These collected mass of useless materials clutter, occupy space and create many problems. The clutter, many a times, seems so huge that no work is possible. If one even gets about to clear it, they remain undecided over where they should begin. Re-arranging useful things and throwing away what is not needed is always accompanied by a lot of anxiety and trauma, becoming a larger emotional issue.

 

Clutter is just an accumulation of things in a haphazard manner. This could be a result of lack of space, lack of time, sheer laziness, procrastination or the like. It could also result from physical inability to attend to a tough physical job, say if a person is suffering from arthritis or joint pains. Then there are hoarders, who have a compulsive obsession to collect and keep things of all sorts. They fear trauma of losing these 'possessions' and their mental attachment to prevents them from discarding this clutter.

 

This habit can also be discarded, if a person applies enough effort. A hoarder first needs to realise that there are plenty of people like him/her in the world. In fact, there are many online support groups, which deal exclusively with obsessive compulsive hoarding – the largest and longest being one run on yahoo by Paula Host.

 

They can also seek the help and advice of a close friend in whom they can easily confide. They can even hire a person, who would do the dirty job of cleaning up all the accumulated piles of unwanted materials. A hoarder may also organise to donate such belongings to needy persons or organisations, getting the satisfaction of being useful.

 

While attempting to de-clutter their rooms or shelf space, one of the most crucial and painful steps is deciding what to keep and what to throw. The argument that you may need it once you throw away something, or that you may not be able to purchase it, does not hold water either. After all for years, that person has had a thing without ever using it. Either way, the best logical option is to weed out unwanted, cluttering stuff.

 

One can even take the advice of certain books on the subject of hoarding. A good book in this regard is “Buried in treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving and Hoarding” by Tolin, Frost and Stektee.