CSUF professor’s book examines the underlying factors behind clutter ...Middle East

By Larry Urish, contributing writer

Do you keep finding your car keys under a confetti of scattered paperwork? Did your tax records somehow magically wind up in your sock drawer? If so, you may have a clutter problem. But don’t despair; you’re not alone.

Living with clutter impacts the lives of millions. While overconsumption is regarded as a key factor behind our ongoing battle with clutter, Carrie Lane, Cal State Fullerton chair and professor of American Studies, believes other elements play a role in this issue. Her research into this subject resulted in her newest book, “More Than Pretty Boxes: How the Rise of Professional Organizing Shows Us the Way We Work Isn’t Working.”

Lane stumbled across this issue while decluttering a kitchen cabinet. “I got rid of a few things and felt so much lighter and proud of myself,” she said. “Then I thought, ‘What’s going on here?’ Having fewer mugs in my cabinet doesn’t make me a better person. It doesn’t give me a higher quality of life.” An anthropologist who studies contemporary American culture, she examined the widespread view that decluttering can lead to a better, happier life — and the potential costs of this belief.

Lane notes that our relationship with clutter can affect us physically, financially and emotionally. For starters, it can trigger anxiety. “Most of us live in homes and work in spaces that don’t have unlimited room,” she said. “We have to decide where we’re willing to allocate space and what we want to use it for. If you’re using your home office as a storeroom, you can’t really use it as an office. We’re all making decisions every day about what we want to use the space around us for, and so clutter can have a real impact on what space is available.”

The financial impact, which goes deeper than mere overspending, is multidimensional. “There are other kinds of financial impact,” Lane said. “It’s in the form of late fees or bills that don’t get paid because you couldn’t find the bill. Or you didn’t remember that the bill had arrived, since it was misplaced. And it involves purchasing items that you already have in the home but can’t find.”

Lane’s research included interviewing some 50 professional organizers, working more than 100 hours as an unpaid assistant organizer, and attending conferences and workshops. While she admits that overconsumption is a factor behind the clutter issue, she discusses another key component. “Today, people are too overworked and overwhelmed to really have the time and energy to figure out how to manage all that stuff of everyday life.

Clutter, Lane discovered, affects women more than men. “In the book, I talk about a fascinating UCLA study in which people were hooked up to monitors. When women were looking at and standing in cluttered spaces, their anxiety spiked; the same was not true for men.”

Despite advances women have made in the workplace over the last 50 years, Lane notes that the job of keeping a house clean and clutter-free still falls on women. “Since that’s been the case for hundreds of years, you don’t have to tell a woman that her home needs to be better organized in order for her to feel that pressure,” Lane said. “Even today, girls are celebrated for being more organized, tidy and responsible for their belongings, and we’re not holding boys to that same standard. These anxieties fall more heavily on women.”

Another source of anxiety is “decluttering minimalism,” a concept rooted in popular narratives about the need to have a sparsely decorated, well-organized space. “It’s placing additional pressure on people,” Lane said. “We’re inundated with images of these perfectly organized spaces that don’t really reflect the way that the vast majority of humans actually live. One of the organizers I interviewed called these images ‘house porn.’ Many people are critical of themselves if their places don’t match that ideal.”

Those who hire professional organizers need to know that there are limits to what the pros can do. Lane stresses that organizers are not psychologists or therapists, even though organizing can feel therapeutic. “Some people, including those with ADHD or hoarding issues, need to meet with a mental health professional before they can even begin the organizing process,” she said.

Lane’s advice for those who wish to begin decluttering their home or office: Always start small. “I would discourage anyone from thinking, ‘I’m going to organize my house this week.’ No, you should organize one small space, like a junk drawer or cabinet. And when that’s done, pick another small space. That’s how you stay organized over time.”

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