Why Finding Your “Organizing Personality” Is The Key To A Clutter-Free Home

We might think an organizational system of boxes and bins will be the answer. It’s true that labeling and categorizing might give you a sense of control for a little while, but making peace with what it is you’re holding on to is how you’ll empower yourself in the long run. Essentially, organizing should not be about making quick decisions about what to do with the “stuff.”

Instead, it’s better to focus on confronting your relationship with things you own. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a minimalist or a maximalist. In the end, your goal is to live in peace, harmony, and balance with everything you own, and that looks different for everyone.

To start, let’s look at some of the organizing personalities.

I’m often asked what makes a person a saver and what makes someone a tosser, and, suffice to say, it’s a bit more nuanced than that. Those who like to hold on to things (we might affectionately call them pack rats) have a tendency toward indecisiveness. Ambivalence is a main reason we find it difficult to let go of things, even if those things negatively impact how we live and function at home. Holding on to things might make us feel like we’re in control, but really, we’re losing control.

Here are a few reasons you might be a saver:

Tossers also feel anxiety and ambivalence about their things. Just like savers, they can experience feelings of helplessness and being overwhelmed, and they might think it’s faster to just get rid of something than to think it through. Here’s more info about tossers:

P.S. I’m definitely a tosser! And my husband, Travis, aka Mr. Meticulous, is a saver. So we have to negotiate what is saved and tossed in our home–even if it means Travis going through the toss-away bags that I’m ready to donate to specific organizations or give to other people. He just can’t help himself.

All of that said, this doesn’t need to happen. The Home Therapy method offers therapy-based tools to confront these feelings head-on and move forward in happy, healthy ways.

Adapted from an excerpt of Home Therapy.Copyright (C) 2022 by Anita Yokota. Principle photographs copyright (C) 2022 by Ali Harper. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Random House.”