Understand Your Clutter

December 6, 2021/in S.T.U.F.F./by Eric Riddle STUFFologist

Clutter builds up over time. We use the acronym S.T.U.F.F. to help deal with that clutter. Today I’ll discus the ‘U’ in S.T.U.F.F., which is UNDERSTAND.

One definition I like for our acronym in STUFFology 101: Get Your Mind out of the Clutter is “to know how (something) works or happens.” In other words, how did I accumulate all this clutter?

Using myself as an example, I have generational clutter in my garage. Sometimes temporarily, sometimes not. Small amounts of my deceased parents’ stuff, small amounts of my kids’ stuff, and variable amounts of my own stuff are in my garage.

While I have made progress, there remain setbacks. The Holiday Season in the United States causes our family to rearrange portions of the house for Thanksgiving guests, Christmas decorations, and so on. Random stuff invariably ends up in my garage until after the New Year.

Since I understand this process, I am not frustrated. I know when we pack away the Holiday Season, we will declutter garage items before returning them inside the house. I am thankful for the clutter in this case. Why?
Because it reminds me of a poem I read by Mary Stuber:

Thank God For Dirty Dishes

Thank God for dirty dishes;
They have a tale to tell.
While others may go hungry,
We’re eating very well
With home, health, and happiness,
I shouldn’t want to fuss;
By the stack of evidence,
God’s been very good to us.

I understand the clutter because it reminds me that we have home, health, and happiness to share with family and friends. That is, I know how the Holiday Season works for our family.

Clearing the clutter in the New Year is a process not an event.

Avadian

The Process of S.T.U.F.F. is Pure Magic

August 30, 2021/in S.T.U.F.F./by Brenda Avadian STUFFologist

Want to know a secret?

Overnight success takes years. Honestly. You’ve got to do the work.

You’ve got to Start. Somewhere. Move forward step by step.

You need to Trust yourself to keep going. The elite marathon runner trains one step at a time and completes 26.2 miles on foot. The lowly carpenter ant will destroy your home, chewing through the wood to build its nest. Big things are accomplished by making a consistent effort.

Understand, greatness is not achieved overnight. Clutter doesn’t magically appear. It takes years of no action to accumulate clutter.

To achieve anything worthwhile in life, Focus. We’re fast losing our ability to focus. There are too many tempting distractions. Facebook. Google search. Netflix. Spotify.

Focus on taking one step at a time, consistently. This is when the magic strikes. It’s different for each of us. When you are committed to and keep doing a thing, a magical force pulls you along until you Finish.

I’ve felt the magic. Sometimes, it’s a feeling of lightness after I dig repeatedly into a task and complete a small portion. Other times, I’m blanketed with warmth. My goals, resources, and energy appear to converge as they carry me confidently to the finish line. I cannot fully describe these magical feelings that are unique to each of us.

With consistent focused effort, you will feel the magic too. But you must Start and then keep going.

Remember, LIFE is about the journey. (We all know how it ends.) So, enjoy the gifts each day, as you take one step at a time toward your goals and ambitions. You will pave the path. You will finish. Trust yourself.

What have you got to lose?

In this case, a lot of clutter.

For more, read Eric Riddle’s article, Trust Yourself to Declutter.

Trust Yourself to Declutter

June 21, 2021/in S.T.U.F.F./by Eric Riddle STUFFologist

In STUFFology101: Get Your Mind Out of the Clutter we use the acronym S.T.U.F.F. as a tool to help people deal with their clutter. At the beginning of 2021 I wrote about the ‘S’ in S.T.U.F.F., which is START.

Today I want to touch on the ‘T’ in S.T.U.F.F., which is TRUST. One definition provided by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is “one in which confidence is placed.” For the purposes of our acronym and STUFFology 101 that means trusting yourself to define your clutter, since it is unique to you. And then trusting the process of decluttering you started in January.

For example, I keep my office organized if occasionally chaotic. That is, I know where everything is and where it belongs, but it is always susceptible to clutter creep. Mostly with paperwork from various projects and new books for my personal library. Though I STARTed in January with an oath to keep it organized, I must continue to TRUST my decluttering process each week to stay on track throughout the year.

We often say that removing the various forms of clutter in our lives is a process not an event. For me that is keeping my office organized year round. As different people and things move through my life I find this to be true, especially with physical clutter.

I challenge you to TRUST yourself to continue your own decluttering process and get your mind out of the clutter!

Coffee Table Clutter

March 29, 2021/in S.T.U.F.F./by Eric Riddle STUFFologist

A coffee table is a decent sized flat surface that comes in various shapes. Also known as a clutter magnet in our house. That is, it becomes a haven for clutter creep.

Family members, pets, and maybe even gremlins contribute to the cluttering or cleaning of our coffee table, depending on the day of the week.

Here is a partial list of items in our coffee table space just yesterday:

Laundry
Cleaning Towels
Dog bed
Dog toys
Cat scratching post
Children’s books
LEGO blocks
SpotFix
Items from my grand daughter

Perhaps not obviously, these items change, or disappear completely by the end of the day. Toys and books return to the shelf or bin. Laundry gets put away where it belongs. And other items are straightened up and so on.

My point is that clearing the clutter is an ongoing process. It also depends on how YOU define your clutter.

Pro tip: Keep clutter creep at bay by cleaning up throughout the day!

Brenda Avadian 2021

Sometimes, It’s Just A Matter of Removing ONE Item

February 8, 2021/in S.T.U.F.F./by Brenda Avadian STUFFologist

There are times when I’m feeling distracted and can’t focus on what I’m working on.

Sometimes, it’s because there are things on my desk that creep into my focused attention on what needs to be done. Take the bubblegum wrapper that I always save but rarely use to wrap my chewed gum in before throwing it in the trash. Or the description of how to use the flexible phone stand I received as a gift.

The reality is these are minor items that crowd our focus and grow into major excuses for why we are not able to finish our work in less time.

All I need to do is file away the instructions in my Products Information folder, which is in the file cabinet four feet from my office chair.

The bubblegum wrapper? I almost always wrap my chewed gum in a used facial tissue instead.

The yellow pouch holds my Bluetooth earpiece, which belongs in my purse. I mainly use it in the car to reduce the many distracting background car noises for whomever I am talking with.

The 2009 article about IRA to Roth conversions came to the surface when I was going through an old investment folder. I saved it to gain hindsight as to how laws change over the years. After all, by the time I’m ready to tap my Roth IRA for living expenses, the tax laws may change once more.

As Eric Riddle noted in his procrastination article last week, “big or small action… kills procrastination.”

Sometimes, it’s just a matter of removing ONE item. Other times, we’re on a roll and remove more.

Define Your Clutter in 2021

January 4, 2021/1 Comment/in S.T.U.F.F./by Eric Riddle STUFFologist

2021 has arrived and is the perfect opportunity to START addressing the clutter in our lives.

The new year often brings with it grandiose resolutions that are frequently broken within days or weeks. Not terribly useful for our confidence and well-being.

Instead, I recommend you define your clutter today. That is, take a small-scale look at whatever clutter is bothering you in your life right now. Perhaps it is a basket of clean laundry that remains unfolded? Or a pile of mail that continues to grow on the counter?

Starting small will get you moving forward in 2021. Then build on that success by staying current with folded laundry, sorted mail, or whatever your specific issue might be. That sounds so simple because IT IS. But simple does not necessarily mean easy to maintain all year.

Clearing the clutter is an ongoing process. Do it now. You will be glad you did.

“You can’t reach for anything new if your hands are full of yesterday’s clutter.” – Louise Smith

It’s Our Third Anniversary and We Finally Sign a Post-Nup

July 8, 2015/1 Comment/in S.T.U.F.F./by Brenda Avadian STUFFologist

For nearly three years, Eric and I had been working together without nuptials on S.T.U.F.F.

“What,” you ask? “You’re not even married.”

Weeeaaaall, in a way we are.

You see when you commit to work with someone, it becomes like a marriage.

Three years ago, we made the commitment to collaborate on writing a book about decluttering. We felt like book spouses, marrying our ideas together during weekends as our vision for the book took shape. And just like the newlywed phase passes, we too had differences. Despite our disagreements, we remained committed to seeing the birth of our baby (book).

STUFFology 101: Get Your Mind Out of the Clutter was conceived early July 2012. She took nearly two years to be born. Like most parents, we felt PROUD and JOY at her birth on April 1, 2014.

Yes, that was April Fool’s Day. We believe it’s best not to take ourselves too seriously. We also felt relief: No more labor pains! Ask Eric about indexing.

We knew she would be a FUN child so we launched her into the world with a FUN party.

She’s 14 months old now and remains a FUN child.

Since then, STUFFology 101 was released as an eBook, and later seeing her influence spread (worldwide English Audio rights sold) and recently Korean Language rights, we’re happy to see her make a path in this big world of ours where many ideas are shared.

To ensure we progress according to our initial vision and that should something happen to either or both of us that our “heirs and assigns” will be confident in carrying out our wishes, we retained a Los Angeles-based Intellectual Property attorney to draft our post-nup.

To think, how many partners can agree to a pre-nup much less a post-nup. But this ability to see eye-to-eye is how Eric and I started working together in the first place. We agree on most things–the important ones being integrity and a stable with both-feet-on-the-ground approach to our business and marketing decisions.

We also believe in keeping lines of communication as open as humanly possible. Some days (weeks?) it’s harder than others, but we’ve managed to reach our third anniversary.

When I reflect on it, it’s almost like following our apronym S.T.U.F.F. Instead of letting go, we let in and developed our ideas until we created a book.

We simply got Started.

We Trusted the process.

We Understood how each step builds upon the next.

Sometimes we struggled, but we maintained Focus on each area.

And eventually, we Finished.

What STUFF means

June 2, 2015/7 Comments/in S.T.U.F.F./by Brenda Avadian STUFFologist

What does our STUFF mean?

Better yet, what does our STUFF say about us?

Throughout our lives, we accumulate STUFF for diverse reasons.

We aspire to make a statement.

Years ago, while I lived in Wisconsin, an Indiana-based consultant asked me why I don’t wear a Rolex watch. I told him my Seiko works just fine. He advised me that a Rolex would help create an image of success. I reminded him of the irony that he had driven four hours in his Mercedes sporting his Rolex, because he needed my advice.

We acquire a unique item while on travel.

While in Armenia, I brought home a bottle of Coke with Armenian lettering.

Take a moment, right now to recall something you acquired within the last week or two.

What was it and why?

I bought a pair of crop pants on sale at Costco. Why? They were a compromise between too-short shorts and pants. I’ll just roll up the legs to just above my knees and they’ll be perfect.

Then we hold onto the STUFF we acquired.

We hold onto a reminder of a loved one.

I still hold onto The Wooden Spoon. If you haven’t yet, read the story in STUFFology 101.

We think we’ll need it, later.

We paid a lot for the item and can’t justify letting go of it.

Yep, these are some of the reasons we accumulate clutter.

Long after the reason for acquiring an item has passed, we’re still holding on.

What’s with that?

Oh, I’m not criticizing. I do it too!

As a STUFFologist, I make it my business to define my own clutter, but it takes time to get rid of STUFF.

Deciding what we hold onto defines who we are. Our STUFF makes statements about how we see ourselves.

WOAH, you say! Not all my stuff!

I agree.

Over time, we try to find containers to store the stuff that we don’t need, right now.

And even though it’s out of sight, we remain tethered to our Stuff.

I still have recordings and videos from over a decade and a half ago when my husband and I taped my father while he lived with dementia. He couldn’t make sense of his image on TV and insisted we call the station manager because there was a guy that looked just like him on TV. I thought about making a video to help people understand what it’s like living with dementia. Enough time has passed. There are far better videos available, today.

I am ready to let go.

Nooo, you say. You can get them converted by a service!

Again, retrieving all the videos and audio recordings and then determining which items to convert, takes time. However, it bears mentioning, we don’t have to reduce ourselves to an all-or-nothing choice. I may choose to preserve at least one of those memories.

Still, I don’t want to live through another Station Fire to be forced into rush decisions about what I keep and what I let go.

An earthquake? A fire? A flood?

I am letting go of things now, so I don’t leave others with the burden of getting rid of my STUFF.

I Start by defining the clutter in an area, Trust in the process, Understand the cyclical nature of clutter, Focus for a time, and Finish getting rid of my S.T.U.F.F. in that area.

These mini successes encourage me to keep going whether it’s getting through emails, a pile of magazines, books, paperwork, and more. I think of Queen’s refrain: I want to break free. It’s not easy, but if we keep at it, we will break free of clutter.

The older I grow, the less STUFF means to me.

Have Fun With S.T.U.F.F.

April 21, 2015/1 Comment/in S.T.U.F.F./by Eric Riddle STUFFologist

Knowing and doing are NOT the same thing. We know we should take time to relax, but often don’t. We know we should spend more time with family and friends, but let work and other obligations get in the way. Clutter is not always black and white.

Step back, take a deep breath, and have fun with S.T.U.F.F.

Our own cluttergories overlap one another, but we can work on more than one at a time. This is where the S.T.U.F.F. acronym comes in handy. START by defining what clutter is for you. For me it has been mental and temporal clutter. Like many of you, I have too much stuff going on! The family and I needed a break, so we went to the California Poppy Festival over the weekend.

I learned some things about clutter at this event, especially in the petting zoo area of the children’s section. The camels reminded me to get over the hump of my mental clutter. I had to TRUST in the process and myself to de-clutter.

There was a rainforest animal section too, that contained all kinds of exotic critters. The giant spider made me think about how clutter builds up slowly, just like a web. UNDERSTAND that clutter builds up over time and its removal is a process not an event.

Enjoy the moment and be present. Kids seem to do this naturally. Follow their example and FOCUS on where you are and what you are doing.

And last, but not least, FINISH the area of clutter you are working on. My day of fun with the family reduced the mental and temporal clutter holding me back.

S.T.U.F.F. is a tool you can use to process whatever cluttergories are impacting your life. Try it today!

Using S.T.U.F.F. to DeClutter

March 10, 2015/1 Comment/in S.T.U.F.F./by Brenda Avadian STUFFologist

While dealing with the STUFF of LIFE, we could use a helping hand with clearing the mental clutter swirling in our minds or the physical stuff that stops us from going after what we really want.

When a helping hand is not an option, an inspirational reminder can lift us over the obstacles created by clutter.

To help you declutter, we use the word STUFF as an apronym.

Huh?

The only difference between an apronym and an acronym is that in the former, each letter actually spells a word. I admit, I recently learned this, myself.

S.T.U.F.F.

When you find STUFF getting in the way, it’s because you haven’t Started yet.

START

Once you decide to START, define an area of clutter, and then do something about it.

Your one action will make it easier to keep going. A little progress is better than no progress and means one less thing you need to add to your growing To Do list for tomorrow.

After five consecutive Sundays of going through old paperwork for two to three hours each time, my husband and I took a break this past weekend. We’ll return to reducing the clutter of old tax records, next Sunday.

It’s harder to Start than it is to continue. So get started with even one small step.

TRUST

When you hit that wall of resistance, you’ll need to TRUST the process and yourself.

As you build trust in the process, you’ll gain self-confidence.

I made progress in spurts over the years. The older I get, the more I realize that I need to devote the time and effort to getting this done.

I trust that the process will take time and it’s a bit easier sharing the misery while going through old tax files and statements with my husband. During five consecutive weekends, we reduced our records by eight inches. That’s a lot of shredded paper!

UNDERSTAND

Progress helps give us strength to UNDERSTAND the nature of how STUFF accumulates. This is why it’s important to go through the process of decluttering in order to learn the important lessons, which will help us prevent clutter from accumulating.

For lasting results, we can’t expect to get rid of years of stuff in one weekend.

We understand that the small steps we have taken each weekend means we’ll be finished decluttering our old tax records before the end of this month. YAAAAY. This encourages us to define another area of clutter in order to continue the process.

To avoid a future of toxic clutter, we understand now the importance of scheduling regular intervals to manage our records. Drinking wine helps make the process easier. 🙂

FOCUS

In our information-overload world, it’s hard to keep FOCUS. Watching television becomes a major obstacle for many of us. When in a decisive moment, my hubby decided he was ready to let it go, I cancelled our service.

I didn’t realize all the mindless thoughts filling my brain until we stopped watching TV.

WOW, is Geraldo’s ego really THAT big? His almost rivals Trump’s on Celebrity Apprentice! How much gold do we really need on Gold Rush? Look at all that pristine Alaskan wilderness being torn up just for gold dust! Is Hillary going to run? What’s the deal with Kim Kardashian’s butt?

In the scheme of life, what substance do any of these thoughts add to the contributions I choose to make in our world?

Nothing. They prevent me from focusing on what matters and that is to get my life in order. FOCUSED effort on decluttering one area at a time will free my mind of distraction so that I may help you from a place of focused strength, rather than scattered weakness.

FINISH

Finally, understand that this is an organic process–things come in, they turn into piles, and then they need to go out in order to keep life from becoming toxic.

If you manage your clutter, your progress—cleared space on your desk, space in your file drawers and storage bins, will bring you a feeling of lightness and freedom from not being tied down by too much stuff.

What are you waiting for?

Start decluttering your stuff. Trust in the process. Understand how clutter accumulates. Focus on one area at a time and you will Finish.

For more information, click to read Start (again).

While Eric and I are happy to give you a helping hand…

You must first define YOUR clutter.

What you define as clutter, I may enjoy as a walk back into time—such as reading a book or letters from the late 1800s.

While you think I should delete all my older emails, I may value following-up with an old acquaintance not forgotten. 😉

If you haven’t yet, pick up a copy to read STUFFology 101 first and then send us an email for HELP@stuffology101.com. Today, our virtual communications allow us to help you almost anywhere!