For me, clutter is clutter. Things that you no longer use are clutter. I never knew that there are various types of clutter until I came across the well-defined list of Gretchen Rubin in Happiness Project. She grouped clutter in several buckets and her definitions are so concise – even the way one copes with crutch clutter and buyer’s remorse clutter. And whether you admit or not, I’m sure everyone would have at least one aspirational clutter. Haha… Check them out:
Nostalgic Clutter – relics from your childhood.
Conservation Clutter – things that you’ve kept because they’re useful – even though they are useless to you.
Bargain clutter – things that you bought because they were on sale.
Freebie clutter – giveaways, hand-me-downs and unused gifts.
Crutch clutter – things that are already worn-out from overuse but you still keep on wearing/using even though you know they need to be replaced already.
Aspirational clutter – things that you own and aspire to use someday.
Outgrown clutter – things you’ve outgrown.
Buyer’s remorse clutter – things that you bought which you realize you don’t need or want. But instead of admitting that you made a bad purchase, you hung on to them until you feel that they’ve been used up by sitting in your closet for some time.
