Remember Oscar Madison? Yes, Oscar Madison, the messy one of The Odd Couple! Well, Barbara Tako was once like him – but several years ago she underwent a turning point in her life.

Because her life was overrun with clutter, she said an emphatic goodbye to Oscar and “decided to become more like Felix Unger [Oscar’s roommate]. I learned my clutter clearing goal wasn’t about perfection but about freeing up energy [and time] to focus on the things in my life that matter most.” In fact, she rails against perfection because it “holds us back from attempts to get better organized, manage our time better… Decide it is more important to get started than to do it perfectly.”

To help other people “overwhelmed by clutter” the way she once was, Barbara shares her ideas in Clutter Clearing Choices (O Books). “We all have different personalities and preferences,” she says, “and we are all at different life stages. I offer a variety of suggestions rather than one ‘right’ way. I also think about different kinds of clutter depending on the season, and writing seasonally on this topic hadn’t been done before.” Packed with sensible information and common sense, her book is easy to read and insightful, valuable and humorous.

Here’s a sampling of Barbara’s many important clutter clearing tips: “Accomplish a lot of weeding out in small blocks of time – as little as 10 or 15 minutes… Spend less time worrying about clutter and just a little more time resolving it.”  Also, remember to “Keep an ongoing donation box or shelf spot in your home to take discards to – as you discover them daily.” A common and serious clutter problem is what to do about sentimental items that accumulate. According to Barbara, “Keep the sentiment by taking a photo or writing in a journal, but donate, sell, or gift the actual ‘stuff.’ Display rather than store ‘sentimental stuff.’ If you keep something in a basement or attic, ‘it’ could get wrecked by temperature or humidity level changes…”

And what if it’s a collection? “Keep your favorite two or three samples, write down the history of the collection, and decide not to retain the entire collection.” She believes, however, that “there is no one right way to handle sentimental items. We all choose to keep some sentimental items – and that is fine.”

For Barbara clutter is “physical, mental, emotional and relational.” Now, while it “can be tangible like household goods, clothing, toys, and paperwork,” clutter “can also be feelings that pull us down and wear us out, including stress, guilt, anxiety.” To paraphrase one of her key points: Clutter is anything in your life that isn’t helpful to you – but once you take charge of clutter, you might just find yourself living a more caring, richer, and simpler life.

Remember, Clearing Cutter Choices is written by someone who has experienced the problems clutter can cause – and therefore there’s nothing pie-in-the-sky about it … If you have stories or ideas about clutter clearing, contact Barbara at simplify@clutterclearingchoices.com or visit her website: www.clutterclearingchoice.com.

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