I just found this short article on "Clutter Addiction":
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barb-rogers/clutter-addiction_b_667848.html
It was written by Barb Rogers, who also authored the book Clutter Junkie No More. I haven't read the book, but it apparently takes the 12-step approach. As you regular readers of this blog know, I've already talked about 12-step programs before and my experience with them. In short, I'm not an advocate of the 12-step program. Maybe it works for some people, but it's hardly the only option out there.
I agree with some parts of the article, and disagree with some other parts. I disagree with the author's claim that "clutter addicts use their addiction to avoid reality". That's quite over-simplified, and it doesn't even apply to all clutterers. You can claim that people doing just about anything you dislike is an act of them "avoiding reality". But I won't go into detail here. I do agree that some people get caught up in buying new things for the "high" of it, only to have the feeling pass and the item just adds to the ever-growing pile. I used to do this a lot with books and DVDs, especially. Fortunately though I was able to recognize these clutter sources for myself and severely cut down on them. I can honestly say that I'm much better at saying "You know, I don't really need that" and putting stuff back on the shelf at the store, than I was 2 years ago. And I didn't need a "higher power" for it.
Anyway, this is after all a blog about clutter so I'm not opposed to mentioning different views on the topic. Enjoy the article. Or don't.
