such immersion in the unconscious can be
dangerous, and the artist can be swamped, inundated and swept away into full-blown mania. Or
the mood can suddenly switch to its opposite, triggering a major depressive episode. So this
shows that creativity can also be a dangerous business."
The idea of possession has been around a long time, he points out, and "it used to be believed -and still is by many people -- that it is caused by entities of some kind, demons, devils and so
forth."
JUNG is the one who talked about it most. He said the shadow, and the unconscious in general,
has the power to possess the individual due to its unconsciousness; the more unconsciousness
there is, the more vulnerability there is for that kind of possession in the negative sense.
"And he talked about complexes in particular, having the ability to take possession of one in a
destructive way."
An illustration is the Robert Louis Stevenson story "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" in which an
unconscious personality, the shadow, has the power to take over, "because of its very
dissociation: that's what gives it its power. When Rollo May talked about it the daimonic, part of
the definition is the potentiality to be possessed, to be driven by it unconsciously, for it to take
over and usurp the whole personality."
Anxiety, like anger or rage, is another experience closely connected to creativity. "It is true that
not all creativity comes out of anxiety," Diamond clarifies, "in the same way that not all creativity
comes from anger or rage. But anxiety typically, to some extent, accompanies and spurs on the
creative process.
Anxiety can be thought of as one of those demons we don't want to deal with or even know
about. So we tend to deny it, avoid it. Drinking, drugs, compulsive gambling, sexual promiscuity,
workaholism -- all are futile attempts to avoid anxiety. Anxiety is related to the fear of the
unknown, of the unconscious, and of death.
"Creativity requires making use of this existential anxiety. There are two fundamental ways of
responding to anxiety: avoidance or confrontation. Creativity involves the confrontation of
anxiety, and of that which underlies the anxiety, i.e., discovering the meaning of one's anxiety."

Diamond adds that anxiety can be a signal that unacceptable (daimonic) impulses conflicting
with consciousness are "threatening to break through their repression. These impulsions can be
profoundly threatening to our sense of identity, our 'persona' as Jung called it, or our egos."
Such "unacceptable" impulses come from a dark inner territory Jung called "the shadow" and we
typically dread looking "in there" or having impulses appear unbidden. "But if we can stand firm
without running," Diamond says, "tolerating the anxiety these unwanted visitations, these 'close
encounters' engender, we can begin to give them form and hear what it is they want of us.
"Creativity comes from this refusal to run, this willing encounter with anxiety and what lies
beyond it. It is an opening up to the unknown, the unconscious, the daimonic. And it can be
terrifying. The real trick is learning to use the anxiety to work rather than escape. And all of this
requires immense courage, the courage to create.
"So anxiety stems from conflict -- either inner or outer conflict -- and creativity is an attempt to
constructively resolve that conflict. Why do people create? We create because we seek to give
some formal expression to inner experience. Certainly, that inner experience is sometimes joy,
peace, tranquility, love, etc. We wish to share that experience with our fellow human beings."
But, he continues, human nature being what it is, "more often the inner experience is conflict,
confusion, anxiety, anger, rage, lust, and so forth. So this is what fuels and informs the bulk of
creative work, and it is what gives it its resonance, intensity, and cutting edge."
Anxiety not only motivates most creative activity, Diamond notes, "it inevitably accompanies the
process. This is because in order to be creative -- to bring something new into being, something
unique, original, revolutionary -- one must take risks: the risk of making a fool of oneself; the risk
of being laughed at; the risk of failing; the risk of being rejected."
This is the reason "true creativity" requires so much courage, he explains. "One can never know
the outcome of the process at the outset. Yet, one is putting oneself on the line, fully committing
oneself to the uncertain project. Hence, one is plagued by the demons of doubt, discouragement,
despair, trepidation, intimidation, guilt, and so on. Who wouldn't feel anxious?
Nonetheless, it is during this process -- once we have decided unequivocally to throw ourselves
fully into it, for better or worse, to completely commit to it -- that there can be moments of
lucidity, clarity, passionate intensity that transcend all petty concerns.
"It is then -- when we stop worrying about what others will think, when we stop trying so hard,
when we relinquish ego control and surrender to the daimonic, when we relax or play -- that what
Jung termed the 'transcendent function' kicks in, and the conflict is resolved, the problem is
solved, the creative answer revealed."
So this kind of alliance with the daimonic aspect of our selves is of profound value. As Diamond
writes in his book: "By bravely voicing our inner 'demons' -- symbolizing those tendencies in us
that we most fear, flee from, and hence, are obsessed or haunted by -- we transmute them into
helpful allies, in the form of newly liberated, life-giving psychic energy, for use in constructive
activity. During this alchemical activity, we come to discover the surprising paradox that many
artists perceive: That which we had previously run from and rejected turns out to be the
redemptive source of vitality, creativity, and authentic spirituality." [END]
--Stephen A. Diamond, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical and forensic psychologist practicing in Los
Angeles, CA. Dr. Diamond is a designated forensic consultant for the Los Angeles Superior Court

(criminal division), and maintains a private psychotherapy practice where he sees many talented
individuals, including members of the Screen Actors Guild.
A former pupil and protege of Dr. Rollo May, he has taught at the Pacific Graduate School of
Psychology, J.F.K. University, the C.G. Jung Institute--Zurich and the Institute of Transpersonal
Psychology.
He was a contributing author to the best-selling anthology "Meeting the Shadow: The Hidden
Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature" (1991). And is the author of "Anger, Madness, and the
Daimonic: The Psychological Genesis of Violence, Evil, and Creativity" (1996/99). His most recent
publication, "Violence as Secular Evil," will appear in the Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic
Studies (January 2003).

3 Reasons People Are Disorganized - The Psychology of Disorganization

by Debbye Cannon
Does your laundry pile make you feel like Edmund Hillary climbing Mount Everest? Is your office
such a mess that it requires a Lewis and Clark expedition to find what you need?
If you feel inclined to exclaim, "Paperwork, trinkets and knickknacks, oh my!" then there is hope.
The trick is getting to the root of why you're collecting things. Why do people collect so much
"stuff" that it makes it impossible to find things fast or get things done?
There are three basic reasons people collect so many possessions that their homes and
businesses become disorganized. Discover which one motivates you and then use the solutions
provided to simplify your life.
Scarcity Mentality
Remember great-grandma saving buttons in a jar? Those who lived through the depression
learned to make do, wear it out, and save the scraps. Today, we have the ecology movement
where many of us feel a stewardship to make things last and recycle them. There's nothing
wrong with being a good steward but when you have collected so much stuff that it's getting in
your way, something must be done.
What's the solution? Set limits on the "stuff" you keep. Use the "one in one out" method. If you
buy or bring home something new, give or recycle one thing out. Use it or lose it. Realize that
you have moved on and don't use outdated items such as out of style clothing, furniture,
appliances, hobby equipment, and toys! If you got it once, you can probably get it again.
Abundance Society
In the abundance society we collect things because they're cheap. Or there's the "new and
improved" version, and we simply must have it. Today we also have an increased freedom to go
shopping. For many, going shopping has become the national pastime. This used to be the mall,
now it's even easier to shop online with a point and a click. Collecting stuff has become a way to
show our success and achievements. We feel a sense of entitlement that we've worked hard, so
we deserve it. Still others shop or acquire things out of revenge or resentment.
What's the solution? Find a worthy charity or recipient for "good stuff" that you don't use or
need. Share your wealth with others.
Hoarding
Our things often hold memories. They help us live in the past. We may hold onto things because
we feel a sense of family responsibility to do so. A fear of the future and of unknown situations
makes us hold onto the old and the comfortable. Some also hang onto unnecessary documents
because they don't know what to keep and what to discard.
Hoarding is driven by fear. Fear is False Evidence Appearing Real. Instead of thinking of the
"value" of the "stuff," consider the "VALUE" of your "life."
What's the solution? Real preparedness (peace of mind) for future unknowns might include:

Organizing vital documents

Creating a family first aid and/or emergency kit
Start saving for your financial security (creating a financial plan aka "budget")

Identifying & visualizing your dreams. List steps to accomplish your goals.

So why do you hang onto things? Do you have a fear that there's not enough? Or do you equate
an abundance of possessions with success? Or perhaps you are afraid to let go of the past? Get
to the root of why you collect things, address your fears, and then use the solutions outlined
above to take positive action toward simplifying your life. You'll be amazed at the freedom and
peace of mind you experience as a result.

Are You A Collector?

ARE
By Ramona Creel

YOU

COLLECTOR?

Collections are the outward manifestation of a deeply-felt principle or emotion, and are quite
different than ordinary garden-variety clutter. One man has a love of photography and takes
pictures of everything. Another woman buys more shoes than she could ever wear, to make up
for having hand-me-downs as a child. Someone else might keep all of her mothers old clothes
and papers after her death. Whether we love hats, unicorns, or butter tubs that we might use
someday, collecting makes us feel good it fulfills some NEED in our lives. What do you love to
collect?
However, as much as we love our keepsakes and mementos, any collection can become
overwhelming if it isnt kept in check. One of my clients actually considered building on an extra
room to house dozens of antique cups until she realized it was a choice between the
renovation and her sons college tuition! Another client spent hundreds of dollars a month on
storage units, because she couldnt bear to part with any of her childrens clothes or toys. The
trick is to establish a set of RULES for sorting, storing, and purging your mementos. Even if you
arent buried in memorabilia, its important that you properly store and protect your keepsakes
after all, your treasured memories deserve some respect!
SETTING PHYSICAL LIMITS
You may decide to establish a physical limit for your belongings. Perhaps you tell yourself that
you will keep no more than 10 ceramic frogs, setting numerical limit. Or, you could determine an
acceptable spatial limit I wont buy any more shoes than will fit on this shelf. Finally, you might
decide that you work better with an in / out ratio you get rid of one magazine every time you
bring a new one home. Either way, you are creating a very specific method for keeping your
belongings in check. You never need worry about losing control again!
THE DISCRIMINATING COLLECTOR
Collecting, like everything in life, should be about quality not just quantity. Resist the urge to
own every colored glass bottle on the planet be DISCERNING about your favorites. Perhaps
you can select a few representative samples of your collection, display them beautifully, and
discard the rest. Take some time to examine your treasures, asking yourself which ones really
mean something to you. You may find that a once beloved collection has lost its appeal. Take
picture or shoot a video tape of your collection for posterity then you will feel more free to let
go of the past without completely discarding years of memories.
STORING YOUR KEEPSAKES
The first rule for protecting your memorabilia is to select a space that is accessible, but not part
of your active storage. If you clearly separate mementos from those items you use regularly,
they are less likely to get damaged or lost. You may use any kind of container, but one with a lid
will keep out dust. I happen to prefer a cedar chest, because it insures that no creepy-crawlies
will decide to munch on my keepsakes. Insect infestation is a particularly important concern if
you are keeping old clothing or dried flowers. You may want to have that baby blanket or
wedding gown professionally cleaned and sealed before you store it away. And be very careful
about storing treasures in your garage, attic, basement. Never store anything in an unprotected
area if it might be damaged by moisture or extremes in temperature if it might melt, freeze,
warp, fade, or crack. Finally, be careful about the kind of packaging you use acid-free tissue
paper is a better choice than packing peanuts, which can melt over time.
GETTING YOUR PICTURES IN ORDER

Going through years of backlogged pictures and putting them in order can either be a nightmare
or a fun trip down memory lane depending on how you approach it. Before you do anything,
go wash your hands. The oils on your fingers can permanently damage your snapshots. And
remember that even Ansel Adams threw away the bad pictures. If its underdeveloped, fuzzy, too
bright, or youre making a goofy face, you can toss it. You wont go to hell. While were at it, lets
talk DUPLICATES why do you need 6 sets of prints from the company picnic? Keep one and
give the rest to the other people in the picture.
The easiest way to begin is to sort your snapshots by date. You can get a general idea of the time
period by the film grain (black and white, sepia, full-color) and the paper on which the photo is
printed (white edging is older than no edging, textured paper is older than smooth). Other clues
can be found within the pictures themselves. Are those hotpants from the 1960s? Perhaps you
remember that you took that cruise to Nassau in 1993. You may only be able to remember the
occasion that must have been a family reunion because theres Aunt Marge! Separate your
snapshots into piles according to the time period and the occasion. Then, label each photo on the
back with a crayon or special grease pencil a sharp pencil or pen will damage the picture. And
dont forget to label the negatives, as well.
STORING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS
Once your pictures are in chronological order, youre ready to store them away. Always use ACIDFREE pages, mylar / polypropylene pockets, or an acid free box never magnetic pages, which
will eventually destroy your snapshots. You will probably want to put some identifying labels on
the pages or box dividers as you go along, so have a pen and some stickers handy. Keep your
negatives in the original packaging, labeled in chronological order, in a photo box or you may
buy special negative sleeves that fit into a ring-binder. And keep in mind that both photographs
and negatives are easily damaged by moisture and heat. The attic or basement probably is not
the best place for them. You may opt to keep your negatives in a fire safe or safety deposit box,
in case your photos are destroyed. After this point, be sure to keep some extra photo albums and
blank pages on hand, and reward yourself for organizing your pictures and negatives as soon as
you bring them home.
********************************************************************
Ramona Creel is a Professional Organizer and the founder of OnlineOrganizing.com offering a
world of organizing solutions! Visit www.onlineorganizing.com for organizing products, free tips,
a speakers bureau and even get a referral for a Professional Organizer near you. And if you are
interested in becoming a Professional Organizer, we have all the tools you need to succeed. If
you would like to reprint this article, you may do so as long as you include this full resource box
(Copyright Ramona Creel).

The Psychology of Decluttering

At caboodleMe we encourage you to get rid of everything you no longer have use for when you
move. However, its easier said than done. So why do we like to hold onto so many useless
items? Professional de-clutterer Sandy Garfield explains.
Fact. Most people have too much stuff.
It seems that human beings are natural hoarders but why do we find it so hard to throw things
away? Sandy Garfield, who has run her own de-cluttering business, de-junk re-vamp, for the past
four years, says that most people make the mistake of thinking that everything they own is
useful.
Its very common for the older generation who lived through the war years to find it impossible
to throw anything away, she says. Those years were hard and people had to be inventive and
make the best of what little they had. Unfortunately, some of them have forgotten that its now
the 21st century and theres no need to hoard. My mother for example, kept a selection of
cardboard box lids she thought would be useful one day. Why? I really cant imagine - I think she
was planning to use them for trays! It never happened of course but she lived through the war
and that was the mentality.
So why is it essential that you clear out your home, particularly when you are tying to sell?
Thats easy. It looks bad when a house is packed full to the rafters, says Sandy. Not everyone
can see the potential in a property, they need a place dressed to maximise light, space and living
potential. Ill often suggest a coat of neutral paint or that they store items and buy others, such
as lamps or tablecloths, if I think it will maximise a homes selling potential.
Sandy's top 5 de-cluttering tips - and the caboodleMymove team can help with all of
them!
1. Beware newspaper hoarding syndrome. Dont keep old newspapers, particularly the Sundays,
in the hope you might read them someday. It never happens and the paper is better off being
recycled.
2. Dont believe that everything you keep has a use. Ditch the 400 carrier bags or old socks
intended to use as dusters. Take unwanted but still usable items to a charity shop, or put them
eBay, or recycle.
3. Get rid of clothes you have grown out of. Hoarding a skirt from maybe your pre-pregnancy
days is a dangerous thing (not to mention depressing!). Throw them out and splurge on new
clothes that fit you!
4. Try not to be so sentimental. Keep one box from the past of full of special trinkets, photos or
letters because unless you live in a museum, items like this will have your home bursting at the
seams.
5. Guilt is a killer. You probably dont want to offend the aunty who gave you all that pot
pourri/china cat/dried flower arrangement at Christmas. Either recycle or re-gift them to someone
else (but not the aunty who gave them to you obviously!).
Five statements Sandys clients have made once shes worked her magic on their
once cluttered homes:
I dont spend hours looking for things I know where everything is.

I cant believe I had SO much stuff that I didnt need.

Wow! I never thought my house could look like this.
That was a life changing experience thank you.
I feel FREE!
Indeed, Sandy sees her role as part psychologist and part personal trainer for the home.
People work out better at the gym with a trainer, and the home is no different, she explains.
Its easy to put off your house purge because theres something more interesting to do but if
youve paid someone for their expertise and services, then you HAVE to carry out your good
intentions!
Ultimately, its just healthy to have a house purge. Life is so busy and cluttered, that its even
more important these days that home is a haven of tranquility. Sandy is realistic about how
achievable this is but says, If you cant make all of your home as streamlined as you would like,
and lets face it, if youve got children youre not going to be living in a house that looks like
Grand Designs or Elle Decoration, try at least to keep just one room in your home as tranquil and
clutter free as you possibly can. One peaceful room is haven enough and that room could be
the one that ultimately sells your home and makes you more money. And thats no bad thing!

Zen and the Art of Making a Living

By Laurence G. Boldt