A final effort
A fourth solution: We can't change people who don't want to change, and some people just gotta have their clutter. In that case, give them one clutter spot that is all theirs and you promise to keep your hands off. It can be their room or closet, or their half of a room or a closet, or their office. Maybe a section of the basement or garage. They may simply need one place where they can have all their beloved clutter together. You won't clean it, won't nag about it, won't touch it, but that means it has to be a spot where you won't have to see it or step over it.
And if the clutter meanders out beyond the boundaries that you have both agreed upon, you have the right to do with it what you want. For first or second offenses, many people just stash away the captured clutter for a while and eventually return it. But if they have agreed to keep their clutter in a certain spot, and you keep finding it spread all over, you might decide on more drastic measures. The choice is yours.
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Excerpted from The Clutter-Busting Handbook by Rita Emmett. Copyright © 2004 by Rita Emmett. Excerpted by permission of Anchor Canada, a division of Random House of Canada Limited. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
About the author
Rita Emmett is the bestselling author of The Procrastinator's Handbook and The Procrastinating Child. She is also a professional speaker whose self-help seminars are immensely popular. Her clients have included AT&T, Mercedes-Benz, and the National Kidney Foundation. Rita Emmett lives in Des Plaines, Illinois.
