by Simon Edward Smith

Dont you just hate it when you go to a friends house and not only is there no where to sit but also nowhere to stand. Your friend is constantly saying， “mind that，” “sorry about that，” “just be careful of those” or “just step over that pile”.

Their house is full of clutter and stuff that even though they dont use they could never bring themselves to get rid of. Hoarders， storers， keepers， whatever youre called， its time you changed your ways. Whatever junk， trinkets， keepsakes or sentimental items you have， the time has come to have a good clear out and start again.

To be honest， writing about letting go of things is incredibly easy for me. I love throwing stuff away and only keeping what I need. Everything in my house has a very small sell-by-date and each month I am always looking around my flat for anything that I dont really want.

If you think Im overreacting about all this and believe the 4，000 newspapers you have is just a sign of being a good collector， then think again. But youre not alone if you do have a habit to hoard. More and more indecisive Americans are actually buying space to store the stuff they dont know what to do with （Good Stuff）.

Some people， however， prefer to cram their own home full rather than rent a space to cram their junk in to （Obsessive Compulsive Hoarder Richard Wallace）. They do this because they have such a strong attachment to their items that throwing it away would be， for them， like throwing away a piece of their life （Its Time to Say Goodbye to All That Stuff）.

Its one thing to be “controlled” by your new iPhone， television， computer or whatever， but to be controlled by piles of junk and clutter…well thats just rubbish！

如果你去到一位朋友家里，別說(shuō)坐下來(lái)，就連站著也沒(méi)位置，你會(huì)不會(huì)心生怨恨？你的朋友會(huì)不停地說(shuō)：“小心啊”“不好意思”“當(dāng)心那些東西”或者“只管站在那堆東西上面吧”。

他們的家堆滿了雜物，就算他們不再用了也不見(jiàn)得會(huì)清理掉。儲(chǔ)物癖、囤物癖、藏物癖，無(wú)論你們的“雅號(hào)”是什么，都是時(shí)候要改變自己的做法了。無(wú)論你囤著的是什么，垃圾、小玩意、紀(jì)念品或者懷舊品，都是時(shí)候要好好清理一下，重新開(kāi)始了。

坦白說(shuō)，對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)，寫有關(guān)舍棄物品的文章實(shí)在易如反掌。我愛(ài)扔?xùn)|西，只留下必需品。我家里任何東西很快便“到期即棄”，每個(gè)月我都不斷地在公寓里翻弄著，看有什么是我不要的。

要是你覺(jué)得我對(duì)此反應(yīng)過(guò)度，并且認(rèn)為你留著四千份報(bào)紙只是表明自己是個(gè)不錯(cuò)的收藏愛(ài)好者，那可得三思。不過(guò)，如果你確實(shí)有儲(chǔ)物的習(xí)慣，你也不是“獨(dú)行俠”。事實(shí)上，越來(lái)越多優(yōu)柔寡斷的美國(guó)人正在買空間來(lái)儲(chǔ)存他們那些不知道如何處理的物品（詳見(jiàn)《家有上品》一文）。

然而，有些人卻喜歡把自己家塞得滿滿的，而不是租個(gè)地方來(lái)存放他們的垃圾（詳見(jiàn)《終極“儲(chǔ)物狂”理查德·華萊士》）。他們這么做是因?yàn)樗麄儗?duì)自己的物品有著強(qiáng)烈的依附感，把東西扔掉對(duì)他們來(lái)說(shuō)就像將他們的生命中的一部分丟棄一樣（詳見(jiàn)《再見(jiàn)，我的“儲(chǔ)物癖”》一文）。

被你的新蘋果手機(jī)、電視、電腦什么的“控制”是一回事，但如果是被一堆堆的廢品、雜物控制……噢，那可是垃圾?。?/p>