Flylady Column, Feb. 15

Scarlet O’Hara Syndrome
by The FlyLady, Marla Cilley

Our homes are filled with tons of stuff. There is only so much space in our homes but our stuff is expanding to fill every crack, crevice and cubby hole. It has grown at a cancerous rate!

In fact, it is not only multiplying at a remarkable rate but it is consuming us at the same time. It is robbing us of our self-esteem. It is stealing our time and it is alienating us from our family and friends. We have to put a stop to it.

I want you to think about when you first contracted this disease of stuff. In our book “Body Clutter,” we ask you what your comfort food was. We wanted you to look at why that food soothed you. I am going to use this assignment when it comes to our clutter. Clutter doesn’t happen overnight. It gradually sneaks in the door.

My clutter began to accumulate from having nothing but the clothes on my back after a bad marriage. Within a year I had accumulated everything I could possibly need into my two-bedroom cabin on the farm.

I like to think of this as the Scarlet O’Hara Syndrome. I was determined to never be without my stuff again. As a result of this stubborn resolve I unconsciously began collecting. Not for the sake of a cherished item but because I was trying to fill an empty hole. This is much the same way we do it with food. We will never be able to get enough stuff to fill that hole.

I want to help you eliminate this need for more stuff and at the same time give you the courage to let the clutter go. You don’t need “stuff” to define you as a person. This clutter is standing in the way of your peace.


I want you to take Scarlet’s quote – “As God is my witness, they're not going to lick me. I'm going to live through this and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry again." – and use it to help you eliminate your clutter. Let’s take her determination and use that power to Fling!

I am going to reword the quote for my FlyBabies:

“As God is my witness, CLUTTER is not going to lick me. I'm going to live through this and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry for stuff again.”

We can stop this cancer in its tracks with our SHE (Sidetracked Home Executives) traits. We have determination! We can hyper-focus and we want to FLY! Finally Love Yourself!

Are you ready to get rid of your clutter, one bag at a time? That is how it came into your home. You can't organize clutter; you can only get rid of it. Organizing clutter is no better than a Band-Aid on a cancerous tumor. The growth needs to be removed before the healing can take place.

For more help getting rid of your CHAOS, check out her website and join her free mentoring group at http://www.flylady.net/ or her book, Sink Reflections published by Bantam and her New York Times Best Selling book, Body Clutter published by Fireside. Copyright 2010 Marla Cilley Used by permission in this publication.