Collections versus Clutter

Collections versus Clutter 
by: Jill Sanders Crider
A two-part series in helping you determine what you love, what you (should) leave and how to organize it all!

​COLLECTION: a group(ing) of items that you have dedicated time, effort and money into curating over a period of time; items with purpose, order and meaning.
CLUTTER: a closet full of outdated, mismatched and useless items; an ever growing assortment of items without intent, purpose, structure or meaning.

Sounds simple enough, right? Then why do we struggle with this so often and especially with each move? Let’s talk about it! I can tell you a part of the reason. It is such an easy thing to do given our nomadic lifestyle!  We can’t take every place we visit or live with us so we tend to acquire a piece of each, a souvenir of many, a momento from all. Ultimately, it results in clutter not a collection. However, our lifestyle also encourages us to “travel light” meaning we have weight allowances for household goods shipments and overages can be costly! I personally, refuse to go over our weight limit! We have been successful in that resolve for 28 years and through 18 moves. I cannot fathom a $2000 bill from the Army to cover the $300 worth of crocks, nutcrackers, pottery or whatever the items may be simply because we were unable to organize our clutter into a collection. So with that in mind, here are a few tips to assist you in beginning to understand the difference in the two elements of maintaining organization in your household goods. 

Collections: - are displayed proudly! You WANT to show off those finds! 
     Clutter: JUNK drawers, space taken up without order; piles and stacks. 

-Have an element of organization! Visually appealing with intended structure. 
     Clutter: too many of a good thing; no purpose, or organization.

-Have function! Collections are part of the design in your decor. They fit.
     Clutter: no plan, no structure, no function. 

-Have consistency and sameness! Once you cross over the line of “one is not like the other” then you are headed toward the overage zone. 
     Clutter: happens when you have too many items that aren’t part of any original collection. 

-Have a theme! There is commonality. Color, size, origin, design, purpose, function. A thread of cohesion in the collection.
     Clutter: nothing really matches, no point of real reference. 

-Have timeless appeal! You will want to continue collecting. It brings you joy in the time, money and effort that you invest. 
     Clutter: gets old and overwhelming pretty quickly. You’ll want to purge even if you don’t know where or how to start.

-Tell a story! A reflection of you. A place you have visited or lived. A thing that you love, a hobby that you enjoy.
     Clutter: grocery receipts, athletic bags, outdated coupons, unopened mail, unread magazines--- all tell a story of a busy active life but do not reflect anything about your true self.

​-Have personal meaning! The items reflect you. A interest that you or your family has invested in personally.
     Clutter: no meaning, just lots more of the same, nothing distinct or special. 

Check back next time as I discuss the process of filtering out those collections and keeping them from becoming clutter!