You can’t have everything. Where would you put it?
— Steven Wright
This blog post was inspired by a letter from my friend Maya who lives in Cornwall. She described the aftermath of Storm Goretti which had brought extensive damage to the region. “Weather wise,” she said, “we’re still being rattled around by the wind: things blown all over the place; bins and recycling bags going for walkabout (or blowabouts), scattering litter that people seem not to care two hoots about where it ends up.” She then introduced a term I’d never encountered before. “Ever heard of ‘plogging’ by the way? I hadn’t! It’s the act of picking up litter while jogging!”
It turns out plogging originated in Sweden around 2016. The word is a portmanteau of “jogging” and the Swedish phrase plocka upp (pick up). It sounds fun but I can’t imagine myself jogging. That’s not to say that litter collecting is the preserve of the fit and healthy. As if to prove the point Maya included a photo of Orinoco from the television series The Wombles based on the books by Elisabeth Beresford. I was a huge fan of the Wombles in my teens. Known for his love of eating and sleeping, Orinoco was always my favourite. He’s an unlikely ambassador for plogging but like all Wombles he’s dedicated to tidying up — once he’s had a nap and a bite to eat. As described by Puffin Books, “The Wombles live under Wimbledon Common, and it is their special responsibility to ‘tidy up’ everything that untidy Human Beings leave behind them.” I lived in London in the 1980s and used to visit my friend Anne in Wimbledon regularly. My most vivid recollection of the Common is getting lost there in the snow with Anne’s flatmate Jenny. It was less romantic than it sounds. We didn’t even see any Wombles.
Maya’s letter reminded me of two people I’d come across online. The first is self-confessed “real world Womble” Jason Alexander who shares videos of his work collecting litter. Check him out at Rubbish Walks, “an award winning UK social enterprise dedicated to inspiring long term positive changes in attitudes towards littering.” The second is Liam Wildish (Liam the Sign Guy) who goes around with a pressure washer cleaning road signs. As I thought on all this something clicked into place. These are all examples of what might be called holding back the tide of chaos. Returning a little order to the world. Decluttering.
Full disclosure. I’m not good with clutter. Or rather, I’m very good with clutter. I’m at ease living with and amongst it. My home is crammed with what most people would label junk. It probably counts as hoarding. The NHS describes hoarding disorder as “a mental health condition where you collect lots of things and find it very difficult to get rid of them, even if it’s affecting your life.” One of the diagnostic criteria is that it affects your life negatively. But that’s the thing. Maybe I’ve become desensitised but I don’t feel my life is compromised by being so full of stuff.
This is one area where Fran and I differ. When we met in 2011 she lived in a tiny house on Peaks Island off the coast of Maine. I loved her little home. Visiting every day on our video calls I felt very much at ease amongst the paraphernalia of a life lived in a very small space. It wasn’t healthy for Fran, however. She left Peaks Island at the end of 2013 for an apartment on the mainland. Those were stressful times. She’d just returned from a grueling three month trip around Europe with her parents that brought her to the brink of physical and mental collapse. It was fortunate she had local friends who could help her in ways I couldn’t from three thousand miles away. They helped her declutter and pack the things she wanted to take. One friend helped organise a yard sale. It wasn’t Fran’s first. She’d held one earlier that year during the three weeks we’d had to prepare for Europe. I’d felt it was a waste of her time and energy when there was so much to get ready for the trip but Fran had insisted. It was important to her.
Twelve years on her apartment is tidy, tastefully if minimally accoutred, and spotlessly clean. Kudos to her friend and cleaner Brenda who is a great help and inspiration. Neither of them would tolerate the chaos with which I surround myself. I do have partial clear outs. In the past I’ve shredded decades’ worth of old papers. Last year I had a blitz on old and unwanted clothes. Two dozen bags of clothing, fabrics, and other clutter made their way out of the door. The kitchen might be next. But these are sporadic forrays in the war on entropy. (Spoiler alert: entropy wins. Entrophy always wins.)
I’m more ordered in the digital realm. My photos, files, and documents are organised logically and backed up, as is everything associated with our books and blog. That’s not to say that I have everything in order. Fran recently took an online workshop on organising and managing your digital photographs. I watched many of the lessons with her and learned some useful techniques. More fundamentally, I realised that although my important files are secure it would be cumbersome for someone else to find anything specific. Who might want or need to do that? The phrase “digital legacy” has been hovering at the back of my mind since Fran and I began exploring end of life planning a couple of years ago. I still have a great deal to do. Not just with photos and documents but my various social media accounts, web hosting accounts, e-mail, and passwords. What do I want to happen to those when I’m no longer around to manage them? Who do I want to administer them? What needs to happen to put that in place? And then there’s all the physical stuff. I feel up to the task once I motivate myself to start. But I’m reassured that help is available should I need it in the future.
Treatment for hoarding disorder may include talking therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), possibly with medication to help with symptoms of depression or anxiety.
The mental health organisation Mind has information to help someone who hoards, as does Hoarding UK, a charity dedicated to supporting people affected by hoarding behaviours. “[Hoarding UK’s] aim is to empower individuals experiencing hoarding behaviours to achieve spatial and personal change to improve their health and wellbeing, to improve practice amongst professionals, to raise awareness and increase understanding.”
In the UK the Association of Professional Declutterers and Organisers (APDO) is a good place to find professional help. I was interested to find that they offer specialist assistance as well as more general help. “This can be in helping with challenges such as hoarding disorder, ADHD, etc or giving help and advice on a particular area such as digital decluttering, photo organising, moving house etc.”
Fran has found the following classes, groups, and sessions useful.
- Simplify Days (“We help individuals and families simplify”). This is a whole system. All about paper. And then it affects everything else. Seven day free trial.
- Spark Joy. One on one guidance using Marie Kondo’s method. First session is free.
- The Photo Project (“I guide women through the journey of photo organizing, so they can turn their digital photo collection into beautifully organized memories, all with ease and joy.”) Seven day free trial.
Fran is also in two online decluttering groups. One uses the Pomodoro Technique, working in 25 minute intervals separated by 5 minute breaks. She hasn’t tried the free virtual co-working site Focus Mate yet but intends to. There is also KonMari, and Nourishing Minimalism which offers a free decluttering tally chart.
Over to You
In this post I’ve described our respective and very different relationships to clutter. How do you feel reading this? Are you comfortable living with lots of stuff or do you need your spaces clear of extraneous junk? Do you find it hard to manage clutter, whether in the physical realm or digitally? What helps you stay on top of things? Fran and I would love to hear from you, either in the comments below or via our contact page.
Oh, one last thing.
Remember, remember, remember, remember
Remember, remember, remember (member, member, member)
Remember you’re a Womble (Remember you’re a Womble)— Mike Batt and Chris Spedding. “Remember You’re a Womble.”
Photo by Bruno Guerrero at Unsplash.
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