At first, they gave me hope. There were organizers for everything: medications, eyeglasses, eggs, spice racks for 24 spices. (Disclosure: I only use five. And what is fenugreek anyway?)
Slowly, things got out of hand. Over-the-door organizers, under-the-bed organizers, sock drawers, magnetic shelves that cling to my refrigerator for the other spices I may buy someday to augment the spice racks I already own. And cords. Oh my God, the cords.
The problem is, the more I organize, the more I give myself permission to buy. At this point, I have run out of room for organizers.
I’m not alone. According to a 2024 study, 73 percent of homeowners felt overwhelmed and anxious when their homes were untidy, and 48 percent said lack of organization affects their mental health. (This study was commissioned by the Container Store, so I take it with the grain of salt that I easily found in one of my matching spice jars).
It’s no wonder that an organizing account on Instagram like the Home Edit has more than six million followers — and that books on the subject proliferate like, well, cords.
No New Things
by Ashlee Piper
Piper was a political consultant with a penchant for stuff — lots of stuff. She probably could have bought a storage unit for her throw pillows alone. Her determination to spend one month buying absolutely nothing led to NO NEW THINGS (Celadon, 288 pp., $24.99).
One month became nearly two years (she could still buy things like food and toothbrushes and get her hair and nails done — I mean, she’s not a savage), and led to a radical reduction in debt as well as her stress about that debt.
Piper shares her acronymic SUPER System: Shopping secondhand; Using, upcycling or reimagining stuff you already have; Paying nothing (by utilizing store credits or gift cards or by bartering); choosing Experiences instead of things; and Renting, borrowing or sharing what you need.
She calls her methodology “a pause, not a prohibition,” and suggests there is at least one charming upside to her practice: Borrowing the proverbial cup of sugar creates community.
She’s right. Recently a neighbor had extra kale from a farm share; offering it in our building group chat led to someone else offering their extra peppers, which led to the mushroom swap, which led to a group of former strangers excitedly negotiating cheese. The virtual swap meet is the new social network.
Organize First, Decorate Second
by Whitney English
In ORGANIZE FIRST, DECORATE SECOND (Thomas Nelson, 224 pp., $19.99), English, an interior designer, preaches the function of beauty: It “isn’t just the icing on the cake; it is the cake.”
Disorganization can actually increase our cortisol levels, she says, which is why “a beautifully organized space is more than just aesthetically pleasing — it’s emotionally restorative, like a sigh of relief after a long day.”
English likes to reframe decluttering as “editing,” urging readers to think of it like writing a book, where you are perpetually working on drafts: “What story do you want your home to tell?’” That metaphor did push me to face the question, does the story I want to tell involve 50 decorative owls packed into a New York City apartment?
At any rate, English has some very useful advice about the post-decluttering decorating process (“You can have it good, fast or cheap — pick two”), questioning past enthusiasms (did you want some houseplants, or did you want a jungle?) and taking photos to commemorate sentimental items before you discard them.
I particularly like her suggestion about systems — namely, that a system is useful only if it works for you. She’s not prescriptive. If you like filing alphabetically, great. If you like filing by date, or by color, or by eras of hair styles or eras of husbands, also great. As long as you understand the system you’ve come up with. Bonus points if you can explain it to the people who need to find your stuff after you die.
Everything You Need to Know About Hoarding
by Lynne M. Drummond with Laura J. Edwards
Speaking of dropping dead, EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HOARDING (Cambridge University Press, 220 pp., $19.95) may help you or a loved one avoid the fate of Homer and Langley Collyer, the brothers who died in their home, buried under 180 tons of “stuff” they had collected over several decades.
The American Psychiatric Association estimates that approximately 2.6 percent of Americans suffer from the compulsion to hold onto objects, regardless of their value — but the numbers might be much higher, since many people don’t see their “collections” as a problem.
While the book is academic and somewhat dry, it can’t help being fascinating, as Drummond uses dozens of case studies to illustrate different types of hoarding (animal hoarding is its own special hell), and to show how the disorder is linked to other mental health issues including depression, O.C.D. and autism.
The chapter “How Can Someone With Hoarding Disorder Help Themselves?” includes exercises on discarding (you can’t hold onto an object for more than a few seconds, because “the longer the person holds on to the item, the more attached to it they are likely to feel”) and baby-step goal setting, with the idea that reclaiming your living space is reclaiming your life.
That makes a lot of sense. Anyone looking for some collectible owls? Will trade for kale.
The post Seeking Simplicity? These Books Will Help You Banish Clutter appeared first on New York Times.
