Basically, clutter is rubbish. Three-quarters of the piles on paper on desks and tabletops are things that just haven't been thrown away yet. Unfinished business is junk. Scraps of paper with telephone numbers of people whose calls you haven't returned, bags of clothes standing inside the front door that you haven't given to the charity shop, letters you haven't yet responded to - this is the kind of clutter that's mobile. It follows you around, and if you leave it unattended long enough, it changes from junk into big problems.
Indecision turns into junk.
Clutter is all the stuff you push aside and tell yourself you'll think about later. Fear of regret often stops people being more decisive or throwing things away. Having a more positive approach to making choices builds your confidence - and dejunks your clutter. Michelle Passoff will be in the UK leading dejunking workshops at the Mind, Body and Spirit Festival at the Royal Horticultural Halls, London SW1 on 28 May and 1 June. Janet Luhrs's book The Simple Living Guide is also available from amazon.