Declutter And Free Your Mind

There are two types of people in this world, hoarders and chuckers. The hoarders may not appreciate this article but Im sure the unapologetic chuckers (many of whom, like me, have found themselves living with a hoarder) are all well aware that every now and then a good clear-out does the world of good, both to our mental health and to our physical well being.

I am sure we can all think of sayings which support the view that too much junk, be it in your home or in your head, is a bad thing (tidy desk, tidy mind for example). However when your partner is a hoarder and happily squirrels apparently useless bits and pieces around the house because its always useful to have one of those it can become a source of irritation (and dare I say, occasional secretive binning).

Is it really necessary to keep piles and piles of old magazines and newspapers when they will obviously (to the chucker at least) never be read again? Parts of broken cars/tools/dishwashers because one day they may come in useful? In the meantime they sit around with no home and turn a house into a scrapyard.

I have an old school friend who would generally agree with me on the chuck-it-out front; however she comes from a family of obsessive hoarders. When she was growing up her father reserved a particular room in their (fortunately quite spacious) house for the storage of his old Telegraph newspapers. I met my friend when we were both about twelve and by this time the papers took up half of the room and stood in piles roughly five feet high. When I asked her why he did this she replied that he liked to go and read the old papers from time to time. Im sure his wife had the patience of a saint, except she had similar tendancies so it probably wasnt too difficult to live with.

No doubt the hoarders will be deriding my ruthlessness and lack of comprehension, but to my mind if something you are saving for a rainy day hasnt been used for a couple of years is there really any point in keeping it? Are our homes not cluttered enough with childrens toys and books that we can afford valuable space for extra junk? I am strongly in favour of recycling, Freecycling and Ebaying and if all that fails to clear space or if the items are simply too worthless to all other human beings, chucking them in the bin. Try it all you hoarders if you can bring yourself to actually do it, you might just like the therapeutic purging feeling a good clearout brings!



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About the Author:

Robert Stanley is an Internationally recognized author and web entrepreneur. He has given several TV and radio appearances and is passionate about the internet and technology and writes on a wide range of subjects.