I'm hoping someone can give me some thoughts on trying to reduce clutter and all the while, my husband comes home with sometimes 3 copies of the same article, form, etc. I've tried to get him to either stop bringing them home, or to let me scan them and ditch the paper. He's not very computer savy, so I'd have to go and find them and print them out if he wanted or needed them in the future.

I'm trying to really reduce what we own, etc. It's not working because its a one person efffort!

Any tips or advice??

Thanks in advance,

Rebecca

It sounds like he just needs a place to hide the paper, like a neat little box, or filing cabinet or cupboard with doors that shut so you can't see what's inside (all depending on your budget).

I know a man whose wife hates clutter and they compromised by giving him a little section of the house where he keeps it and she doesn't need to know. They seem very happily married.

Hi Rebecca!

This reminds me of the arguments that I've had with my husband about keeping old magazines laying around for years! I would swear he never reads them, and they're just collecting dust. Yet he has some sort of sentimental attachment to his magazines.

Organizing and staying organized will help keep you on track of your household. But what do we do when one partner doesn't want to help or wants to derail your efforts?

This is what I did:

1. I acknowledged the fact that the magazines were very important to my husband (even though in my mind they were not important...but they're not my magazines--if he tried to throw away my lipsticks I would be furious!)

2. I asked him to help me come up with a solution to keeping our house clutter free, and asked what he thought would be an acceptable amount of magazines to keep.

3. We negotiated down to one box of magazines that he will keep in his garage out of my viewing range!

So a simple solution, but what I did was put the ball in his court, since they were his magazines. I stopped trying to control him or the situation -- that never works and makes one person feel resentful, I just made a request, "Honey, I know you want a clean house as much as I do, and these magazines seem to be getting a little disorganized (I understated the obvious) Can you help me come up with a solution to the magazine "collection"?

Since he loves me, he wants to see me happy and help me come up with a solution! BUT -- I had to be flexible enough to agree to the solution even if it wasn't perfect in my mind!!

Hope this helps!

Many adventures to you!!

Makenzie

Maybe ask him why he thinks he needs three copies of a certain article. Does he just forget that he already has a copy, so he gets another one?