<<Print>>Meaning of clutter
verb
1. cover or fill (something) with an untidy collection of things.
"the room was cluttered with his bric-a-brac"
synonyms: litter, make untidy, make a mess of, mess up, throw into disorder, disarrange, jumble; be strewn about, be scattered about; informalmake a shambles of; literarybestrew
"the garden was cluttered with broken appliances and discarded furniture"
noun
1.a collection of things lying about in an untidy state.
"the attic is full of clutter"
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Cluttering can be overwhelming and very stressful. And the earlier something is done about it the better. No one really plans to clutter. Even the non-meticulous ones do not intentionally clutter. So then why do we get in such a situation?
It is rather our failure to be orderly-minded that makes us develop a disorderly environment. In other words if we fail to plan and think through our activities we end up cluttering.
Before I get into the business of solving or dealing with cluttering, I want us to look again at why we clutter? Truthfully, the general causes of cluttering are based on many factors.
Firstly, clutter usually happens on our blind side. No one intentionally decides to clutter or mess his or her space up. Usually, most people wake to the reality when it has already become offensive or problematic and their space seem to be bursting at its seams.
Cluttering does not require a deliberate effort at all. In fact a deliberate attempt to clutter may require too much effort. So the first cause of clutter is our inability to notice when it is beginning.
All other cluttering is based on this first fault.
The next cause is based on the principle of “same feather flocking together”. By a phenomenal reason, clutter attracts clutter. When you litter or become a little unkempt in your space, you begin to have the challenge of putting more effort into cleaning.
If you fail to take away the first litter, dirt or item of clutter, you are bound to have an increase the next moment you become conscious again of your environment. I guess we all have many examples to this cause of clutter.
Do not look too far. Just behind your fence, this phenomenon is at work - Plastic waste! Someway, somehow gather and they gather so rapidly that the next time you check you start feeling its appalling effect.
Idleness, indolence and lassitude are in the family of the next great contributor to clutter. Let me paraphrase a popular verse of scripture “a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands and ‘clutter’ will overtake you like an armed robber”.
This particular scripture was stated twice in very interesting ways, look out for the reference but the second quotation I want to dwell on says “I went by the field of the lazy man, And by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding; and there it was, all overgrown with thorns; its surface was covered with nettles; its stone wall was broken down. When I saw it, I considered it well; I looked on it and received instruction: A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest; So shall your poverty come like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.” Proverbs 24:30-34.
Clutter thrives very well in this third cause. It begins with ignorance, and swells up to great dimensions when people become lazy or fail to tackle it at first sight.