In Sickness and In Wealth


I added a new word to my clutter vocabulary this week:

affluenza, n. a painful, contagious, virally transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more.

While going through my inbox of clutter newsletters recently I stumbled across a book review on the Simple Living Network:

http://www.simpleliving.net

The book being reviewed, Affluenza The All-Consuming Epidemic by John De Graaf, David Wann, Thomas H. Naylor and David Horsey talks about our consumer quest for more like it is a disease. You can read the review here: http://www.simpleliving.net/newsletter/r...

I found it a very interesting concept that our material quest for wealth has contributed to problems like loneliness and family conflict and that by trying to take ownership of our possessions, which ultimately ends up in the reverse - we become slaves to our things - we will never satisfy our spiritual hunger.

Update -

In October I will be switching this topic from a weekly to a biweekly submission schedule. Articles will be released on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month, starting on October 6th, 2001. In conjunction with this topic a clutter support group will also be running. If you would like more information about the support group please send an email to virescent@suite101.com and I will be glad to give you further details. By getting connected to others through support, it is easier to drive towards your goals.

Also in October I will be publishing a clutter checklist. Do you know where you clutter is? Can you live without it? Check out my checklist and see where you stand in your clutter.

One last note, I want to explore the idea of yo-yo decluttering. Like those of us who have gone on diets only to gain weight back and sometimes gain more than we originally lost, I think clutter creeps into our homes and our minds in the same way. There is no quick fix of gaining control. First there must be an inward journey to discover what the clutter represents. Controlling the clutter in our lives is a process that's as individual as our fingerprints. Certainly there are methods that work in the short term that take us up and down in chaos but we all as individuals have to understand the reasons behind our clutter before we can ever control it. If you would like to discuss yo-yo decluttering further, please email me.

The copyright of the article In Sickness and In Wealth in Household Organization is owned by Janet Kitto. Permission to republish In Sickness and In Wealth in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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