Survey #257—Full Response from Pat
| Pronouns | She/her |
|---|---|
| How have your ideas, attitudes, and behaviors around clutter changed over the course of your adult life? Do you have a higher or lower threshold for what counts as “clutter”? | A tough question, it requires thinking and reflecting! When I was younger, things would accumulate and I would just find a space to put them in. If not used frequently, they were "stored" in the garage. That was a huge mistake. Fast forward to today, the garage is packed with stuff that we do not use or need! No cars will fit in any more, like they did in years past. Bedrooms that we do not use are loaded with layers of old items that we have dumped there. Lots of clothing, shoes, purses, musical instruments, sound equipment, art supplies, CDs and DVDs, bedding, etc. Some sentimental items, like photo books, that I do want to keep. It all needs attention to decide what should be maintained, and the majority should be "disposed of". But how and to where? It all falls to me, and I do not have the time or inclination to devote to doing these tasks. |
| Do you find it easier or harder to declutter and organize as time goes by? Are there categories of stuff that get easier to manage? Are there categories that get harder to manage? | I find it much harder to declutter and organize as time goes by! Only one category has gotten easier: cosmetics and toiletries. Many have expired and I do not use them anymore. Categories that have gotten harder are numerous: clothing, purses, shoes, photo collections, CDs, old bedding, tableclothes, and art supplies and frames. |
| Think about the person in your life who’s had the most impact on your decluttering and organizing, or the person whose own clutter creates the most impact on you. This may be a spouse, partner, roommate, child, parent, another member of your household, or someone outside your household or family. How have this person’s ideas, attitudes, and behaviors around clutter—or the way their stuff affects you—changed over the course of your relationship? | The person whose impact is the highest is my husband. He tends to want to keep old magazines, computers, accessories (like hard drives, mice, etc.), and software! There are stacks of obsolete software that could never be used and books about old operating systems, and user manuals for software that is not installed on any current computers. I keep getting told that it is MY "stuff" that is taking up all the space and causing the piles of mess everywhere. Over the course of the relationship, the thing that has changed is that his stuff might be needed, while mine is too much quantity that takes up too much space and is making the bigger "mess". |
| If you could ask for one small change in someone else’s behavior that would improve the state of your home, what would it be? | 1. Get rid of old paper, like old bills that have been paid. 2. Sell or donate old musical instruments that are not played or needed. 3. Provide some assistance to me with household items that we do not use to decide which things could be eliminated and what to do with them (where they could be donated and assist me to take them there). |
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