Clutterers Anonymous is a Twelve Step program, adapted from the original Twelve Step program, Alcoholics Anonymous.
Are your hoardings making you unhappy?
Do you fear throwing things out, feeling that you might need it, fix it, or wear it again?
Do you yearn to be free of your hoardings, and instead be surrounded by beauty, simplicity, order, serenity, a balanced life, and harmonious relationships?
About Clutterers Anonymous
Clutterers Anonymous (CLA) is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength, and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem with clutter and help each other to recover.
We achieve this as individuals, groups, and a fellowship by practicing our 12 Steps of recovery and by being guided by our 12 Traditions. Each of them embodies a set of principles for living life effectively, inside and outside CLA.
The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop cluttering. There are no dues or fees for membership; we are self-supporting through our own 7th Tradition contributions, neither soliciting nor accepting outside donations. Our fellowship is based on suggestion, interchange of experience, rotation of leadership and service. CLA is not affiliated with any public or private organization, political movement, ideology, or religious doctrine; we take no position on outside issues.
Our primary purpose is to stop cluttering one day at a time and to carry this message of recovery to clutterers who still suffer.
Clutterers Anonymous Phone Meetings
If there isn't currently a face-to-face meeting of Clutterers Anonymous in your area, Clutterers Anonymous Phone Meetings are a great way to get started and make contact with others.
Phone numbers are in USA, so suggest using Skype to avoid toll charges.
Something to Aspire to
An extract from Gandhi's autobiography: Some of the incidents during the voyage are well worth recording. Mr. Kallenbach was very fond of binoculars, and had one or two costly pairs. We had daily discussions over one of these. I tried to impress on him that this possession was not in keeping with the ideal of simplicity that we aspired to reach. Our discussions came to a head one day, as we were standing near the porthole of our cabin. ‘Rather than allow these to be a bone of contention between us, why not throw them into the sea and be done with them?’ said I. ‘Certainly throw the wretched things away,’ said Mr. Kallenbach. ‘I mean it,’ said I. ‘So do I,’ quickly came the reply. And forthwith I flung them into the sea. They were worth some £7, but their value lay less in their price than in Mr. Kallenbach’s infatuation for them. However, having got rid of them, he never regretted it. (pg 314)
Hoarding Instincts - others feel like you do
An article, entitled "Lighten Up", appeared in the Canvas section of the Weekend Herald on 24 March 2012. It describes where the instincts to hoard things originated, and how some people have embraced the struggle from cluttered lives to simplicity.