Labeling

Has anyone commented that you are a hoarder? How did that feel to you? What about any other label someone used to describe you? The way we react can be due to any number of factors, yet like so many things – it’s not a simple black or white question. Were you even thinking about how we label people when you saw the title “Labeling” or were you thinking about labeling things?

Yet, have you found yourself struggling to find a concise description of a category or a file? I see this most often with people when it comes to their files- ‘what should I call it?’ There are so many words in the English language that we can choose from – the file we have on our car could be labeled – Car; Auto; VW; Bug/Beetle; Old Beater; His/Her Car; and on and on.

If labeling something that stays the same can present a challenge, it’s fascinating that trying to label people is so common. To state the obvious, people are more complex than a collection of papers! This is where it’s worth considering how labeling both helps and hinders you.

I continue to be dismayed overall by the overuse of labeling people as a “hoarder” – it’s so popular that it’s easy to use it to describe anyone that has “too much stuff.” And “too much stuff” is a subjective – depending on who uses the hoarder label for other people could be someone that has overfull bookshelves in every room. When it’s applied in the subjective way, someone with stuff that is viewed as too much by someone else – there’s no recognition of the objective criteria that defines hoarding.

Educating people can be part of what I do – and I will share the standards for what defines hoarding. When someone has been categorized as a “hoarder” by family, whether it’s done seriously or by repeatedly “joking” around, identifying with that can hinder the organizing efforts. It can be important to know that simply because someone else has defined them as a hoarder doesn’t make it accurate. The same thing applies when someone is applying that term to themselves – and this is also growing in frequency – it’s not limited to other people defining them. And it’s just as inaccurate – technically.

The way people react to the label being applied to them – whether it’s self-applied or comes from others – can vary too. As I’ve said, I find the term overall to carry negative connotations, and many people feel similarly. Yet, other people (not oblivious to some of the term’s negativity) appreciate that the term gives them a frame of reference – a place to begin understanding what they have been struggling with.

I’ve even been known to refer some of my own behaviors as “hoarding tendencies” and can relate to aspects of the hoarding criteria. So is there value to identifying parts of a label that resonates with you? I think so, as it can then offer you some perspective.

Whether you’ve been objectively labeled with some term or not, you can still use the education and knowledge to support you in creating the life you want. For example, in Buried in Treasuresby David Tolin et al, they talk about how creative people are and how the ideas of how they can use things can get in their way of getting rid of having so much. I resonated with that – I have all these creative ideas and now as I look at my own collection of hobbies and crafts, I ask myself to try to be realistic and what are the pieces that really matter.

A label may or may not apply to us objectively, yet there’s no stopping any of us from using the tools for our own benefit. So, if there is a label that has been applied to you – externally or internally – see if the tools and approaches for handling that label can support you and pay no more attention to the specific label than will help you.

Technology – Digital Pictures

Technology is here to benefit us. At least it’s supposed to and we can do our best to not let it take over. This can be challenging – as I’ve talked about many times before. Recently it occurred to me that taking pictures with our phones, tablets, and digital cameras is a good example of technology here to support us. It’s also an illustration of how when we’re not careful, we forget to only use it to our advantage. It’s important for us to use this wonderful technology of digital pictures to supplement our memories.

Pictures can be one of those things we all have a lot of – and often it’s not as organized as we’d like. As you’ve probably heard me say before, one of the factors of getting organized is the quantity you have to deal with – and with digital pictures that quantity can quickly become overwhelming. And then when you consider you probably have both physical and digital pictures to organize – it can be paralyzing to consider organizing them – and the organization aspects are topics for other blogs.

This technology of being able to take pictures digitally has many benefits for us. There is no cost for taking the pictures – we don’t need film, let alone rolls and rolls of it on hand, just in case. We don’t actually have to spend money getting our pictures developed, although we might choose to have some printed up and those will be ones we know are good and worth the time, money, and effort of getting the physical copies. We have the immediate visual feedback about whether an image was captured – did someone blink at the exact wrong moment – and give us the chance to try again (and again and again). Then there’s the possibility of catching each and every adorable expression of your grand-kids.

On the other hand, this same technology also makes it easy to take the pictures and avoid doing else with them. It might even be a case that you might not really even look at them after taking them – the excitement of picking the developed film up to discover what was captured doesn’t apply with digital photographs. And then the options for organizing them can be quite a bit more overwhelming and procrastination becomes easier – they’re saved and you can always do it later. Just because these digital pictures don’t take up our physical spaces doesn’t mean they’re not consuming space and that space carry its own risks also beyond fire and water.

The most important thing is that there’s a difference between living the experiences and capturing it all to relive later. When you have the camera (or photo capturing device) out taking pictures, you are only partially attending to what’s going on around you and missing the experience of being fully present. Your memories are more likely to be of taking the pictures, not of the event itself. This isn’t to say that taking pictures should be eliminated – rather that when we’re not careful it’s easy to get caught up in trying to capture the experience rather than relishing each experience and getting some pictures to highlight that.

As a client and I recently talked about, would you rather watch the beautiful sunset and savor it or try to capture the beauty of the sunset in a picture to remind yourself in the future? This is definitely something I struggle with – oscillating between the extremes of regretting what I didn’t capture since I didn’t even pull out the camera to the other end of realizing that I’ve taken 350 pictures in the last 2 hours.

Let’s be honest – who wants to look at 500 pictures of your daughter’s birthday party or your vacation to the Everglades? Will you even want to look at that many pictures in a year, 5 years, or 25 years? And I’m a bit tongue in cheek since I’m probably one of those who would enjoy looking through that many pictures. Yet, even though I do like looking through tons of pictures, I can also share that I avoid looking at pictures – physical as well as digital – since it will take time to look at them all. This means that they’re not being appreciated and cannot remind you of your lovely experiences – it has ceased to benefit you. Imagine what it would be like to have a manageable number of pictures that do their simple purpose of reminding you of this and that experience – is it difficult to picture that?

There’s a balance between being fully present in the moment and capturing some images for the joy of reminiscing in the future – and what that balance looks like for you is not likely to match what it looks like for me. What matters is becoming aware of our tendencies – do you want to savor the moments more as they happen? Taking pictures is technology – whether we’ve thought about it in that way or not – and just like in all other arenas, the goal and purpose is to support you and your values. Don’t be lulled by the possibilities – make technology work for you.

Limiting Your Collection Places – Including Technologically

You’ve heard me say this before: “I love containers” – all of them: any shape, material, size, etc. I absolutely drool over them. And fight the temptation to bring them all home. It can be a problem. I’ve ended up with large boxes just filled with empty containers – waiting for the perfect thing to use them for. You could say I have a tendency to “hoard” them. They are always useful – at least they have the potential for it. Yet, there’s the point – potential usefulness. Just because something is or can be useful does not make it worth using or keeping. Also, “useful” is subjective – is it actually useful for you and your life? This applies to technological solutions – programs and apps – as well.

How are containers and programs/apps alike?

They are designed to hold things within them.
They are there in essence to benefit us – make our lives easier.
It can be too easy to go overboard – collect different options.
With too many being used it’s all too easy to lose track of where things are.
It can be easy to get the “container” before you’ve identified your specific need.
Neither are the end-all, be-all answer for your stuff.

Recently in my newsletter I mentioned my “hoarding” of quotes and how I have a great program that contains them well. That didn’t stop me from drooling over programs that were designed for the organization of quotes. My husband cautioned me to avoid them; one of the reasons is that some software can become irrelevant quickly. Yet, there’s a more important reason to avoid collecting programs or apps – how much do you want to disperse the information you are saving?

Sure, there are programs designed for this exact type of information and getting it organized. Then there’s this program for that type of information. This can go on ad infinitum probably. And it might be tempting. Yet, then you have to keep track of where your specific information is as well as the data itself. It’s easier when just a few programs can help you maintain and organize various types of information.

The program I use to organize my quotes, NoteShare, is also used extensively for recipes, craft projects, and other lists. The features of the program fit my needs in more than one context, although I’m contemplating alternatives for my collection of quotes, i.e. EverNote. With NoteShare, between the ease of adding images and the wonderful ability to expand and collapse entries keeps the various files manageable, the program is quite versatile.

Just as with the extensive options for types of containers, we are now overloaded with choices for containing our information – both with the devices as well as the software. With all the capabilities of the various devices it can be tempting, as well as inexpensive, to collect software to handle each different types of information we need and want to keep. One of the obvious challenges though is that many programs can overlap in their ability and function – and then where did you actually store the information?

We need to be thoughtful about what we truly need and make sure it will help us. A container will become cumbersome when we have too much or too little to store within it – as well as any number of other factors that make them counterproductive to our lives. In fact containerizing isn’t even the right answer sometimes. The options for containing our digital stuff need to be equally deliberate about – what do you need? How will it help you? Sometimes that means using programs that are extremely versatile, while at other times you have specific needs – like a photographer using complex photo editing software that would exasperate the rest of us.

The solutions that will work for each of us will not always be obvious. Similar to setting up organizing systems that we think will work well for us that fall flat; finding the right containers – if containers are even needed for this or that – might well be a process. I liked EverNote when I started using it, yet didn’t appreciate how versatile it was. It wasn’t a “container” that I used much while now I’m using it more and more. Our solutions for containing our stuff – physical or digital – can evolve. We just want to make sure that we remain mindful about our choices, which will help us from getting overwhelmed with our stuff (again).

Hoarder? More Likely Challenging Disorganization.

With the proliferation of television shows about hoarding, many people see hoarders around them. Or think they do. It’s a pet peeve of mine that every person who has “too much stuff” is now deemed a hoarder. Never mind that “too much stuff” is extremely subjective, hoarding is quite a bit more complex than to be simply about too much stuff. Therefore, let’s explore different aspects about stuff and see if we can clear up these misconceptions about hoarding. (If you want the more technical information about hoarding, see my post, “Defining Hoarding.”)

As I already stated, it’s about more than stuff. I’ll admit it; I have a lot of stuff. Even “too much stuff.” As my husband and I have gone through various rooms, I’m amazed by the amount of excess we find hidden away, forgotten about. And the large piles that I set out to be donated have shocked me and we have more to go. The people I work with have varying amount of stuff; some quite a bit and some hidden away in closets and drawers where it doesn’t “look” cluttered. Yet, we each want something different from our spaces – from the desire to be surrounded to the desire to have the open space (see my entry, “Envisioning Your Space”). Believe it or not, there’s no one right way for a space to look and that means someone somewhere will think that there’s “too much stuff” there.

What is your relationship to your stuff? This is one of the features that help to distinguish what is happening with the stuff around you. I laughing cringe at the idea of getting rid of my media – those books, CDs, and movies and yet, that is exactly what I have been slowly doing. My movie collection has been cut by more than half and it feels good. Removing all outside obstacles, what happens to you when you decide to get rid of things? Those obstacles can be:

minimizing the sense of being overwhelmed
the absence of someone judging or trying to tell you what to do
the freedom to take your time and think through your choices

Finding the space where these pieces come together can be challenging, yet what happens then?

It breaks my heart to hear about people being told they are “hoarders” and I know from my knowledge and experience that they aren’t even close to being hoarders. From what I can tell, it’s more about someone in their life thinking that they know better than the client. They believe that they “should” get rid of this or that; that they “should” not struggle with making decisions; that they “should” be able to easily change long time habits after a “clean sweep”; etcetera. This is probably a large reason that having your family help you with your stuff often backfires.

There’s a different term than hoarder, for people who have struggled with stuff for a long time, that may or may not have clutter around them and that’s chronically disorganized. Since this has a rather clinical sound to it, the Institute of Challenging Disorganization prefers to refer to it as challenging disorganization that can also be applied to the situational disorganization some people can struggle with after major life events. They define chronic disorganization as:

Chronic disorganization is having a past history of disorganization in which self-help efforts to change have failed, an undermining of current quality of life due to disorganization, and the expectation of future disorganization.

http://www.challengingdisorganization.org/content/frequently-asked-questions-public

Hoarding is about much more than the stuff – however subjective – and relates to how we deal with that stuff. The chance is that your grandmother/uncle/brother-in-law is not a true hoarder. That doesn’t mean that organization isn’t a tremendous challenge for them. When there’s lots of stuff around, however hidden it may or may not be, it requires a lot of work and effort. Simply modifying the behaviors is an extreme challenge and takes time. Try to keep in mind your own biases – your own view of what makes up “too much stuff.”

Defining Hoarding

You might have heard that hoarding is being added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM) and hoarding has been approved as a separate listing in it (due to be released May 2013). I will refrain from a commentary on the issues with the DSM in general and simply point out that from a scientific perspective, they designate a series of criteria in order to prevent the definition from being applied too broadly. The very thing many people seem tempted to do with all the media attention hoarding has been getting in recent years.

In the case of a hoarding disorder, these are the proposed criteria:

A. Persistent difficulty discarding or parting with personal possessions, even those of apparently useless or limited value, due to strong urges to save items, distress, and/or indecision associated with discarding.

B. The symptoms result in the accumulation of a large number of possessions that fill up and clutter the active living areas of the home, workplace, or other personal surroundings (e.g., office, vehicle, yard) and prevent normal use of the space. If all living areas are uncluttered, it is only because of others’ efforts (e.g., family members, authorities) to keep these areas free of possessions.

C. The symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning (including maintaining a safe environment for self and others).

D. The hoarding symptoms are not due to a general medical condition (e.g., brain injury, cerebrovascular disease).

E. The hoarding symptoms are not restricted to the symptoms of another mental disorder (e.g., hoarding due to obsessions in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, lack of motivation in Major Depressive Disorder, delusions in Schizophrenia or another Psychotic Disorder, cognitive deficits in Dementia, restricted interests in Autistic Disorder, food storing in Prader-Willi Syndrome).

Specify if:
With Excessive Acquisition: If symptoms are accompanied by excessive collecting or buying or stealing of items that are not needed or for which there is no available space.

Specify whether hoarding beliefs and behaviors are currently characterized by:
Good or fair insight: Recognizes that hoarding-related beliefs and behaviors (pertaining to difficulty discarding items, clutter, or excessive acquisition) are problematic.

Poor insight: Mostly convinced that hoarding-related beliefs and behaviors (pertaining to difficulty discarding items, clutter, or excessive acquisition) are not problematic despite evidence to the contrary.

Delusional: Completely convinced that hoarding-related beliefs and behaviors (pertaining to difficulty discarding items, clutter, or excessive acquisition) are not problematic despite evidence to the contrary.
http://www.ocfoundation.org/hoarding/diagnosing.aspx

Since these are simply the proposed criteria, it remains to be seen what the specific wording will be. This also doesn’t clarify how many of the lettered criteria need to be met for someone to qualify as having a hoarding disorder. With all DSM diagnoses, a person has to meet specific criteria. The purpose is to limit the subjective diagnoses – the possibility of someone to judge someone else based on their own viewpoints.

This is critical in my opinion as I see too much of someone (often a family member) deciding that this person is a “hoarder.” It’s not simply about having a lot of stuff around – even having severely cluttered living spaces – is not enough to qualify a person for having a hoarding disorder, that’s only one piece of several that need to be met.

One of the shocking and disturbing aspects of the hoarding television shows is the amount of trash that surrounds them and than how excruciating the thought, let alone the action, of throwing those things away is for them. This is one of the defining characteristics as defined by a number of presentations I have attended in the past years from psychologists. It’s more than struggling with making the decisions, there’s a terror about having those things removed. Although we might focus on the “obvious” trash that cannot be removed, someone who struggles with hoarding saves virtually everything, and it’s painful to consider getting rid of any of it.

I’ve briefly touched on the idea that hoarding is more complex than the media conveys. In a future post I plan on getting into more details as it applies to the general public. In the meantime, I hope this helps to clarify that hoarding is a true disorder that is often simplified by television.

Thinking about Money

Sometimes I think money is thing that causes people the most anguish. Even if you have “enough” it doesn’t eliminate the concerns and issues that come with needing money. And really, how many of us feel like we actually have “enough” – there are so many unknowns in this world. We tend to have strong opinions about how it should be spent or saved. I’m not here to tell you any of those things, yet to encourage you to think about money more.

Several months ago my husband and I were talking about some purchases. We checked prices online and it gave us pause. The lovely picture we were considering for over the sofa was a bit more than we’d expected. Since we’ve already recognized the temptation for making purchases without enough thought, we consoled ourselves that we weren’t making a decision in this moment. There was time to see how we felt later and moved on with our day.

It was a weekend day and we headed to the Renaissance Faire. We had a few vendors we wanted to visit and were considering a purchase there. It’s a tapestry shop and we discovered these exquisite tapestries – a set of 4 – and it came with a discount when you buy at least 2. Oh was I drooling over them.

Fortunately my husband and I had established a good pattern before buying anything unplanned. We walk away. We found a place to sit and talk about our thoughts regarding these tapestries. He liked them as much as I did and had the same temptation to bring them home. Still we moseyed along, visiting another vendor, knowing we still had time to get back and buy the tapestries.

Then something interesting happened. My husband was struck with the irony that just that morning we were cringing about spending about the same amount on one thing yet somehow we weren’t reacting in the same way at the thought of buying several things. We’d been sucked in by the idea that by getting more for the same money it somehow wasn’t the same – never mind that we’d get a discount for getting more than one.

It doesn’t matter what it was or how much – it’s about how varied we can be about things. In one context, we pause and consider; in another, we barely pause and almost rush in. We practice being thoughtful – controlling our impulses in order to discern what matters most to us.

Have you ever bought something and later regretted it? I’d be surprised if you haven’t. We’re working on cutting down on those regrets, hence why we walk away in the first place.

What is it about that thing that makes you want to take it home with you?
Will this feeling fade or will you feel the same way in a year? Are there alternatives?
Are you simply wanting to buy and not so concerned with its use and value?
If you were to spend the money on this thing, is there something else you’d rather spend the money on?

Buying things is necessary – we all have to do it. Yet how mindful are we of how and on what we spend our money? If we begin to recognize our own patterns about money, we can take steps to lead a life that supports who we are and our values. Money causes enough headaches; don’t let it cause you unnecessary pain.

By the way, the beautiful tapestries stayed with the vendor and the limited edition print was ordered a while later. Months later this still feels like the right decision for us.

Safety – consider your beauty products

Just before I got married, I decided it would be fun to get a makeover and test make-up out for the wedding. I eventually bought a handful of items. Then I resumed my typical make-up habits, wearing little to none most of the time. Yet, one day I put more on. And the strangest thing happened, my eyes swelled up and became quite red – the skin all around them. I’d reacted to the make-up. It wasn’t me as it turned out. Make-up expires, I discovered after calling the manufacturer.

The thing was that this wasn’t the first time that I used make-up that I had purchased a while back. I also tend to buy the same brands. It was the first time I ever reacted to make-up. I’ve always tried to use common sense – does it look and smell funny? Yet this last time, it hadn’t been that long and nothing raised the warning flags.

Make-up is easy to collect – it’s pretty small and is easy to have in different locations. I find that it can be challenging to part with – “I spent all this money to buy it, I should use it.” Yet, how much do you use all of it? Does it sit there waiting to be used? Here’s a picture of the pile of make-up I dumped out of a bag a while back – before I went through it and purged my collection.

Pile of make-up from a bag I found as I’m about to go through it

There are two ways they measure the time of make-up expiring – from the production date and the period after opening (PAO). Unfortunately there’s no real regulation on cosmetics though the FDA does oversee it somewhat. Although the smell can indicate something might no longer be good, it’s not as clear as the perfume that’s gone bad and is suddenly quite stinky.

Although it’s often convenient, storing make-up in the bathroom can contribute to it’s going bad more quickly. The moisture and humidity can shorten the life expectancy of make-up. Ideally, temperature and humidity will be controlled to maximize how long the make-up lasts.

Some people struggle with the feeling it’s so wasteful to toss those beauty products that have been around – “I’ll use it soon.” After my puffy eyes for a week, I’m more reluctant to push the limits now – even though this was several years ago now. That’s why when I found another bag of make-up, I emptied it out and threw most of it away – here’s what I kept, mostly brushes and a pencil sharpener. It was challenging to face the waste I’d inadvertently created and throw it away – yet red, puffy eyes are not something I want to risk again. 🙂

Pile of make-up after purging – mostly brushes, mirrors, and pencil sharpener remaining

Consider your own beauty products – how many do you have that you don’t use regularly? If you’re not using them, use the money to get something else you will actually appreciate and in the process avoid any risk to have a reaction to products that have gone bad.

Treasures from Others

I enjoy trying to share my excess stuff with others – friends first and then to one of the stores. I approach friends and ask, “Is this something you’d like to have?” With one particular friend, let’s call her Joanna; she almost always takes whatever I’ve offered. After a handful of months, I noticed stacked in a corner the sugar and creamer containers Joanna had taken most recently. The last thing I want to do is add to someone else’s clutter.

Stuff from other people comes into our homes – one way or another – from gifts or sharing or inheritance. We all have them – things from those we love that don’t quite fit our personality or style. Sometimes these are the most difficult items to make decisions about. It holds some value in one way or another for us. Is it simply the memory? Is it guilt? Is it a sense of obligation? Or is it something else entirely?

When working with clients, I often ask them after hearing that it’s from someone else, “Do you think this person would want to add to your clutter?”

I know this is the last thing I would want – it turns out I gave a gift to someone who was bothered by part of the design of it, I told them emphatically to pass it along to someone else, PLEASE.

William Morris known partially for his involvement in the Arts and Crafts Movement said “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” If something is not useful or beautiful to you, wherever it came from, is there a reason to keep it?

The last time I visited, I saw it sitting in a corner. On some level it made me sad since they shared how they don’t love it, yet because it was a gift from me, it stays.

Maybe I have too noble expectations of people – that they too would not want to contribute to anyone else’s clutter. It’s hard for me to imagine that anyone would want someone to keep a gift that isn’t adding value to his or her life and space.

We each get to make decisions for our own life – is it worth it to have things around that don’t make you happy? Keep the lovely memory of the gift, the care from the person giving the gift, and let the item itself move into someone else’s life who might treasure it dearly.

Anthropomorphizing Your Belongings

After watching a video with my mom recently, we started talking about anthropomorphizing. My observation of the video was that the animals were being credited with some human characteristics. She agreed and commented sometimes we go out of our way to avoid recognizing “human” characteristics in animals and shared an experience she’d had. She observed some elk sliding down a hill, front legs splayed in front of them while their haunches was on the ground. Now, even that is cute, but after they got to the bottom of the hill, they jumped up and ran back to the top and did it again. They were sledding, it was play – this served no other purpose.

Yeah, so what does this have to do with organizing?

Anthropomorphizing isn’t limited to animals. We can view our belongings with a certain amount of personality. We might be reluctant to throw things away or even give them away. This always makes me think of The Velveteen Rabbit, where a toy can become real once it’s owner really and truly loves it.

What we tell ourselves about our stuff affects how we deal with it. Some people throw things out easily once they’ve lost their usefulness while others have a hard time parting with them at all. And this is just talking about when the things might need to leave – what about how we treat our belongings while they are in our possession?

There’s another argument that a certain amount of anthropomorphizing could be helpful. If you loved your keys and cell phone, you be less likely to misplace them. You’d be conscious of them and where you laid them down – mindful of how you treated them, maximizing their chance to be useful.

If you valued your things as if they personality, or maybe more that they had a job to do – to help you – you might want to help them accomplish this.

Your papers – accessible and logical so you can find what you need when you need it.
Your clothes – arranged and easy to access whenever you want
Your dishes – clean and ready to be used whenever you need
Your photos and memorabilia – available when you want to share it with someone or even to take a trip down memory lane for yourself
Your jewelry – if you know where all of it is, you can wear it when you want
Your décor – pleasing and rewarding for you so that you would smile as you walk through your home
Your random lost items – peace at being able to find exactly what you need when you need it
Your “whatever” – to make your life simpler and more enjoyable

Show your things your compassion and care so they can help you – the give and take that relationships require. And even if we think of it differently, we do have relationships with things, so let’s nurture that.

Once your things have stopped helping you, it’s time to let them move on. If appropriate, moving them onto someone else who can appreciate what they have to offer. What better blessing that gifting that usefulness to someone else? If they’ve outlived their ability to serve, then simply letting them go.

If our things had feelings, I imagine they’d be sad to become clutter since they served us so well, that’s not what they would want. If you want a more magical approach, in The Velveteen Rabbit, although it looks like a dire end to a well-loved toy who sheds a real tear as he’s about to be burned (the boy had Scarlet Fever), the Nursery Magic Fairy comes, kisses him, and makes him a real rabbit – who the boy sees romping in the wild and thinks of his old toy. Even with things, it is still a relationship – what would you do to treat that relationship with care and respect?

Information Collecting

You might say that I am an information junkie. I love learning and there is so much out there I could learn. And it seems like it’s getting easier and easier to have access to a plethora of information – at your fingertips, whenever you want. I will hold myself back from a rant about the reliability of this information, yet with the Internet so accessible, there’s tons of information to be had. We might not stop and think about our collecting in this realm.

Our collecting information might be fairly limited to certain topics or it might be more general. It doesn’t matter which one it is if you have a tendency to collect it. It’s relatively easy to collect information and physically less cluttered if it’s digital. Nevertheless, it’s collecting in either form. We don’t see the space in the same way when it’s digital, yet this doesn’t mean it’s not getting cluttered.

First, is your collecting of information getting in your way? How much time and energy are you spending on collecting this information? Are you referencing this information again? Can you find what you know you saved when you want it again? Do you have guilt that you aren’t using the information you’ve collected?

Just like with most stuff that you can collect, if you are keeping it, you don’t want to be controlled by it. It’s there to serve and help you. Period. You also want to be able to easily find it. Since information these days is both physical and digital, it can be challenging to keep everything together. (I’m moving strongly into the digital realm, as it’s searchable and saves paper.) It doesn’t matter which one suits you as long you make it work for you.

Sometimes this means taking a hard look at what your response is to information. Do you have a desire to collect it? If you collect it and then do something with it, then there’s nothing wrong. If you seem to have information that you haven’t even looked at, it’s time to consider what matters in your life. Do you want to spend your time and energy going through and examining all that information? (Are you really going to make time and energy to do that?) More importantly, are you going to continue to collect information for this unknown future point when you will use it?

How much are you collecting because it “might be useful one day”? Do you lack the confidence that you could find the information when it became relevant? Have you thought about how fast information changes, so saving something that might be relevant down the road might really be saving irrelevant information?

I struggle with these limits. As I’ve already said, I love learning. When I look on my computer or at my papers, I’ve been amazed by how much I’ve saved. It’s hard to part with them – yet this is exactly what I’ve been doing – examining what I’ve kept and tossing what I can. I’ve also made some changes in how I handle information: I’m starting to scan certain things and I’m re-organizing the digital information so I can access it more readily.

As with all organizing projects, I see it as a process. Your vision can change at any moment. Additionally, our first step really needs to be examining what we’re collecting and considering what happens for us with collecting. Even the most organized person collects – it’s what they do with the collecting that differentiates them. Is the information you are collecting worth your time and energy? Challenge yourself with your answer – it can open up a new way of viewing your stuff.