April 21, 2005
Hide Your Clutter
"Did you know you can store...65 CD's, 15 Videos, 22 Books, 3 pillows, 1 Blanket and 10 Action heros...inside a Home Reserve sofa?" Yup, cause I saw the press release. Who doesn't love more storage? But that's not always the issue, as Nancy Weaver Teichert shows in the Sacramento Bee (reg. required). "Inside are towering piles of stuff that fill the rooms, line every hallway and block doorways. Leaning against the walls are unopened portable grills, rolls of Christmas gift wrap, and empty boxes and bags. The only place for a visitor to sit is on a folding chair that the 83-year-old homeowner places 4 feet inside the home's entryway. She stands chatting with her elbow resting on a nearby pile."
The elderly hoarder probably just needs a storage shed, doncha think? She says as much to the reporter. I know that's malarkey and you know that's malarkey but according to the Betty Mills Company, the storage shed is the perfect solution for too much stuff. Really. "The Betty Mills Co. is providing places for wives to pile their husbands' tools, for husbands to stash their wives' Christmas decorations and for parents to store their children's old toys. Recognized as a leader in providing cleaning supplies and storage solutions, The Betty Mills Co. is also a leading online retailer of outdoor sheds and storage facilities that are the perfect solution to help families get organized and satisfy their clutter-tackling urges," notes a press release from last month. " 'Some people might think they can't afford to buy a nice shed at the moment, but I say *How can you afford not to?* ' said David Schulhof, vice president of marketing for The Betty Mills Co. 'To encourage people to get organized, we have put all of our sheds on Betty Mills Double Markdown(TM), so the prices can't be beat. Besides, if you look at what it costs to keep things lying around in your house, it is much more affordable to put it away in a shed.' " There's an actual calculation of the costs of clutter (based on your mortgage) for masochists.
Of course, there's one small problem with this logic. You're not actually tackling a clutter problem by tossing it into a sofa, shed or storage facility. Hiding stuff does not make you organized. If it did, I'd be the organization queen. It's a perfectly reasonable survival strategy and beats dying in a fire because all the exits are blocked by piles of stuff. Just don't call it a solution because soon that storage shed will be filled--and the house too. That's how hoarding works.
Posted by Deborah Branscum at 09:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 08, 2005
Red-Letter Days for Organizers
You, me and Google think it's International Women's Day but that's only because we haven't been paying attention. It's actually Organize Your Home Office Day, which is baffling. All of January was Get Organized month and January 10 was Clean Off Your Desk Day so what's left to organize? I wonder if this is a marketing ploy by the NAPO folks. Did I mention that March is Shower Deborah With Gifts month?
Posted by Deborah Branscum at 10:28 AM | Comments (0)