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" Pam, a mother of two teenage boys, ages 14 and 17, lives in a clean, organized house in Austin, Texas. And no, she&amp;#039;s not going to tell you her last name, because her house used to be a mess.   &amp;quot;Have you ever seen Citizen Kane?&amp;quot; she jokes. While raising her sons, Pam found herself &amp;quot;just surrounded by things.&amp;quot; She knew it was getting bad when visitors began commenting. &amp;quot;People would say, &amp;#039;Wow, you have a lot of stuff.&amp;#039; I think I let it go for so long because the house was never dirty\u2014just very full,&amp;quot; she says. Full of outgrown toys, kitchen appliances, end tables from two houses ago\u2014items that were potentially useful, but never used. &amp;quot;My biggest mistake? Not having a plan to get rid of things,&amp;quot; she says.   Millions of us are just like Pam, and the consequences of holding on to everything are huge. Numerous studies show that people whose lives are oriented around material possessions\u2014which is what happens when every surface is cluttered\u2014 are less happy. A 2006 study found that participants who made changes to their life circumstances (such as buying a new TV) felt their self-reported happiness subside after a mere 12 weeks.   &amp;quot;Our environment is a physical manifestation of how we feel,&amp;quot; says Darcy Smith, PhD, a New York City psychotherapist. &amp;quot;Clutter creates chaos in our brain, which undermines our ability to function. With less distraction, our brains function better, our anxiety decreases, our self-esteem increases and we feel more competent. We also are more likely to invite others over and be social.&amp;quot;   Pam was nudged into cleanup mode when her sister handed her the phone number of a local professional organizer. One day she finally called Barry Izsak, an Austin-based certified professional organizer, and over the next four months, with his help, she spent one day a week clearing the clutter, room by room. &amp;quot;It wasn&amp;#039;t like an episode of Clean House, where they do it all in a weekend,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;I needed time to decide what to do with what we didn&amp;#039;t want.&amp;quot;   The result: &amp;quot;When I come into my home now, I just stare in happy disbelief,&amp;quot; says Pam. And she&amp;#039;s learned a lot. &amp;quot;I never realized how much energy I was putting into finding things.&amp;quot; We talked to psychologists and organizational experts to figure out why so many of us feel the need to surround ourselves with stuff, and how we can clear it out, just like Pam finally did.   Why So Much Stuff?    Chalk up your pack-rat habits to evolution. &amp;quot;Humans seem to be wired to acquire belongings,&amp;quot; says Tim Kasser, PhD, psychology chair at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. Think about it: Humans don&amp;#039;t run particularly fast, nor do we see and hear all that well. What do we excel at? Stockpiling items around us for survival and comfort. Whether that&amp;#039;s a spear or a La-Z-Boy, we gather.   Dr. Kasser compares our tendency to gather to the obesity epidemic. &amp;quot;Humans need to eat fatty foods to survive\u2014but now there&amp;#039;s a vending machine down every hallway and a convenience store on the corner. Similarly, we still have our innate desire to acquire belongings, but now there are stores on every block, our houses are large and we live in an economic system that depends on people consuming, which amplifies that feeling that consumption is good.&amp;quot;   And then there&amp;#039;s the psychology behind that urge to own. It&amp;#039;s called &amp;quot;retail therapy&amp;quot; for a reason: Shopping is fun, temporarily showering the brain in happy hormones. &amp;quot;Shopping distracts people,&amp;quot; says Dr. Kasser\u2014especially from work and family stress. The trouble, of course, is that retail therapy never solves the underlying insecurity. &amp;quot;Buying those heels doesn&amp;#039;t in any way address your worries,&amp;quot; says Dr. Kasser. &amp;quot;Thus, you remain stuck, but with dozens of pairs of shoes.&amp;quot;   Randy Frost, PhD, the coauthor of Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things and a professor of psychology at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, has developed a treatment program for hoarding, but the lessons can be applied to decluttering, too. The first step: Stop bringing extra items into the house. Controlling the urge to acquire is pivotal to long-term decluttering.      Prevent Clutter Before It Starts   The next time you&amp;#039;re standing in the store aisle, and you suddenly must own that dress/ utensil/gadget, try this:   1. Remind yourself of all the reasons you don&amp;#039;t want the item. Say aloud: I don&amp;#039;t have room for it. I already have something similar. It&amp;#039;s not a smart use of my finances. Repeat. The goal is to build immunity to our urge to buy.   2. Divert yourself by doing good. Put down the fancy blender and do something that is internally satisfying, like calling a far-flung friend who has been having a tough time. Forcing yourself to do an activity that makes you feel good on the inside will not only successfully distract you, but also help you understand that you&amp;#039;re actually happier with the internal reward.   3. Enjoy it\u2014and then leave. Remind yourself that you can enjoy the item without owning it. &amp;quot;This shift in thinking has really helped me,&amp;quot; says Paige Hodges, the blogger behind Redefining the Meaning of Wealth, which chronicles her 10-year journey to declutter and live simply. &amp;quot;I now realize that I don&amp;#039;t need to own every dress that looks good on me in the store. I can admire it, and then go back to my clean house.&amp;quot;   4. Put it down, especially if it&amp;#039;s free. Touching items is the first step to owning them, so look, then walk away.   Why is Decluttering So Difficult?    Just thinking about cleaning out your decades of belongings can stir up all sorts of emotions, says Dr. Frost. More than likely, your home is filled with two categories of junk: Easy Stuff, which is all the forgotten stuff you don&amp;#039;t particularly care about (old tools, old toiletries) and is easy to discard; and Weak Spots, the items that you care about (Grandma&amp;#039;s plates, your school notebooks, shoes). The key to successfully tossing a Weak Spot is to understand your emotions, so you can handle them head-on. &amp;quot;People develop emotional attachments to their things,&amp;quot; says Dr. Frost. &amp;quot;That plate is not just a plate, but represents an emotion. So our aim is to change the nature of the attachment.&amp;quot; Dr. Frost says there are five main reasons for not tossing items, and that understanding them can get you over the clutter hump:   &amp;quot;But Aunt B gave me that!&amp;quot; Examples: Grandma&amp;#039;s vase that you never use; the fancy dresser you inherited that doesn&amp;#039;t fit in your home Saying this is a clear indicator that you&amp;#039;re probably not actually using the item, which means it needs to go. &amp;quot;Many people are living with homes filled to the brim with inherited things, just paralyzed with stuff,&amp;quot; says Donna Smallin, author of The One-Minute Organizer. She suggests reminding yourself that Aunt B would want you to keep the items you get use out of. If you&amp;#039;re feeling particularly guilty over more expensive inherited items, she suggests selling the item and donating the proceeds to a charity in Aunt B&amp;#039;s name.   &amp;quot;But it&amp;#039;s irreplaceable!&amp;quot; Examples: Kids&amp;#039; art, handmade items Pam went through this. &amp;quot;I have learned that none of my kids&amp;#039; artwork is special when there&amp;#039;s too much of it,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;So I just save the special ones.&amp;quot; And you can take digital pictures, so you can always look back.   &amp;quot; But that&amp;#039;s from the time when\u2026!&amp;quot; Examples: Your prom or wedding dress, programs from events &amp;quot;A ticket from a favorite concert or your wedding dress may seem meaningful, so throwing it out or getting rid of it feels like you&amp;#039;re losing a piece of yourself,&amp;quot; says Dr. Frost. The solution is to realize that the object is not a part of your personal history. In reality, it&amp;#039;s just an object, taking up space. Its meaning is in your mind, and that can continue; it&amp;#039;s the memory that&amp;#039;s important, not the item itself. If you want to keep a record of that ticket or dress, take a digital photograph, so you&amp;#039;ll always be able to see it.   &amp;quot;But I might need it!&amp;quot; Examples: The juicer or pasta maker you never use, old clothes Every time you hear yourself saying the word might, stop yourself. That&amp;#039;s code for &amp;quot;I will never use this.&amp;quot; Books and periodicals are particularly problematic. &amp;quot;People keep books and newspapers because they contain things they might eventually want to remember,&amp;quot; says Dr. Frost. To help yourself part with it, play through the worst-case scenario: What would you do if a year from now, you needed the item and didn&amp;#039;t have it? Chances are, you&amp;#039;d borrow a friend&amp;#039;s or visit the magazine&amp;#039;s website to find the article.   &amp;quot; But it&amp;#039;s so gorgeous/pretty/attractive!&amp;quot; Examples: Figurines and knickknacks, the beautiful angora sweater that you&amp;#039;re allergic to &amp;quot;We call this aesthetic fascination,&amp;quot; says Dr. Frost. That knickknack or sweater may be spellbinding, but just because it&amp;#039;s pretty doesn&amp;#039;t mean you need to hold on to it. General rule of thumb: Those items only get to stay in your house if you use them once a month or more, or you use them consistently year after year, such as holiday decorations. Remind yourself that the world is full of beautiful objects, but they cannot all live in your drawers. Do yourself (and someone else) a favor: Share the beauty with Goodwill.   Toss-Your-Stuff Strategies    Make a schedule. Decluttering is kind of like dieting\u2014it takes a little while to see results. Plan to spend 12 weeks cleaning out your home, says Wanda Urbanska, author of The Heart of Simple Living. That&amp;#039;s a good pace of one room per week, with each room taking 4 hours if your house isn&amp;#039;t overflowing with stuff; basements, attics and garages can take 8+ hours. If you&amp;#039;ve got a ton of clutter, much more time may be required. Sit down with your planner and schedule in two to four 2-hour appointments with yourself each week for the next 12 weeks.   Prepare yourself. &amp;quot;Decluttering stirs up our emotional baggage,&amp;quot; says Dr. Smith. Prepare yourself by having a little internal conversation similar to how you might handle another formal goodbye ceremony, like a graduation or funeral. One trick: Until the moment you start decluttering, don&amp;#039;t spend time thinking about the specific items you&amp;#039;ll be parting with. &amp;quot;Particularly for people who have trouble making decisions, I wouldn&amp;#039;t recommend thinking about things too much,&amp;quot; says Dr. Smith. If you&amp;#039;re feeling emotionally overwhelmed, call a friend. Her advice will help you through.   Set the clock. You want to keep moving, and a good way to do that is to set a timer for 2 hours and force yourself to sort until the timer dings. The idea here is to focus on time, rather than on all of your precious possessions. &amp;quot;Remember, progress is the goal,&amp;quot; says Dr. Smith. &amp;quot;Not perfection. Ever.&amp;quot; If you&amp;#039;ve moved through your belongings for 2 hours, you&amp;#039;ve done a great job. If you&amp;#039;ve sorted for an hour and need to take a break, set the timer for 10 minutes, then be back when it buzzes.   Get three bags. Contractor-grade garbage bags from The Home Depot or Lowe&amp;#039;s are the most durable. You&amp;#039;ll need three bags at all times: one for stuff you&amp;#039;re going to toss, one for items to donate and one for items you&amp;#039;re not sure about. As bags fill up, take them out of the room\u2014you&amp;#039;ll have more space, and feel like you&amp;#039;re accomplishing something.   Create umbrella rules. Rather than considering each item in depth, give yourself 5 seconds to make a decision for each item, says Smallin, especially for the Easy Stuff. &amp;quot;If you haven&amp;#039;t used it recently, it gets tossed or donated. If you do use it regularly, it gets returned to its place, in a group of like items.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;That&amp;#039;s when you&amp;#039;ll realize that you have 15 pairs of black shoes,&amp;quot; says Izsak, &amp;quot;and you can decide which to discard.&amp;quot; No delaying the decision\u2014 you&amp;#039;re moving quickly, saying yes or no. If you&amp;#039;re really not sure, store your Not Sure bag in your garage, where it will live for six months before getting donated. Keep it small: It should hold no more than 5 percent of the items you&amp;#039;re sorting.   Illustrations: Jenny Bowers "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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