If you have ever lived in America’s southeeast, you are familiar with Kudzu. Kudzu is a fast-growing, lush green vine crawling along the ground, hanging from the trees. Taking down everything in its path.
Here’s how the Nature Conservancy described it in their article “Kudzu: The Invasive Vine that Ate the South.”
Known as “mile-a-minute” and “the vine that ate the South,” this creeping, climbing perennial vine terrorizes native plants all over the southeastern United States and is making its way into the Midwest, Northeast and even Oregon.
Kudzu—or kuzu (クズ)—is native to Japan and southeast China. It was first introduced to the United States during the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876 where it was touted as a great ornamental plant for its sweet-smelling blooms and sturdy vines.
From the 1930s through the 1950s, the Soil Conservation Service promoted it as a great tool for soil erosion control and was planted in abundance throughout the south. Little did we know that kudzu is quite a killer, overtaking and growing over anything in its path.
Why am I discussing Kudzu, you might ask? Because in my world, clutter is Kudzu—harmless at first, even useful, until it gains momentum and ultimately destroys all I aspire to achieve.
I Earned my Clutter Jungle
I have FOMO – fear of missing out. It’s also known as Shiny Object Syndrome. I never met a course or a blog post, a webinar or an email that I didn’t download, open, and save. Same goes for a magazine, or catalog.
But when you are accumulating everythingyou possibly can, when are you supposed to have the time to actually take the course, watch the webinar, read the magazine or blog post? I save it in my action folder, pending folder, to read folder, to do folder, in a rapidly growing pile on my desk, my table, my couch. See a pattern here?
Guess what happens when you subscribe to everything? First, you never get anything done. Second, you eventually go broke — trust me on that one. And finally, you can never find anything when you need it.
In my case, that includes the numerous decluttering courses I have purchased. I can’t find them now when I need them most. So I jerry-rigged my own solutions, and they are beginning to work.
To some extent, I have the same problem in my life. I can open most of my kitchen cabinets and see what’s in them. Ditto my clothes closet. But let’s not discuss the bathroom. I have an ongoing love affair with Alltrue and now I have dozens of beauty products in search of someone to use them. Likely, it won’t be me. I console myself with the knowledge that I was supporting important causes when I ordered, and paid for, all those moisturizers and primers that are gathering dust under the sink.
The point is that without an intervention, I was buried in stuff—maybe stuff I even wanted, but I was so busy chasing that rainbow that I couldn’t find the pot of gold right under my nose.
How Bad Is It?
I am a youngest child. My older sisters still come visit regularly with the sole intention of throwing things out. One tackles the kitchen cabinets although she ignores my growing spice collection. Another focuses only on paper, helping me part with old magazines I mean to read someday, while finding that misplaced check for $200. I lost hours searching for that check. I bought four jars of peanut butter before realizing I had peanut butter in the back of the cabinet.
After all this time, and all the money I have spent on organizers, courses, and books, not to mention Starbuck’s Gift cards to reward my sisters, I have learned numerous helpful lessons. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t mastered the problem —yet. But I am on the road there and sharing my secrets along the way. These are my confessions of a clutter-aholic, and just like the shopaholic at the end of the movie, temptation continues to lurk around every corner.
Why Tame Your Clutter Jungle?
For me, clutter is a stressor and I am not alone. According to this article, “What Does Clutter Do to Your Brain and Body” from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners:
Clutter can affect our anxiety levels, sleep, and ability to focus.
It can also make us less productive, triggering coping and avoidance strategies that make us more likely to snack on junk and watch TV shows (including ones about other people decluttering their lives).
My own research shows our physical environments significantly influence our cognition, emotions and subsequent behaviours, including our relationships with others.
The article goes on to discuss potentials for depression, diabetes and more. In other words, clutter is dangerous!
And annoying as hell! I have lost the current version of a manuscript, more than once.
I spend endless hours looking for that one piece of paper, or that one file with an image I just know I saved. The file naming systems that seem so logical on Monday are often useless by Friday. I have lost money, and bills.
Clutter wastes time, and raises my blood pressure, both of which keep me from writing, Or at least writing well. And I haven’t even covered the mismanagement of my calendar leading to missed calls or double bookings. Trust me, they happen.
Obviously, from that article, and hundreds more like it, clutter is distracting, and it makes me fat! It makes me pretty miserable, too, cause I spend a lot of time beating myself up when I lose the decluttering battle.
So why take advice from someone tearing their hair out because of the piles that surround her, the lost images, or the missed meetings? Why? Because I have walked in your shoes—although I have no idea where those shoes are now!
Seriously, if I can manage the clutter in my life, you can, too. I’m getting there. I am not claiming to be an expert, just a fellow writer trying to clear my brain so I can better put pen to paper.
Here are my favorite, although certainly not all the ways I manage clutter:
For My Books and digital Clutter
Admittedly, digital clutter is the worst of my problems. I have five email addresses and all of them are out of control. The number one contributor is bundles. I purchase bundles like Infostack and Blogging Concentrated Bundles and that adds me to dozens of email lists overnight.
First, don’t stop buying bundles. They are one of the most cost effective ways to discover new tools, ideas, and people I have ever encountered. Do manage their emails.
1/ Create a folder for each bundle and filters to automatically syphon emails from contributors directly from your in basket to that folder. That is key to getting them out of your immediate sight, but then you need to actually go read the emails. I schedule an hour a week specifically for each bundle.
2/ Unsubscribe. Be ruthless about this one. I challenge myself to unsub from 5-10 people each and every day! Remember, even with that plan, I am still buried.
3/ Create a file management system for your books and stick with it. Perhaps you want to use Scrivener for this, or another tool, but even if you write in Word, be sure to only have one current version of your manuscript and label all the previous versions. I use date and time when I save any and all versions of my manuscript.
4/ Clear out everything and start fresh. I have to do this more than I like, but occasionally I put my entire inbox in a folder, label it with today’s date and start over with a zero in-box. If I need anything, it is there in the folder, but eventually I discard the folder and move on.
5/ Set up a system in Dropbox or Evernote and use it. I store links to everything in Evernote, because I can tag and search them. That is so much easier than scrolling through everything on my computer to find them again. I have folders with links to courses, to blogs I want to read. I use it instead of bookmarks, and I even scan paper files into Evernote to get them off my desk. My Evernote looks cluttered, but the search functions save me from myself.
Taming the Paper Clutter Jungle
The number one rule for paper is to never, as in never ever, let it in your home to begin with. Toss it as soon as you get it whenever you can.
1/ Automate your bills to reduce the amount of mail you receive. Surprisingly it is safer to pay bills on line, you are less likely to miss or be late with a payment and there is no paper to file.
2/ If something requires saving, perhaps tickets to an event, or a wedding invitation, file it under the appropriate date in your calendar or desk planner. Keep everything active in a single location.
3/ Be ruthless. Do you really need to save or file that receipt in your hand? If it isn’t for tax purposes, try to get rid of it. Better yet, scan it into Evernote and the filing is done. You have a trail, minus the paper. Start small if you have to, 5-10 items per day have to go.
4/ Minimize your collecting. I love saving photos to inspire a future book, of people and places, or articles about a tidbit that would make a great story. How many of these do you need? More will come along every day so be selective about what you keep and of course, scan it.
5/ Get help. Seriously, have an intervention if necessary. A slightly disinterested party can help you discard those piles of paper in a fraction of the time it takes you to barely make a dent. This is the role my sister plays for me. In an hour she can toss 90% of the pile while I am reading an article I printed out two years ago and never read. If you can’t muster the chops to toss, find someone who will.
All this said, there are some terrific courses on decluttering, and some wonderful books, too. In fact, I’ve reviewed a few of them here. But you will only succeed by doing three things: find what works for you, turn it into a system you can maintain, then make it a habit. Everyday. Every single day. It only takes missing a day for you to find yourself buried again.
Trust me, I know. But I am doing better, and I will get there. Want to join me on the journey?