2005 Year in Review

Dealing with Clutter Website

Source: Karen Chan 709/352-0104; Author: Bob Sampson, 217/244-0225

If you haven't seen your desktop in months or your closets are an avalanche waiting to happen or you're oppressed by "junk" of various sorts, University of Illinois Extension has just the website you need--Dealing with Clutter.

"The website provides a very practical way to handle the things that tend to mount up in our homes and workplaces over time," said Jane Scherer, University of Illinois Extension urban programs specialist.

"Dealing with Clutter" is part of the Urban Extension Programs Resource site Urband Programs Resource Network and can be found on it under the "Home and Money" section or reached directly at: Dealing with Clutter .

The new site is designed to help people who feel overwhelmed by "stuff" and the decision about keeping or tossing it.

Karen Chan, a consumer and family economics educator based in Cook County's Countryside Center, developed the new site.

"About 10 years ago, the Woodstock Library asked me to do a workshop on getting organized and I added it to the list of programs I offered," she related. "It has become the most frequently requested and best-attended program. On the coldest night of the winter in Lake County, we had 70-plus people show up for it."

The decision to put a form of the program on the web seemed natural and has already proved to be correct. Launched in mid-October, the site generated nearly 4,000 "hits" in the last two weeks of that month.

After "re-thinking, organizing, and paring down" her organizing program, Chan has produced a site she believes will prove helpful to those seeking a way to get control of the clutter in their lives.

"The website has two broad approaches," she explained. "First, we are trying to teach some general principles that people can use to get organized. Second, we provide specifics about handling different types of clutter, such as financial records, kitchen items, clothing, and kids' toys."

One unique feature of the new site, she added, is a section on barriers people encounter in trying to get organized.

"It answers the complaint 'I'd like to get organized but . . .'," she said.

by  Editor, theCity1.com
November 16, 2005