The Future of STUFFology 101

January 10, 2022/in News 'n Views/by Brenda Avadian STUFFologist

In the book Chrysalis, coach and author, Ann Vanino writes about cocooning. The caterpillar knows nothing of what the future holds and yet, prepares a cocoon for a metamorphosis into a beautiful creature that takes flight.

Fifty Years of Clutter Awareness

For over fifty years, since I was a pre-teen, I have been aware of clutter due to my parents’ penchant for saying “yes” to anything that was free and then not being able to let go. Forty-five years later, after my mother died and my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, I cleared their home. We’ve all read the stories of apartment-sized dumpsters of possessions being discarded. That was my experience. Forty years after those childhood experiences, and in my fifties, I realized I had a talent for helping others release their own life cocoons created by physical, mental, and temporal clutter.

Eric Riddle joined me, and together we have written articles about decluttering and a book, STUFFology 101: Get Your Mind Out of the Clutter. We advocate the process of S.T.U.F.F.—that is, Start. Trust. Understand. Focus. Finish.

Success Requires Commitment

The truth is, many of us need stronger faith and commitment to the task we set our minds to. Consider all the New Year’s resolutions that are broken long before the change of seasons.

To be able to stand back and truly marvel at one’s success is often the result of dedicated and focused effort. Like the caterpillar, our unyielding effort magnifies into an unexpected magical creation.

Larger Impact for Limited Time

We need to have a larger impact if we want to ensure our limited time is well-invested.

Late last year, I posted, We NEED Your HELP – Please Read and Comment. Surprisingly, we did not receive a single comment or email answering the questions I posed in the article. We did receive one heartfelt and thought-provoking email, which still warms my heart.

While the clutter world is filled with extremes—Marie Kondo’s anthropomorphic approach of imbuing life-energy to possessions before letting go of those that don’t spark joy to the tough love and therapeutic approach with extreme hoarders—STUFFology 101 continues to urge clutter bugs to define an area of clutter and to take the S.T.U.F.F. steps in letting go.

Time passes more quickly, the older I grow. How I invest my time is more important, because it is time I can never get back. The same is true for you.

I know what it means to live without a lot of STUFF. I feel lighter after working through an area of accumulated clutter. I feel JOY after gifting someone with something I no longer need. I find pleasure knowing I have no desire to accumulate possessions.

Do I share these experiences in weekly articles on STUFFology101.com? Bi-weekly articles? Monthly articles? Do I work on another book? Do I totally reconfigure the website? These are some of the questions I will begin asking as I take time to enter a STUFFology cocoon.

In the interim, look for a major announcement Eric will be sharing this month.

Do Something In 2022

January 4, 2022/in De-Clutter/by Eric Riddle STUFFologist

Welcome to 2022. Now what?

The ever-popular New Year’s Resolutions would have you promise a variety of things to yourself, such as losing weight or eating healthier. A trip to your local gym in January will reveal how popular such resolutions are.

What about a less grandiose suggestion, and likely easier to maintain all year long? Do something. Doing something is better than doing nothing. Easy enough to say, but often harder than it sounds.

For example, house cleaning or decluttering. Broadly this implies cleaning up the entire house, which can lead to the daunting task of doing everything to make it model home perfect. A perhaps unrealistic expectation.

Instead do something in one specific area or room completely. Like sorting, filing, or shredding that pile of mail on the counter and washing the dishes. Failure to stay on top of daily tasks or chores makes them harder to complete as each day passes.

You may be different, but I find that letting things pile up makes me want to take care of them less. So, for me doing something is better than doing nothing. That said, understand that you don’t have to do everything yourself. Ask a friend or family member to help. The worst that can happen is they might say no. I have found people are more inclined to say yes when I bribe them with pizza!

The beauty of doing something is that it is simple and specific to your situation. Repeated daily, weekly, or monthly and the results become easy to see.

At the beginning of 2021 I challenged you to define your clutter and START dealing with it. Now that we are at the beginning of 2022, I challenge you to do something.

Declutter Tug-of-War with Past, Present, and Future

December 13, 2021/1 Comment/in De-Clutter/by Brenda Avadian STUFFologist

Recently, I reviewed notes I had keyed in my journal, two years ago. At the time, I was packing to leave the rural mountain I called home for 15 years—the home, my then-husband and I said we’d live in until the paramedics carried us out on stretchers.

Time has a way of changing things and we’re each living our own lives. I accumulated many books and a lot of paperwork over my nearly 40-year career. I taught at three universities and one college plus served as a consultant for corporations and organizations. Additionally, I had files of notes and editions of the nine books I had written plus notes of the many speeches I’d given since 1980.

As I write this, I recall a dear friend and prolific author’s words during one of our telephone calls, “I’m embarrassed to admit this, Brenda, but I have notes that almost reach the ceiling for books I have yet to write. I feel overwhelmed.”

And here I am lamenting that I have a half file drawer full!

Clutter is relative. Her tall pile of notes held potential for her future. She had written over 40 books at the time. For me, too many notes drain me of energy. I stop. I feel too sluggish to move.

And so, our lives march on with an ongoing tug-of-war with clutter.

Clutter Tug-of-War – Past. Present. Future.

We must decide how much of the past we let tug at us versus how much energy we devote to our future while we potentially tear apart our present.

That year, 2019, I had to make some difficult decisions. The future would not unfold in the way I envisioned. I had to let go of what I had defined as clutter. It was time to create a present with far fewer possessions.

While I’ve always welcomed having less, it’s an uncomfortable feeling to let go of what I had for so long. It’s almost as if I’m saying, I have no future. While not true, it takes some getting used to when one’s present circumstances necessitates a revision to one’s future.

I also know from working with downsizing elders, that going through the process sooner will make it less stressful than if I had to do it in my later years.

Let Go.

As difficult as it may be to let go now, the process has made me far more conscientious as a consumer. Fortunately, I’m not one for shopping for the sake of seeing what’s out there. If I need something, I’ll buy it. Usually, it’s to replace something that no longer works for me. This means I accumulate very little.

With the holidays coming up, friends hint at the gifts they’d like to buy for me. I remind them to gift me with experiences we can enjoy together. This way, instead of having one more thing to deal with, I will treasure a memorable experience.

I had long welcomed a reduction in possessions. The more stuff we have the more our energy goes to maintaining our physical possessions instead spending time with one another. Based on square feet alone, I’ve given up 80% of living space.

I feel far less stress in more intimate surroundings that are easier to manage. Instead of fixing, cleaning, storing, and maintaining possessions I am enjoying meaningful experiences with people.

Let Go to Let In

Since the age of 10 when I grew aware of such things, I’ve learned how much we allow our possessions—whether physical or mental to control our lives.

When we decide and then take steps to let go, we open ourselves to wondrous experiences, ones we cannot even imagine.

The MAGIC of Incremental Improvement

October 25, 2021/in Unexpected Gifts/by Brenda Avadian STUFFologist

If We Could Accept Progress Step-by-Step

Popular self-help books promote the idea that if we can switch our thinking, we will live lives of abundance (attraction theory, self- affirmations). Things will magically click and we’ll be happy bazillionaires!

Honestly, that’s not the way things work. Sure, you may have spurts of success here and there, but to really see solid growth you need to accept that incremental gains through consistent steps toward your goal are where there are magical-compound results.

Compounded Gains

Finance people and investment advisors have been talking about the benefits of compounded growth. If you’ve missed it, here’s a quick overview.

If you invested just $100 and added only $5 a month for 5 years while earning a measly 4% compound interest, you’d end up with a jaw-dropping 447% increase. If you had instead invested $5 a month (after your initial $100 investment) in an ETF such as Vanguard’s S&P, You would have $637.60 after 16.86% annual compound growth. (This return is as of 9/30/2021 and accounts for that massive dip in March 2020.) Now, imagine if you had invested $1,000, initially, and added $50 a month. You’d have $6,376!

Most often, we see similar results after we direct consistent effort toward other goals in our life.

Unexpected Gifts

When we take one step and then another, consistently, we compound our progress toward miraculous gains!

Consistency is the key. One step at a time.

We hate it because that’s not the message we get from best-selling books and seminars. Yet, this is how people grow impressive nest eggs. This is how people declutter without suffering trauma because they let go too soon a sentimental memento or family heirloom. Sure, there are stories of seemingly overnight successes; but what we usually don’t hear and see are the months if not years of consistent action. The same holds true for today’s bitcoin millionaires.

Steps repeated consistently over time will yield unexpected gifts. Actually, they are expected because we’ve worked consistently toward them. They’re UNexpected when the magic of compound growth results from small steps taken repeatedly to build upon the earlier ones.

Whether decluttering or building something awesome, it takes time and dedicated effort. Consider the awesome beauty of this medieval castle built using old-style workmanship that now attracts visitors from around the world.

Dario Sattui’s all-consuming passion to build “13th century Tuscan castle winery to honor his Italian heritage and deep love for medieval architecture” began in 1994. He completed the Castello di Amorosa 15 years later. It was his labor of love.

DON’T Fill the VOID—Embrace the Emptiness

September 20, 2021/in 2 Magic Questions/by Brenda Avadian STUFFologist

Last week, co-author, Eric Riddle, of STUFFology 101 wrote about how temporal, mental, and physical clutter disrupts our routines. In an earlier post, he wrote about collecting boxes for his daughter’s move from her temporary accommodations in her parents’ home. I advised him, don’t try to fill the void after your daughter and granddaughter move.

We often try to fill the empty spaces in our lives. Beyond our physical surroundings; we feel lost when we encounter free time or even uncluttered thoughts. These vacuums tease us to fill them. We immediately say yes, to a new commitment of our time, after we let go of our membership in an organization. We spend countless hours engaged with social media. We go out and buy knickknacks to fill the counter space we just cleared.

A former aerospace colleague and his wife were model consumers. After retirement, they added to the many beautiful things throughout their home. They spent time each day to maintain their possessions, from his wife dusting daily to him working on his thirty or more acres of grazing lands, ponds, and virgin growth trees. While I enjoyed staying with them in their historic southern home, I felt frustrated trying to find a place to put my things. Nearly every horizontal surface was filled in the living room, dining room, kitchen, and bathroom.

I was raised in a cluttered home. I remember being shocked when my mother reacted with surprise to see a (very old) spice container I retrieved from the back of a kitchen drawer. Before I helped my father move into my California home, I found two and three of the same power tools. During his younger and pre-dementia days, he’d buy a new tool because he forgot he already had one. How can you own something and not know that you have it?

These experiences impressed upon me a desire to live a life of minimalism. While I am not quite there yet to live out of a backpack, I continue to let go of things.

Some letting go takes time. I am not one to advocate Kondo-style tossing. Decluttering takes time. Our possessions carry many of our life experiences, emotions, memories, and desires. It takes time to admit that my violin-playing days are over. I will need to let go.

We humans find it unnerving to embrace the emptiness in our lives. We eagerly try to fill the spaces. There is wisdom in: Less is more. Less brings us more time, the one thing we cannot recover in life.

I wrote the following in an email to Eric recently, when he felt life’s diverse needs tugging unbearably hard at him: If you accept what I suggest—try NOT to fill the void. Experience it. Live in it. You need the space – mentally, emotionally, psychologically, and physically.

In my own life, after living in a toxic marriage for too long, divorce, and after, I find value in making myself whole. The therapist, across a dozen sessions, worried I might be holding back anger. She conceded that my choice to focus on me is how therapists are trained to help their clients proceed. Instead, fearing emptiness, many rush to find comfort in another human being. I embraced the void and life of freedom. What a joy to live untethered while I regain my footing and energy.

When we blindly fill the void, we don’t give ourselves the time and space to grow. We think we’re moving closer to our goals, but we’re simply defaulting to routines to fill in the emptiness. Take time to answer Magic Question 2: How will the area you’re focused on look, feel, smell, or sound, after you cleared the clutter?

Voids serve a valuable, though sometimes painful, purpose. They are an opening—a space to learn. IF we invite in what the emptiness may teach us, we will avert out-of-control lives built upon shaky foundations. We’ll shed those insecurities and constant stress.

Eric replied, “Thanks Brenda! I appreciate your insight and look forward to space in my life. Life is extremely full at the moment. Not a great situation as you know.”

Let us gain strength. Let us not give up. Let’s change parts of our life’s routines. Let us be aware and put in the effort to steer clear of lives lived in default mode.

Earlier this year, I wrote: Letting GO of Temporal and Mental Clutter to Let IN which delves more into the idea of letting in space.

Also read, What HAPPENED? Too much Time STUFF! to learn how we sabotage our space with physical clutter and engage in time-killing pursuits to create temporal clutter.

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.

Avadian photo 2021 NAPA Wine Country Castello di Amorosa in Calistoga

Declutter Your Smartphone

July 26, 2021/in De-Clutter/by Brenda Avadian STUFFologist

When is the last time you looked at the condition of your smartphone?

Did you run the Device Care feature (in Settings for Android) to clear the clutter and help it work more efficiently?

Digital Memories Grow Rapidly

Wherever I go, I take pictures. I also shoot videos. I am pleasantly surprised by people’s reactions to the people-and-nature photos and videos I post to social media. While I use my own smartphone and then spent (too much) time trying to get them high-resolution videos, I’m clearing the temporal clutter in my life. I use their cameras to shoot most of the pictures and videos. Meanwhile, I use my phone only for the must-have (a subjective call) images and video, saving gigabytes of space and time.

Years ago, in the days of pre-digital photography, we dropped off our rolls of film to be developed at a Fotomat booth or mailed them. We were careful about capturing the ideal shot as our hobby could grow quite expensive. Back then, I read that a National Geographic photographer could take as many as 10,000 photos for every one featured in the magazine. WOW!

Gigabytes of Too-Much Data

Today, the ease of digital photography and immediate feedback, makes it easier to quickly delete poor images as we continually improve our photography skills.

Friend, Manish Mamtani, an IT/Finance professional, parlayed his photography hobby into an internationally recognized following with photos featured around the world including at the White House and in NatGeo.

Those of us who enjoy taking pictures or shooting videos have likely accumulated tens of thousands if not 100,000 or more photos on our hard drives not to mention the seemingly endless gigabytes of photos and videos on our cards inserted in our smartphones.

Before I travel, I try to leave with at least half of my phone and card space available for new-photo and video opportunities. I am always surprised by the person who hands me a smartphone that doesn’t save the images or videos I shoot because there’s no more space left on their memory card or phone. They quickly delete and ask me to retake the images but by then the magic has passed.

Keep Control of Your Data

Take control of your smartphone files. Beyond your photos and videos, look also at your text messages, especially, those with images or videos. Also, review your emails and delete as many as you can.

Declutter.

When you’re finished, be sure to run the Device Care feature, again.

Organization Options for Your Closet

July 19, 2021/in Reviews/by Eric Riddle STUFFologist

What do you do after you have cleared the physical clutter from your living space? Maybe now is a good time to better organize some frequently used spaces like your closet. Since I am frequently at Lowe’s for various household projects, I’ll share what I discovered yesterday.

Lowe’s carries a wide variety of closet organization items both in store and online.

I am a fan of wood and Lowe’s carries wooden closet organizers, perfect for when I am ready to reorganize my closet space. If you don’t want to go full project changeover, then they have cost effective options available as well. For example, neatfreak! offers items ranging from hangers to shelf organizers.

Closet organization can be fun. Make some time to tackle that project today!

For smaller random organizing challenges in your living space, consider plastic storage bins for a quick fix. ICYMI, here are some suggestions from January 2021, “What’s in Stor(age) for You This Year?”

Declutter to Avoid being Frozen in Time and Place

July 12, 2021/in Unexpected Gifts/by Brenda Avadian STUFFologist

Decluttering will be the easiest for you to tackle, today. Tomorrow, and with each passing day, the process will be more challenging.

The longer we postpone accomplishing a task, the more difficult it becomes. Our thoughts about getting it done—mental clutter—raises our stress level. The older we grow, the busier we get and the more quickly we tire.

Making time now to declutter gives us control over what we keep, sell, gift to others, or toss. We don’t want a flood, fire, earthquake, or other calamity to dictate the destruction of our sentimental family mementos.

Decluttering now also means we reduce our consumption of want-to-have but do-not-need items. These items that bring short-term joy, not only clutter our space, they deplete our finances, and ultimately make our lives more stressful. You’d be surprised how great the burden when we carry more stuff than we need.

I found this quote (source unknown) particularly impactful: move away from attachment to the stuff of life and toward a way of life.

And yet, I see so many, frozen in time and place—trapped by their possessions. I grew up in a household of too much stuff. My parents could not say no. The lessons of unburdening their home of 45 years of possessions have contributed to my ongoing process of letting go and acquiring only what I need.

Whether it’s the physical stuff that occupies our space or the mental clutter that clouds our thoughts, we are weighed down—anchored. Until we declutter, we will be unable to move toward a freer way of life.

While progress is slow, such as when my (now ex-) husband I were going through my late father’s paperwork as his brain became increasingly riddled by dementia and later, Alzheimer’s, the pace will pick up. While unexpected gifts such as The U.S. Savings Bonds Windfall, are rare, the gift we receive with each step we take, will make the process go quicker. It’s uncanny, how that works, but we need to start, now.

Only then will we melt the icy grip of our possessions (mental and physical) and clear space in order to may enjoy more of what life has to offer.

Declare Your Independence from Clutter

July 5, 2021/in News 'n Views/by Eric Riddle STUFFologist

July 4th is Independence Day in the United States. Using that as a theme, I challenge you to declare your independence from clutter.

What does that mean? It means putting yourself on the path to clutter freedom! What that looks like is unique to you. But here are some suggestions for where to start.

Physical clutter

A problem for many of us. Paper clutter, such as mail for example.

For recurring bills such as utilities, or credit cards, sign up for electronic statements and automatic payments. This will not only eliminate the paper clutter, but it also helps ensure your bills are paid on time. You can even set up email or text reminders for payment as needed. When doing so be cautious about creating digital clutter in lieu of the paper clutter you eliminated.

Junk mail is a different matter. We often end up on mailing lists with no rhyme or reason. Contact the sender and ask to be removed from future solicitations. This will at least reduce, if not eliminate, the volume of junk mail. I also recommend shredding anything in said mail that contains your personal information, such as your address or account number. These are some simple steps towards freedom from physical clutter.

Digital clutter

Another issue many of us must deal with. Smart phones being a convenient example.

Take a hard look at your device and delete apps that you have not used in some time. Run the battery and device care feature in your settings to free up space. Restart your device on some type of schedule and run updates as needed. These are simple things you can do on your path to freedom from digital clutter.

Decluttering the various aspects of our lives can be simple. Again, I challenge you to declare your independence from clutter.

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