Clutter Diet, and questioning their 20 questions

I recently just found out about a decluttering blog called the Clutter Diet blog.  It's really the blog for a more general site and book called The Clutter Diet.

I haven't gotten around to extensively look at it, but one article worth mentioning is their "20 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Keeping Anything."  The list is mostly geared towards moving, but some of the same questions are still good to ask when it comes to buying or keeping stuff in general.  Some of these other questions...well let's say that they probably wouldn't motivate me personally.  But here's my take on each one.

First, the ones that I thought were a little ambiguous, possibly ineffective for many pack rats, or just plain weird:

• "What is the worst thing that might happen if I donate or recycle it?"  Keep in mind that hoarders are good at rationalizing answers against this one.
• "Does it help create an environment that supports me in my goals?"  Wait...what?  My first thought upon reading this one was that it seemed like one of those pretty empty "motivational seminar", pep talk lines.  But now that I think about it, this is worth keeping in mind.  The thing is, you have to HAVE goals first, namely goals in addition to "getting rid of this clutter".
• "If I flipped a coin right now, and heads was KEEP and tails was DONATE, which would I secretly be rooting for as the coin is landing?" Well I would think any pack rat knows the answer to this.  Yes, we'd secretly be wanting to see it land as a keeper.  How effective is leaving decisions like this to a coin flip, instead of your own motivation?  I'm not sure.
• "Does it make me feel positive, or negative?"  I really hate the use of the terms "positive" and "negative" like this.  Yes, some of you may be saying "Hey Bill, that's negative!"  Frankly, I've always prided myself in being a humorously cynical type.  And I think the words "positive" and "negative" are too vague to have much meaning these days.  I would however say that if there's some item that makes you slouch, sigh, and roll your eyes every time you pass by it, maybe getting rid of it will do you better in the long run.
• "Does it remind me of my past, or my future?"  How, exactly, can something "remind you of your future"?  That makes no sense.  I've been blogging about my stuff for a couple of years now, and I really can't recall anytime I've found an object and said "Oh, this reminds me of that party I went to in the year 2043!"  I guess they mean "Am I keeping this thing because I'm dwelling in the past, or because it's part of a future goal of mine?"  But again, there are both good and bad reasons that could justify holding on to something for 'past' or 'future' reasons.  As this same article mentions, using the excuse of "Well I may get around to this someday in the future" is likely to be a bad excuse for keeping clutter.  That's not the same as keeping something that's part of a future goal you're actively working on.  Likewise, there's a difference between counter-productively dwelling in the past and having an object that gives you deeply fond memories of a past event.
• "If I were hit by a proverbial bus, would my family truly value this item, or even know what it is and why I kept it?"  Maybe not, but that could apply to just about anything from a box of 400 twist-ties (which is indeed clutter) and my collection of music that they hate (which is NOT clutter).
• "What would my best friend say if she were standing here considering this?" and "What would a professional organizer say if one were sitting here with me now?"  These two questions assume that they understand hoarding, at least to some extent.  Would they have anything HELPFUL to say?  That's another question.
• "Does someone else need this more than I do?"  Maybe, but who cares?  I generally don't.  If you can give away certain clutter items to a friend and have it be a win-win situation, great.  But I'm not a philanthropist.

Now, for the questions I LIKED.  Here are two particularly good questions to ask yourself when you're moving and need to decide what's coming with you, especially if it's big:

• "Is this valuable enough to me to pay someone by-the-pound to move it to another place?"
• "What would it cost, in time and money, to acquire this again?"

A thought occurred to me as I read this.  It's probably not all that hard to find a free piano.  That's because people buy one, get stuck with them, and just want it out of their house.  Sure, you're probably not going to find a beautiful grand Steinway for free.  But I'm sure there a lot of schools out there who don't have one and could benefit, even if it needs a heavy tuning job.

Here were some questions that I think apply best before you BUY something:

• "Does anyone I know have one of these I can easily borrow?"
• "Do I already have something else that serves the same purpose?"
• "What is a scenario in which I can picture myself using this, and how likely is that to happen?"

Then there were other questions which could apply for both buying and especially keeping something:

• "How much money could I get for selling this instead of keeping it?"  The only problem with this is that if the answer is "not much, if anything", there may be other reasons why keeping it could be more of a burden than it's worth.
• "When is the last time I can remember using it?"  If it's been over 10 years, you may just have a problem!
• "How often do I use it? Weekly, monthly, yearly... never?"  See above.
• "Is there a use for this that doesn't involve the phrase, "Someday when I have time?""  I think this is my favorite.
• "Is there an alternative way to capture the essence and value of this item instead, maybe in a digital format such as a document or photograph?"  Another good one, which I've used myself.
• "Will I feel good about keeping this item the next time I run across it?"  This makes a little more sense than the positive/negative thing.