For this decluttering expert, keeping stuff sparked joy
'I could throw it out, but that would bother me'
Like Marie Kondo in recent years, Dan White's mission in 1993 was to help people cure themselves of their pack rat tendencies.
But rather than writing bestselling advice manuals, he conducted classes on clearing clutter.
"How can you give things away? How can you get rid of things?" asked White in one such seminar attended by CBC reporter Jeannie Lee.
His class was a group of men and women of all ages who were looking to declutter long before anyone ever heard of the KonMari method.
One student said his problem was an office full of accumulation. Another said she was "the wife of a pack rat."
"Every room in the house is a complete disaster," said a third.
Make 'little homes' for things
And as Lee discovered on a visit to White's own home, he knew what they were talking about because he seemed to have an eclectic assortment of items in his own home.
"That's a base for a VHF antenna for a mobile radio," he told Lee, showing her a silver cylinder.
Rather than asking if a given random item in his home — like a vintage blowtorch — sparked joy, White's approach was different.
"A thorough purge isn't in order," explained Lee. "Creating order out of chaos is."
To that end, White's advice was not to throw things out, but to ensure that there was a "home" for everything.
"Life is an internal pursuit of feeling good," he said, adding that one could find old dressers at yard sales to contain precious items.
He put away a future wanted item in one such dresser.
"It's no longer a problem because the drawer is shut," he explained.
