The famed artist Andy Warhol had an unusual technique for managing clutter. He kept an empty cardboard box beside his desk, and when the clutter got to be too much for him, he simply tossed items into the box, taped it shut and then instructed an assistant to ship the box to New Jersey.

A display of these 612 cardboard boxes, called the Time Capsules, features a surprising variety of items — everything from insect-infested pizza dough to a palette used by Salvador Dali to letters from Mick Jagger. The most significant items are mixed in with irrelevant receipts and scraps from his life as a famous artist.

One might have expected him to throw away the useless items and carefully put away the more valuable ones, but Warhol didn't seem to have the time or the inclination to sift through his things and separate the wheat from the chaff.

Managing Clutter

The contents of Warhol's Time Capsules can be viewed online. These cardboard boxes are fascinating, but not necessarily inspirational. Like Warhol, instead of actually organizing and purging, many people are tempted to just find increasingly inventive ways to store items. Within your own home, you may think you're “managing” clutter when in reality you're just moving it from one area to another. According to the Flylady, the goal is not to rearrange clutter, but to get it out the door.

It might be tempting to rent storage for items that don't fit in your home. While storage is sometimes helpful and necessary, in other situations it might prove to be a burden. Rented storage generates monthly bills and possible headaches and can delay decisions that are ultimately inevitable.

The Burden of Storage

When you feel tempted to rent storage, keep in mind that you will eventually be forced to contend with all those things that you store. This could mean renting a U-Haul truck and begging friends to help you to move the items. It could mean losing these items you've paid to store for years to flood, fire, or insects. Storage is often billed as a solution, but you do well to keep in mind that in many situations, storage just adds additional complexity.

You Can't Organize Clutter

There is one point that many home organizers can agree upon. Clutter, by its very definition, cannot be organized. While heroic efforts may temporarily make piles look orderly, the problem remains. The very amount of possessions in your home can sabotage your desire and will to clean.

The best alternative to storage is simplification. Instead of seeking more and more ways to hold on to more and more things, people can be better served by making decisions up-front. Instead of delaying the inevitable by tossing random items into a box and stuffing that box in a closet or attic, one can choose to create a “clutter out box.”

Creating a clutter out box can be incredibly simple. A simple cardboard box (in the spirit of Andy Warhol) left by the back door can serve as a reminder to continually think in terms of purging. As soon you find that you're not using certain items, toss them in the box.

When the box is full, the FlyLady recommends that you bring it out to your car and place it in your trunk. That way, you don't really have to think about the task. You can just empty the box when you are running other errands, with a quick stop at the Salvation Army or any other business that takes used household items.

By starting small and trying to be consistent in the little things, you can reduce your debt, your stress, and your clutter. By cutting your tasks down to size, you keep them in the realm of the possible. Remember: If a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, then your job is just to start walking. Don't worry about how quickly or smoothly you'll complete the journey; just put one foot in front of the other and keep moving.