WHAT'S YOUR clutter PERSONALITY?

Decluttering experts Ingrid Jansen and Lesley Spellman shine light on the mess...

- Ingrid Jansen and Lesley Spellman

If you have a home that runs like clockwork, your cleaning schedule is non-negotiable and your laundry is up to date every weekend, it can be hard to understand how other people in your life, whether that be within your close network or a colleague at work can operate effectively in what seems to be a constant state of messiness and chaos. And all that clutter — why can’t they just get rid of it?

You see, in life, there are people at one side of the spectrum who pride themselves on having a clutter-free home, people at the opposite end of the spectrum who pride themselves on not bowing down to societal norms of what tidy looks like and then, there are an abundance of people in the middle who feel overwhelmed, overrun and overwrought by the state of their home and the amount of things they have amassed.

Clutter is all born out of an emotional response — we feel guilty because of the money we spent on an item. We feel worried that we will let go of something we will later need. We hold onto things because we feel we need to honour someone's memory. We buy things because we are bored or fed up, or as a treat to ourselves. We keep things because we vow we are going to start using them one day. The list is endless.

And these emotions take hold of us. In order to make a controlled, rational decision about something that in our heart of hearts we know we don’t need, we need to understand ourselves and our emotions first and then try and break down these barriers that hold us back and keep us stuck. Then, and only then, can we start to successfully make headway with our belongings and make the changes we so want and deserve in our lives.