Sort Clutter:
The 5 Types of Physical Clutter

I like to sort clutter into what I call the 5 Types of Physical Clutter to help you recognize the hidden stuff that may be right in front of you.

Here are the 5 types to sort clutter into categories:

1. Items you don't use.  These may be items you used to use (like clothes you used to wear or exercise equipment you used to use) but no longer do, or items that you have never used.
2. Items you don't love.  You may still use them, but you don't love them, like the frying pan that everything sticks to and the lawn mower that barely functions. This category may also include items that work just fine, but you still don't love them, like the practically brand new pair of pink polka-dot shoes that you bought in a moment of whimsy, that you simply don't like wearing. In other words, with these items, you're settling.
3. Items that are messy, junky, or trash.  These items are clearly clutter...in fact, they are the kind of stuff that most of us think of when we hear the word 'clutter.' These items also include magazines from three years ago, piles of paper stacked all around the floor of your desk, and boxes in the garage that have been unopened for the past three moves.
4. Items that are unfinished, broken, or need some kind of repair or cleaning before they will be usable.  Lots of unfinished projects fall into this category: home improvement projects like the deck you started two summers ago, dry cleaning that has been piled up in a corner of the closet for two months, craft projects, the fixer-upper car in the garage that hasn't seen rubber on the road in a decade.
5. Items that are crammed into too small a space.  This doesn't necessarily mean that you don't have enough storage (as most people might believe)...it often simply means that you have accumulated too much stuff to fit in the area.

When you sort clutter into these categories, it can be much easier to see where you tend to hang on to things as well.

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