What "people who clutter" have in common

There are a lot of personality traits, characteristics, and ways of seeing the world that are common among people who struggle with clutter. Many of these traits apply to me. Have a read through and see if any of them ring true for you.

An AI-generated image of "people who clutter". I, for one, think this room has quite the vibe! I don't fully trust the AI-guy on the left though.

CREATIVITY

We tend to be creative thinkers. We're good at coming up with potential uses for objects and imagining scenarios where we might need an item. Many of us have elaborate plans for what we will do or make in the future and what kind of person all of our items will help us become. We also tend to have many hobbies and enjoy making things, and we may change up what those hobbies are or start and stop many different hobbies at different points. Creativity and stuff go hand in hand.

We're smart people. There is a studied link between messy houses and high levels of intelligence. Before you come after me, I'm not suggesting uncluttered people are NOT smart.

INTELLIGENCE

Einstein is famously quoted as saying, "Creativity is intelligence having fun." Creativity and intelligence are very interconnected. Therefore there really should be no big surprise that people who struggle with tidiness, if creative, are also likely very intelligent.

Our brains often prioritize other pursuits and activities over those involved in keeping an orderly, clutter-free home. Moreover, many of us are able to function and think quite well amidst a mess, something many naturally tidy people are unable to imagine.

PERFECTIONISM

Someone's laughing right now. I know this may sound counterintuitive, but many people who struggle with clutter have perfectionistic tendencies. Think about it, if you want to do the "right" thing with every item, clearing space is a much more arduous process. If to do something "properly" will take you an hour and you only have half an hour, you may decide against starting. If done won't do then things don't get done. Read that again.

DISTRACTIBILITY

If you are easily distractible then you are less likely to complete a task before moving onto the next one, so you end up with many partially dealt with tasks rather than getting to the bottom of anything. Micro-progress in ten different areas can take hours, but leave very little to show for the time spent. When this happens over and over again when you are actively trying to make progress it can be demotivating, frustrating, and exhausting. 

DIFFICULTY MAKING DECISIONS

Clutter is delayed decision making. Someone brilliant said that. I can't remember who, but it's so true. And who is most likely to put off making decisions? People who find it challenging. ...or people with a tendency to procrastinate. There should be another paragraph on procrastination -- I'll get to that later!... If you can't decide whether you need something, whether you're likely to wear it, how best to dispose of it, how to clean it, where to donate it to, or where it should live in your home, chances are you're going to move on to something else without coming to a decision and that thing will become or remain clutter. The more things you find yourself unable to decide on, the more clutter you will have.

THRIFTINESS

Many people who struggle with clutter love a good deal. We thrift, we shop the sales, we like a curb find or a get-one-free. It gives us a little dopamine hit. It's so easy to bring things home when they're cheap, and the more of a deal something is, the lower the bar is for entry to our homes. Thriftiness is such a useful quality in so many ways, but also makes keeping clutter to a minimum so much more difficult.

NEURODIVERGENCE

Many people who struggle with clutter have neurodivergent brains. Autism and ADHD are two diagnoses that have as part of them tendencies or characteristics that make keeping mess and clutter at bay challenging. Sensory challenges, time management difficulties, overwhelm leading to avoidance, special interests that lead to collecting, working memory struggles, task initiation difficulties and issues maintaining attention are just some of the characteristics common to the way neurodivergent brains work that can lead to clutter becoming an issue.

MENTAL HEALTH STRUGGLES

Any mental health difficulties decrease capacity to handle the demands of everyday life. Anxiety, depression, OCD, prolonged or complicated grief and any other struggle that impacts mental health all take up significant mental energy and space, leaving less available bandwidth for the mundane. In times of significant difficulty these management tasks understandably take a backseat. If this occurs for a prolonged period it can most definitely impact the state of living spaces, and make an already difficult situation even more overwhelming. 

Not to mention that characteristics inherent to many mental health challenges constitute additional barriers -- apathy and lack of motivation, energy limitations, task avoidance, intrusive thoughts, and feeling unworthy, just to mention a few.