The Accumulator
The Concealer
The Collector and
The Tosser
Here's my interpretation of each group.
The Accumulator is the person who keeps pretty much everything. Stuff comes in and never, or rarely, goes out. The Accumulator quite possibly believes that the stuff they have stored has some monetary value. They can't stand the thought of something being thrown away in case it might be useful one day. They might be indecisive and just not know what to do with the stuff, so they put off making the decision until another day, and that day just never comes. There may be an underlying emotional reason for becoming an Accumulator. Loss can create a desire to accumulate material possessions to provide a sense of stability and security. Sometimes it can be the person who has moved frequently... they keep and move their belongings as a way of taking their home with them. Whatever the reason, the Accumulator doesn't see the need to get rid of their clutter, they just need a bigger house to put it all in. The Accumulator who isn't willing to part with their stuff will need to learn way to store, contain & organise their clutter to keep things under control. If the Accumulator wants to change they'll need to recognise that the act of 'hoarding' stuff with questionable value is costly in terms of emotional and/or physical health, and in monetary terms... particularly if you have to pay to put the stuff in storage units! Also they'll need to understand that they are not responsible for the clutter they've inherited from other members of the family or friends.
The Concealer is similar to the Accumulator, but their stuff will be neatly packed away or hidden so that a visitor would never know that there was clutter there. The Concealer loves storage containers of all kinds... the clutter is usually neatly stacked, labelled and maybe even colour coded. Their habit of storing & labelling their clutter hides the fact that they might have terrible difficulty deciding what to keep and what to throw out. Hiding things, even neatly, in boxes doesn't reduce clutter... it only organises and stores it.
The Collector collects things. Their obsessive collecting of stuff appears to have a goal or method which differentiates them from Accumulators. Their collections are always incomplete which gives life some structure because there is always a focus to complete the collection. Usually a Collector will end up with more than one collection. A Collector who wants to get organised needs to examine the collection and figure out WHY they are collecting these things. Will the collection one day be valuable, and if so will it be sold or kept 'forever'.
The Tosser doesn't let clutter lie around for too long. They don't see any relevance in keeping part of a set or collection. They are not sentimental. They haven't kept treasures from their childhood. If they live alone they have few problems with clutter. If they live with someone with a different clutter type they will struggle. Other people's clutter will offend their sense of order. Tossers need to check with other members of their family before they toss things out.
adapted from "Cut the Clutter and Stow the Stuff" - Edited by Lori Baird
