Clutter causes gridlock in everyday home life: As spring-cleaning season stirs our domestic ambitions, the psychological burden of stuff grows for anyone who's amassed a life's worth of it
Open this photo in gallery: Piles of stuff - "the detritus of life" - the author has saved over three decades, even though they're of little use to her today. The Globe and Mail
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Open this photo in gallery: Several years' worth of newspaper subscriptions -- some read, some not, all coated in dust. The Globe and Mail
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Open this photo in gallery: Notes the author and her grade school girlfriends passed 25 years ago; she hasn't read most of them in as many. The Globe and Mail
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Open this photo in gallery: One of four Barbies (two without bodies) the author saved from her brother's hands. The Globe and Mail
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Open this photo in gallery: Decades' worth of birthday and Christmas cards from friends and family, including a money envelope from dad on her 18th. The Globe and Mail
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Open this photo in gallery: Well worn Eeyores and Popples -- eighties staples -- in need of a new home. The Globe and Mail
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Open this photo in gallery: Piles of magazine subscriptions, overflowing from under the couch. The Globe and Mail
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Open this photo in gallery: Vintage eighties She-Ra and My Little Pony -- hello, eBay? Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
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