Which method would work best for you? Only you can decide, most likely it’s somewhere in between these two opposite points of view.
To Be Messy Or To Be A Neat Freak? Does It Matter?
View # 1: Eric Abrahamson, author of A Perfect Mess (Little, Brown & Co.) says that moderately messy systems outperform extremely orderly ones. With co-author David Freedman, Abrahamson contends that Americans obsession with neatness has got us in a state where we are needlessly draining time, money, and emotion from our lives in the hapless pursuit of order.
Filing away loose office papers may not be the best idea, says Abrahamson. People who stack stuff on the desk have intuitive organization that can be effective. Not only are the filed papers hard to find, but remember is out of sight, out of mind. Putting off neatening for a time will probably have some advantage, the professor contends. It's much more efficient to organize a large set of things at once than to try and organize them in pieces as they come along.
His other advice: Make peace with your clutter. As we try to organize everything, clutter creeps back. Accept that. Don't waste time organizing your laptop. Search tools can locate anything. Be sloppier with your schedule. A less structured date book makes it easier to adapt to surprises and affords you more freedom. Forget filing your CDs by date of artist. Try randomness. Your time and energy could be better spent, so don't try to be so neat.
View # 2: Don't let clutter rule your life ~ Boxes of papers. Shelves full of dusty salt and pepper shakers. Stacks of clothing, bathtubs full of unsent gifts. Guest rooms where no bed can be found under tons of "stuff." Turn on cable television and you're bound to run across one of the new anti-clutter programs wherein a team of cleaning experts confronts exceptionally cluttered families.
The shows are very successful on cable. They allow the viewer to gawk at the excesses of everyday people whose interests (and disinterests) have led to household chaos. In each version of the anti-clutter programming, homeowners learn they must let go of their junk and, in return, the clean teams come in, clean up, and redecorate.
There are numerous shows from Hellen Buttigieg, host of Neat TV's modestly lower-cased program "neat". To the Style Networks’s anti-clutter queen Niecy Nash and Tava Smiley host of On the Style Network. All three of these hosts lead a troup of hip helpers who sort, purge and garage sale the junk, leaving the homeowners with comfortable, redecorated homes full of new furniture and warnings to keep it that way.
On TLC channel, Actress Tava Smiley hosts Clean Sweep with the largest cast of high profile fixers, cleaners and purgers. Unlike Buttigieg's desire for zen quiet, and Nash's common sense solutions, the designers on Clean Sweep give their untidy clients daring rooms full of color and dash. All this has spawned a new philosophy of neat. The commandments:
- Just because it was a gift, does not mean you have to keep it.
- Don't keep things because you think you might use them someday.
- Don't let your home be a dumping ground for someone elseís junk.
- Let go of mementoes of the past so you have room for the future.
- Don't keep things that donít work, donít fit, or are no longer relevant.
- It's wasteful if you leave it on your floor or packed forever in a box. Give it away, sell it, or throw it away.
Which method would work best for you? Only you can decide, most likely it’s somewhere in between these two opposite points of view.
