The decluttering trend - How do I declutter? 6 Minute English

Rob: Hello. This is 6 Minute English. I'm Rob.

Neil: And I'm Neil.

Rob: Now, Neil, are you a tidy person?

Neil: Me? Oh dear no! You should see my floordrobe!

Rob: Your floordrobe?

Neil: Yes. Tidy people keep their clothes in a wardrobe.

I just dump a lot of my clothes on the floor, so

– a floordrobe.

Rob: Ah yes, well it sounds as if you could use a

bit of decluttering.

'Clutter' is the word for general mess and untidiness

when you have too many things, too much stuff.

These days the idea of decluttering is very popular.

Neil: Oh, I love a good declutter

- trouble is, I hate throwing things away.

Rob: Well, we might have some advice for you in

today’s programme. But first, a question.

It’s about cleaning up.

The vacuum cleaner is a machine we use to

clean our houses.

When were the first mechanical floor cleaners,

which later became vacuum cleaners, invented?

Was it:

A) the 1860s?

B) the 1890s?

or C) the 1920s?

Neil: Well, you know what? I have no idea!

So, I’ll say the 1890s.

Rob: OK, well, I’ll have the answer later

in the programme.

The decluttering techniques of Marie Kondo are very

popular these days.

A UK decluttering expert, Lesley Spellman, appeared on

the BBC radio programme You and Yours

to discuss the topic.

She was asked to describe the basics of the

Marie Kondo method.

What’s the first thing she recommends

people start with?

Lesley Spellman: She basically says you have to do

things in a certain order.

You have to start with your clothes.

Then you move on to your books.

Then you move on to paperwork.

Then you go on to something called 'komono', which is

kind of everything else: kitchens, bathrooms, garages,

lofts etc.

And then finally you tackle sentimental things.

Rob: She says that you have to start with your clothes

before moving on through different categories of clutter.

Neil: The verb she uses for dealing with these things

is to 'tackle'.

To tackle something means

'to deal with it, to sort it out'.

Rob: And the last things she says you need to tackle

are sentimental things. These are things that

you have an emotional connection to,

such as old letters and photographs.

I have to say those are the things I find most difficult

to get rid of! I’m very sentimental like that.

Neil: I think you just have to be ruthless, Rob!

Either that or buy a bigger house.

Right, let’s listen to Lesley Spellman again.

Lesley Spellman: She basically says you have to do

things in a certain order.

You have to start with your clothes.

Then you move on to your books.

Then you move on to paperwork.

Then you go on to something called 'komono', which is

kind of everything else: kitchens, bathrooms, garages,

lofts etc.

And then finally you tackle sentimental things.

Rob: So why is it that decluttering is such big

business these days, and there are many people and

companies offering advice and services?

Here’s Lesley Spellman again with her thoughts on this.

Lesley Spellman: I think there's been a big shift really.

So my generation, my parents, you know, definitely came

from that 'make do and mend' era post war in the sort of

20th century. And then all of a sudden people started to

get a little bit more money.

Things became more affordable.

You can buy five tops for five pounds each and people

have done that.

And that's allowed the consumerism to kind of

go crazy in the 21st century.

Rob: So what does she put our need for decluttering

down to?

Neil: Well, first she says that there has been a

shift in our behaviour.

This is a way of saying that there has been a change

in the way we behave.

We used to make do and mend much more.

This phrase means that we made full use of what we

had and if something broke, we tried to fix it.

Rob: And these days, we seem to have more money

and many goods have got cheaper, and we just like

buying stuff – or as she says,

consumerism has gone crazy. Let’s listen to her again.

Lesley Spellman: I think there's been a big shift really. So

my generation, my parents, you know, definitely came

from that 'make do and mend' era post war in the sort of

20th century. And then all of a sudden people started to

get a little bit more money. Things became more

affordable. You can buy five tops for five pounds each

and people have done that. And that's allowed the

consumerism to kind of go crazy in the 21st century.

Rob: Time to tidy up today’s vocabulary,

but first, let’s have the answer to the question.

Earlier I asked you: When were the first mechanical floor

cleaners invented? Was it in:

A) the 1860s?

B) the 1890s?

or C) the 1920s?

And Neil, you said?

Neil: I guessed at the 1890s.

Rob: Sadly not! The correct answer is the 1860s.

So, well done anyone who got that right.

Now on with today’s vocabulary .

The first word we had was 'floordrobe'.

Neil: Yes, this is a word to describe a pile of

clothes that someone keeps on the floor

rather than in a wardrobe.

Rob: Well I don’t have a floordrobe,

but I do have a chairdrobe

– I guess you can work out what that means!

Anyway, it seems we both have too much 'clutter',

which is 'the untidiness caused

by having too many things'.

Neil: And this leads us to the popular pastime of

'decluttering', which is

'throwing away things to make our homes neat and tidy'.

Rob: Clutter, in my life, is an issue I haven’t tackled yet.

I haven’t tried to fix it or sort it out.

Rob: One area that the experts say you need to

tackle is sentimental things.

These are things which you have an emotional

connection to – maybe old letters and photographs

for example.

Rob: We then looked at the word 'shift', which was

a way of saying 'change'.

There has been a shift or a change

in the way we think about things.

Neil: Yes, rather than an attitude of

make do and mend, which means an attitude of

'being content with what you’ve got and fixing things if

they break',

we have become part of a consumerist culture

where we like to buy more and more stuff.

Rob: But we still find it hard to throw things away!

Neil: Yes, indeed, we do. Well it’s time for us

to collect our scripts and declutter the studio.

We look forward to your company next time

and until then you can find us in all the usual

places online and on social media,

just look for BBC Learning English.

Bye for now.

Rob: Bye-bye!