National Declutter Week 2012 Survey: your quirkiest clutter

By David on March 13th, 2012 | 1 Comment

As explained in a previous blog post, Storage.co.uk ran a survey in connection with National Declutter Week 2012 which asked people about their clutter.

One of the questions asked people what unusual or quirky items of clutter they had lurking at home. The results provide a fascinating glimpse into the attics, spare rooms and basements of all the people who took the time to fill it in.

Cluttered relationships

Many of the respondents gave answers which were more to do with quantity than quirkiness. For example, plenty of people confessed to owning “hundreds of books” or “dozens of LPs”, which are perfectly run-of-the-mill items on their own, but in large numbers can create a serious clutter problem. And at the point they become clutter, clearly they are surplus to requirement – not the treasured hoard of a collector.

Apart from this, the most interesting trend that emerged in response to the National Declutter Week Survey was the strong connection between personal relationships and clutter. Some of the most interesting responses were those which referred to other members of the person’s family, particularly partners and children.

Partners and spouses were mentioned frequently. One person said their item was “a garden table with mosaic tiles missing that my partner refuses to let go”; another spoke of a lion-shaped fluffy duster that had been a gift from a previous girlfriend that he didn’t want to get rid of, but which he couldn’t use for fear of making their current partner jealous.

Another respondent said she had an Only Fools and Horses alarm clock “that doesn’t go with the house but [I] can’t get rid of it because my husband bought it for me.” A couple of people even said their item of clutter was “just my partner” and “my other half!” – the ultimate declaration that clutter and relationships are intricately entwined.

Many of the other quirky items of clutter were being kept as mementoes of childhood, either the respondents’ own or their childrens’. Somewhat unpleasantly, two respondents in the National Declutter Week survey admitted they still had their children’s umbilical cords, while several people had also hung on to sets of baby teeth, and one woman who said she was in her sixties claimed she was still keeping her childhood pigtails in a box.

Several other people also regretted keeping items from their own childhood, including copies of the Beano, worn-out childhood teddy bears and a large toy train set.

Clutter as an obsession

It is at least perfectly understandable how our relationships can be affected by clutter; indeed, in many ways it’s a very good thing if people are willing to hold onto stuff in order to avoid irritating their partner.

However, some responses reveal a more obsessive tendency to keep stuff when there is no obvious reason to do so. One respondent cites a collection of used bus tickets from the 1970s – “I even keep them in a little silk purse!”

Another claimed that they still have every payslip they’ve been given since starting work at 17 – which could imply a substantial pile if they cover an entire career. Someone else has kept hundreds of old train tickets from travelling to see a fiancé, a feat of devotion which can only make you hope the relationship has worked out.

The sheer quirkiness of this form of clutter immediately raises some fascinating questions – but let’s hope none of these people ever let clutter overwhelm their lives. Perhaps what the survey really shows is that everyone hangs onto pieces of their past in different ways, and one man’s (or woman’s) clutter is another’s sentimental treasure.

Storage.co.uk would like to thank everyone who took part in the National Declutter Week 2012 survey.

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