Don: We’ve found in the last 40 years of cleaning, a very strong relationship between junk and the amount of time it takes to clean. You can’t clean things you can’t find. You see the same results with vandalism. One dirty word written on a wall seems to attract more and more until the whole wall is covered, when if the first had been cleaned off, none of the others would appear.
Sarah: You’ve written so many books. The one that stands out as a favorite for many people is Clutter’s Last Stand.
Don: My favorite of the 40 I’ve written. I’ve sold over 4 million books, but the reason this one is a favorite is because clutter is the ultimate excess right now in our society. We have so much excess now in life, too much food, too much money, swindling in business, too many ball games, too many channels, too much traffic. We live in a world of excess. 98% of the people who listen to me and like my work are people who walk around as packrats, and the 2% that aren’t are after the packrats to clean up their act. 100% of the people are honed in on this subject of clutter.
This clutter book is so great, because it teaches you the principles yourself. It isn’t a this-is-bad, this-is-wrong type of book. It’s making you look at the results of clutter. It doesn’t name it. A lot of people say, "Don give me the name of clutter." They really want someone to hold their hand while they dejunk. For those who need that we’ve done a book called, For Packrats Only. It’s more for the people to learn what to do with kid junk, and grandparent junk, and funeral junk. Clutter’s Last Stand has a lot of humor as well as teaching how to do this yourself.
Sarah: What clutter challenges have changed or newly arisen between the first edition of Clutter’s Last Stand and this second edition?
Don: Within the last 10-15 years we’ve gained more room in our houses. We have bigger garages, 2 car to 3 car to 4 car garages now. We have more options. 15 years ago we had 30 channels to choose from and now we have 200. Communication and technology have risen since then. The computer was just beginning to peak out when I first started. Overall though the topic of clutter hasn’t gotten old, it has just increased like you can’t believe.
Sarah: You start Chapter One with the title, “Okay, I’ll Confess First”. And you go on to claim that everyone is suffering from junk.
Don: Yes, to some degree.
Sarah: What are some of the reasons you believe junk and clutter are such a problem for us today?
Don: Well, when you have clutter, you have to tend it. You have to explain it. You have to apologize for it. The bottom line is we are out of space. People use the word "find" more than they ever have. “I can’t find this. I can’t find that.” People have more money and all these things contribute to the excess. It’s an acute problem for our society.
I see us as being inundated with excess. We are over offered with choices and decisions. So when we can’t make a choice, we just get two.
Lots of people have guilt and feel they’re not anywhere as organized as their parents were. People feel like they’re really busy and they’re losing it. People are losing self-esteem. I would say to them that they are probably twice as organized as their mother, because they have three-four times the traffic that they had.
