What Your Stuff Says About You
Whether you have large amounts of clutter or immaculately clear surfaces, what you own and how you keep it can reveal secrets about you.
Piles can make you appear busy, up to a point. After that your family and coworkers wonder how you get anything done. Lots of clutter can imply that you do not care and/or that you can’t make decisions.
On the other hand, creative personalities like visual stimulation for inspiration. If this is you, an accumulation of objects intended to spark productivity might really say, “I’m attracted to bright shiny objects. Sell me stuff I do not need.”
Lots of clothes can indicate a sign of insecurity or a major aversion to laundry. Actually, in this case it is not a question of volume of clothes so much as how you treat the clothes you own. There is a difference between having clothes hung neatly and tucked into drawers, and having heaps on the floor and claiming you don’t have a thing to wear. You’re right. Nothing in the pile is wearable at a moment’s notice.
Women often have stashes of stuff for others. Ready gifts and clippings to send can demonstrate you care. If the gift closet and stacks of things to send for everyone else is too much, it comes at the expense of you enjoying your own life.
Being too organized (yes, there is such a thing), everything in its place and labeled, and an attitude of “Don’t touch it! It’s just right,” might actually keep you from enjoying your belongings.
The trick is to be as organized as you need to be. Can you find and access what you need, when you need it? Great! But if not, there is professional help available to help you unbury the treasures in your space.
This article originally appeared in Sage, March 2009
Tags: clutter, Habit, organize, organized, organizing, routine, Simplifying, space clearing, streamlining, stuff, systems
