Guide to Decluttering: The Timeline of Clutter and How to Break the Cycle

What Is the Timeline of Clutter?

How Clutter Starts

How Clutter Builds Over Time

Step‑by‑Step Decluttering Based on Your Clutter Timeline

Shifting Your Mindset Around Belongings

I am Visually Oriented. As a Deaf person, I see things differently. I think and process differently. I live the same way everyone else does. We all live life this way.

Past, Present, and Future;

Wake up, do stuff, eat, sleep.

Day to day; we all have needs and wants. And they’re essentially the same for every human being.

The old way or “the better way”: The path from simplicity to modern convenience.

How’d we get to this point?

Clothes for every occasion. Buying something special for an event. Matching family Christmas pajamas. It’s endless!

Owning too much clothes.

Too much shoes.

Buying more because we feel like it,

Because, in today’s times, we can.

The First Manufacturing Companies in the United States

Laura Ingalls with her sisters, in beautiful dresses.
**Handsewn by Ma.**

Let’s go way back..

In history, people owned less. Depending on wealth and economic status; the average woman in the 1800’s owned two to four outfits.

How Much Clothing Did an 18th-Century Woman Really Own?

As the years passed. Clothing became easier to make. Cheaper to purchase. Closets got bigger.

Fashion became a statement.

20 years ago, you could walk into a retail store and buy whatever you wanted.

In today’s times; The internet exists. The selection of fashion statements is endless.. And easier than ever before. Custom Appereal, made to order; free shipping!

The disposable generation is “expressing THEMSELVES” through fashion.

**Just** **before** **the Great Depression**

Economics of Fashion (1929)

Let there be Light!

After 2774 failed attempts; and much perseverance, Thomas Edison invented the light bulb in 1879. However, the light bulb came before modern electricity.

How Many Times Thomas Failed?

**J.P. Morgan also had business relations with I.T. Mann**

In 1882, Financier J.P. Morgan’s NYC Brownstone was the very first home to be lit by electricity. Thomas Edison, a business partner for Morgan; took over the project and built a generator inside the Brownstone mansion. Almost 400 bulbs illuminated every corner of his home.

A History of Residential Electricity

First Time Festival Guide:
Erie County Fair, Hamburg, NY

Across the NY State lines; Nikola Tesla began a hydroelectric power project at Niagara Falls. In 1896, Buffalo, NY became “The City of Light”. The first electrified city in the World.

Doing the Pan

It was time to celebrate such an incredible feat. At the turn of the 19th Century; The Summer of 1901 Pan American Exposition was turning heads all over the World. By Railroad, Millions traveled to the Seneca region for the World’s Fair. In a weird and strange way: THIS was the first display of “Christmas lights”.

Can you imagine living your entire life by candle light and oil lamps…
Then traveling to see THIS?!

On September 6, 1901, President William McKinley was assassinated during his visit to the Pan-Am expo. The assassin was Leon Czolgosz. An anarchist ignited by the powerful words of Emma Goldman.

“What a strange development of patriotism that turns a thinking being into a loyal machine!”

Emma Goldman

Anarchism and Other Essays (1910).

Remarkable Detailed Confession by the Anarchist Czolgosz

After a few assassinations in America’s presidential history; it was time to create Intel. The FBI became organized in 1908.

One Piece at a Time

Innovation was everywhere. The wages were good, and the hours were standard.

In **Henry Ford’s Assembly Line**; Each man was assigned to one job, in one place. Performing one repetitive task.
**Here, men made gas tanks.**

The history & evolution of the 40-hour work week

Homestead to New Deal

In 1910, only 2% of American homes were electrified. Before modern electricity made its way into homes; only factories were powered. Either by steam or electricity. The factories that cranked out textiles, glass, furniture, steel, and cars.

By 1925, 50% of American houses had electrical power. These were urban areas. With better standards of living, and economic opportunities. People were leaving the farm for bigger and brighter things.

Following the Great Depression, many rural communities were still left in the dark. It was viewed as a low standard of living. As part of the New Deal, President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the Rural Electrification Act of 1936. This would bring power to the people.

By the 1950’s; Virtually all American homes had electricity. Many appliances and modern conveniences were cranked out of innovation.

Plug it in!

Washing Machines, Clothing Irons, Refrigerators, Coffee Makers, Toasters, Vacuum Cleaners, Radios, Televisions.

History of Electricity Timeline

It’s just Plastic

PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) was invented in 1926. The invention of plastic. It worked as an insulator. It’s affordable. It’s moldable. It’s resistant.

This man-made binding chemistry has revolutionized manufacturing. Cranking out innovation became cheaper and easier than ever.

In the 1960’s; Plastic was becoming quite popular. Plastic Bags, Shampoo Bottles, Barbie Dolls.

The History of Plastics Part II: 1935 through 1980

Keeping up with the Times

(and the Joneses)

The times were quite simple before plastic. Even simpler before modern electricity in homes. Plug in the Radio; and communication happened magically through the airwaves..

Hear, hear! Everyone!

**The Census of 1930 was the first to ask “Radio in the home?”**

In the beginning of 1930’s; 40% of households owned a “talking telegram”. By the end of the 1930’s, 80% of households owned a radio.

People and Discoveries: KDKA begins to broadcast

Anyone can make Money, but not everyone can make Time.

**Time is** **worth** **more than money.**
**Find something to do with** ***your time***.

Are you a loyal machine?
**Buy Less. Spend Less. Waste Less.**

How to be Free Through Anti Consumerism

In the beginning,

Past, Present, and Future

We were all created for a purpose;

Time is a gift.

The Beast is consuming.

Undivided loyalty conquers everything.

Give away to much greater.

It is better to give, than receive.

Possessions aren’t standard.

Fulfill your life with living.

Be grateful for all things.

All things are possible, with God.

You are so loved ❤️

Till the End.

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be loved to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Jesus of Nazareth (Paraphrasing)

Matthew 6:24