I know a few minimalists, and I am decidedly not one - compared to them at least. Compared to the average American though - I am certainly one. Even I have too much of some things. I like stuff too.

Friends and family give me a hard time for my pouch collection.

Serena Williams once said “Pressure is a privilege.” It revealed the perspective of difficulty as sometimes being a privilege. If this is true, then the abundance of things, even things we don’t want, could also be privilege.

Is clutter privilege?

I often see people making the mistake of overcomplicating their organizing supplies, and therefore, over-ordering. This result is piles of brand new and unused products. Meanwhile, the paper continues to pile up.

Though my trunk is a rotating door of supplies inherited from clients to pass onto others, I rely on just a few humble heavy-hitters that I order over and over again.

You may have gathered from last week’s post How long would you want in line to purchase that (again)?, and the new free Custom Order video series, that I LOVE to use questions to guide people towards finding their own inner compass when it comes to decluttering.

Over the years I’ve had a lot of clients who like to ask about where they stand in relation to my other clients:

“Do other clients have as much paper as I do?”

“Do other clients have you in their lives for as long as I have?”

“Do other clients hold onto as many newspapers as I do?”

On YouTube, my video Minimalism Tutorial 4: The Sweater With Sentimental Value has a reply by someone who was struggling to donate some very sentimental Irish wool sweaters. As I was writing my reply to her, I had a new idea on how to more easily let go of this type of thing.