by Jane E. Brody

It often takes a crisis， major or minor， to prompt people to change bad habits， especially when the change is time-consuming and anxietyprovoking.

The other day， the drawer in which I store my swimming stuff jammed. When I finally got it open and dumped out its contents， I counted more than a dozen bathing suits （several with their store tags 1）intact）， 12 bathing caps， 10 pairs of 2）goggles and countless nose clips and earplugs.

Then I recalled the same thing had happened a week earlier with my drawer of pens and pencils， literally hundreds of them， half of which were dried out or otherwise useless.

往往要有一場或輕或重的危機，才能逼迫人們改掉惡習(xí)，當(dāng)改變這些習(xí)慣需時耗日、令人焦慮不安時，情況尤其如此。

前幾天，我用來放游泳裝備的抽屜擠滿東西，給卡住了。最終把它打開時，我把里面東西都倒了出來，數(shù)了一下：一共有十幾套泳衣（有幾件連標簽牌都還完好無損）、12個泳帽、10副泳鏡以及無數(shù)的鼻夾和耳塞。

這時，我想起一周前也發(fā)生過類似的事情。當(dāng)時，我打開用來放鋼筆和鉛筆的抽屜，里面有幾百支筆，其中有一半不是墨水已經(jīng)干盡就是已經(jīng)壞掉了。

And I shouldnt even mention my full-size freezer or 3）humongous medicine cabinet， where things fall out every time I open them. Or my floor-to-ceiling plastic bins of yarn， mountainhigh pile of Bubble Wrap， bags of plastic bags and shopping bags， and shelves of items I thought might be gifts for someone someday.

Having just read 4）Homer & Langley， E. L. Doctorows novel about the Collyer brothers， who were found dead in a Harlem brownstone under more than 100 tons of stuff they had accumulated， I finally vowed to tackle my lifelong tendency to accumulate too much of nearly everything and my seeming inability to throw out anything that I considered potentially useful to me or someone else sometime in the future.

Living in a three-story house with full basement made it far too easy to pursue this habit. I had plenty of storage space （and had filled every 5）nook and 6）cranny of it）， but often couldnt find things when I needed them， including clothes， books， articles， even frozen food I knew I had stored somewhere. Last year I found eight unopened jars of cocktail sauce in the back of my fridge； I had forgotten I had any and kept buying more.

我家那大冰箱和碩大無比的藥箱就更別提了，每次打開，總會有一堆東西掉出來。我也不該說起那些裝滿了紗線的塑料儲物箱，已經(jīng)從地板一直堆到天花板了，泡泡包裝紙堆積如山，還有數(shù)不勝數(shù)的塑料袋和購物袋，以及擺滿幾個貨架的各式物件，上面的東西我總覺得有朝一日或許能作為禮物送給別人。

最近我剛剛讀了E·L·多克托羅的小說《紐約兄弟》，書中講的是科利爾兄弟的故事，這哥倆住在哈林區(qū)一幢赤褐色砂石小樓里，兩人去世時，家里囤積了超過100噸的雜物。讀完小說，我終于發(fā)誓要改變長期以來的習(xí)慣，改掉幾乎任何物品都攢下來、什么都不舍得扔的老毛病——在潛意識里，我總覺得這些東西今后總能對我或別人派上用場。

住在一幢樓高三層、外加一個大地下室的房子里，養(yǎng)成囤積的惡習(xí)實在太容易了。我有充足的儲藏空間（而且現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)把所有角落都填滿了），但在有需要的時候，我卻總是找不到要找的東西，無論是衣服、書、日用品，還是那些我明明知道放在了某個地方的冷凍食品。去年，我在冰箱的最里頭翻出了八罐沒打開過的雞尾酒醬；我已經(jīng)忘了自己買過了，所以不停地補貨。

When a product I liked at the moment was on sale （7）graham crackers， lipstick， shampoo， 8）detergent， cereal， supplements）， I often bought as many as I could and added them to already overflowing stashes. Im often afraid I wont be able to get more when I need it， a concern occasionally validated when a manufacturer discontinues something I like. But more often， I tire of these items and move on to others long before Ive used up the old purchases.

Recently， as if by fate， an advance copy of a book arrived in the mail that is without doubt the most helpful tome for anyone with a cluttering tendency. It was written by Robin Zasio， a clinical psychologist， a star of the show Hoarders and director of the Anxiety Treatment Center in Sacramento.

Though it is not possible here to include all of Dr. Zasios lessons， here are a few I think are especially helpful.

P e r h a p s m o s t important is to tackle just one project at a time and stick with it until it is done. “Start with the easiest， and be proud of what youve done，” Dr. Zasio said in an interview. Then gradually move on to more challenging projects.

Schedule time for decluttering—say， an hour each day on most days， until youre done.

假如某樣我喜歡的商品正在打折（全麥餅干、唇膏、洗發(fā)水、洗滌劑、麥片、營養(yǎng)品），我往往是能買多少就買多少，然后把它們丟進已經(jīng)塞滿了東西的角落。我常常擔(dān)心在需要什么東西時卻再也買不到了，這種憂慮偶爾顯得合理，因為有時候商家會停產(chǎn)某種我喜歡的商品。不過更常出現(xiàn)的情況則是，我一下子就用厭了這些東西，遠在儲備品用完之前，就有了新歡。

最近，似乎是天意，一本新書樣本飛抵我的郵箱，毫無疑問，這本書對于有儲物傾向的人來說有極大幫助。對于所有家居雜亂的人來說，這是最能幫得上忙的好書。這書的作者是臨床心理學(xué)家羅賓·扎西奧，她是真人秀節(jié)目《儲物狂》中的明星嘉賓，也是薩克拉門托市焦慮治療中心的主任。

雖然在此我不可能盡述扎西奧博士的所有經(jīng)驗，不過我可以列舉一些本人覺得特別有用的內(nèi)容。

或許，最重要的一點就是每次集中對付一個項目，然后堅定不移，直到完全攻克?！跋葟淖钊菀椎闹?，并且為自己的成就而驕傲，”扎西奧在一個采訪中這樣說。然后，再一步步地移向難度更大的項目。

要為清理雜物安排出時間——比方說，平時每天定出一小時，堅持數(shù)天，直到完成為止。

Theres no question that parting with stuff youve collected and thought valuable can trigger anxiety. But， as Dr. Zasio says and I have found， the anticipated anxiety is usually worse than what actually 9）ensues. Even if it is acute， the anxiety 10）dissipates if you sit down or do something fun or relaxing until it passes.

毫無疑問，扔掉自己認為大有價值的東西，會讓你產(chǎn)生焦慮感。不過，扎西奧博士指出，而我也實踐過，通常你實際感覺到的焦慮并沒想象中那么嚴重。而且就算感覺強烈，只要你坐下來，或者做點有趣的且輕松的事，這種情緒就會煙消云散。

I have particular difficulty resisting “buy one， get one free” offers， half-price sales and 11）bulkpurchase “bargains” in 12）big-box stores. Think first about where the products will go and how many of them you already have. These sales and bargains will repeat themselves， and youll get other opportunities.

Keep in mind that， like food and medications， beauty products have expiration dates， so buying more than youll need in the near future can be wasteful. “Its OK to have one backup， but do you really need 10？” Dr. Zasio asked.

In clearing my own clutter， I realized my late husband—who often asked me， “How many rolls of paper towels and toilet paper do you really need？”—had collecting problems of his own. I uncovered old cans of paint， picture frames and books he found on the street， all manner of wood， boxes of chipped crystal， every version of every song and show he ever wrote （he was a lyricist and playwright）， and bags of our twin sons13）memorabilia since preschool （theyre now 42）.

By cleaning out his stuff and my own， I will spare my children a horrible task when Im gone. And when I stop wasting time accumulating， storing， searching for and moving around stuff I really dont need， I might have time for a new companion： a dog.

我特別難以抗拒“買一送一”、半價促銷和大型超市的量販“折扣價”。碰到這種情況時，你得先想想這些東西要歸置到哪兒去，而且家里已積存多少件了。這類打折促銷會不斷出現(xiàn)，你還有機會再買。

你要記住，跟食品和藥品一樣，美容護膚品也是有保質(zhì)期的，所以如果買的產(chǎn)品無法及時用完，就是一種浪費?！坝幸患溆闷愤€說得過去，但你真的需要十件備用嗎？”扎西奧如是問道。

在清理我的雜物時，我才發(fā)現(xiàn)我已故的丈夫原來他也有收集癖。他當(dāng)年常問我：“你到底需要多少卷紙毛巾和廁紙啊？”我翻出了許多老舊的顏料罐、相框和他在大街上淘的舊書、各種木料、一盒盒的水晶殘片、他寫過的每首歌和每場表演的所有版本（他是一位詞曲作者和劇作家），還有許多我們的雙胞胎兒子自上幼兒園以來的紀念品（如今他們已經(jīng)42歲了）。

將他和我的雜物清理干凈，那等到有一天我離去時，孩子們就可以豁免一項可怕的任務(wù)。而當(dāng)我不再浪費時間來囤積、儲存、翻找和搬動那些自己根本不需要的東西時，恐怕我就有時間來和一個新伴侶——一只狗狗相處了。