Clutterers Anonymous

Clutterers Anonymous, commonly abbreviated as CLA, is a twelve-step fellowship for people who experience persistent problems with accumulating, retaining, or being overwhelmed by clutter. It was founded in May 1989 in Simi Valley, California, and is modeled structurally on the recovery framework developed by Alcoholics Anonymous. Its central premise is that clutter is not merely a housekeeping or organizational problem. Instead, the fellowship addresses what it describes as underlying patterns that become visible through unnecessary physical and emotional clutter. CLA distinguishes its approach from advice-oriented decluttering services. The organization emphasizes recovery, mutual support, reflection, and a continuing practice sometimes described as achieving “sobriety” from cluttering. Rather than concentrating on lectures, efficiency techniques, or prescriptive cleaning systems, meetings are intended to help participants regain serenity, clarity, and the ability to live more fully. The fellowship also states that there can be many reasons why someone becomes a clutterer or hoarder, but that determining the cause is not its primary purpose. Its focus is on helping people who are currently suffering and want to change their relationship with clutter. The program adapts the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions originally associated with Alcoholics Anonymous. In CLA’s version of the First Step, the subject is described as being powerless over “our clutter,” rather than powerless over alcohol. Its membership principle similarly centers on a desire to stop cluttering: the third tradition identifies that desire as the only membership requirement. This framing makes CLA a peer-support fellowship rather than a commercial organizing company, clinical treatment provider, or conventional self-help publisher. CLA-approved literature includes Alcoholics Anonymous, often called the Big Book, and Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, together with CLA-specific materials. The organization has also identified eight CLA leaflets and a 28-page newcomer booklet, “Is CLA for You? A Newcomer’s Guide to Recovery,” as part of its approved literature. Some meetings read from the Alcoholics Anonymous texts while substituting terminology such as “clutterer” for “alcoholic.” As reported in 2011, CLA had active meetings in approximately 70 cities across 24 U.S. states, along with several meetings in England, Germany, and Iceland. The fellowship is separate from Messies Anonymous, another support organization associated with Sandra Felton and her copyrighted publications. Available reference material does not identify a corporate parent, commercial owner, public listing, formal executive roster, or official website URL. Accordingly, Clutterers Anonymous is best understood as a specialized twelve-step support fellowship whose identity is built around shared recovery practices and literature rather than consumer products or conventional brand operations.

Clutterers Anonymous emerged in May 1989 in Simi Valley, California, as a twelve-step response to problems involving the accumulation of clutter. Its structure draws on the recovery model created by Alcoholics Anonymous, but it changes the subject of recovery from alcohol to clutter. The fellowship’s First Step refers to powerlessness over “our clutter,” while its membership tradition requires only a desire to stop cluttering. The organization developed around the idea that chronic clutter can reflect broader emotional and behavioral difficulties. However, CLA does not make identifying the personal or psychological cause of clutter its central task. Its stated emphasis is on helping people who are still experiencing distress and want a practical recovery path. In this framework, decluttering is treated as an ongoing process comparable to sobriety: participants seek greater serenity, clarity, and capacity to live a fulfilling life through the application of the steps and support from other members. CLA’s method is deliberately different from a conventional home-organization service. It does not primarily present itself as a source of tips, cleaning instructions, productivity systems, or lectures. Instead, meetings provide a setting for peer identification, discussion, reading, and continued application of the fellowship’s recovery principles. This approach places CLA within the wider ecosystem of twelve-step and mutual-aid groups rather than within the commercial home-improvement or professional-organizing industries. The fellowship’s approved literature combines foundational Alcoholics Anonymous texts with materials written for CLA. The listed materials include Alcoholics Anonymous, commonly known as the Big Book; Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions; eight CLA-specific leaflets; and the 28-page booklet “Is CLA for You? A Newcomer’s Guide to Recovery.” At some meetings, members read from the AA books and adapt terminology to the CLA context, including replacing references to “alcoholic” with “clutterer.” By 2011, reference material described CLA as having meetings in roughly 70 cities in 24 U.S. states, as well as several meetings in England, Germany, and Iceland. This indicates that the fellowship had developed an international presence while remaining organized around local meetings and shared literature. The available material does not establish a centralized corporate headquarters beyond the founding location, nor does it identify named founders, executives, owners, financial results, or a current official website. CLA is explicitly distinct from Messies Anonymous, a separate support group founded by Sandra Felton that uses copyrighted publications associated with that organization. The distinction is important because both groups address clutter-related difficulties but are not the same fellowship. Clutterers Anonymous’s identity rests on its own twelve-step adaptation, literature, meeting network, and membership tradition.

• 2011

  Reported international meeting network

  [1]Clutterers Anonymousen.wikipedia.org

  Reference material reported active CLA meetings in approximately 70 cities across 24 U.S. states, with additional meetings in England, Germany, and Iceland.

• 1989

  Clutterers Anonymous founded

  [1]Clutterers Anonymousen.wikipedia.org

  Clutterers Anonymous was founded in May 1989 in Simi Valley, California, as a twelve-step fellowship for people seeking recovery from cluttering.

A peer-support twelve-step fellowship focused on recovery from compulsive cluttering and the emotional and behavioral patterns associated with excessive physical clutter. CLA positions itself around shared experience, spiritual and behavioral recovery, and serenity rather than commercial organizing advice, lectures, or cleaning techniques.

• Recovery literature

  CLA Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

  The fellowship’s adaptation of the twelve-step and twelve-tradition framework. It applies the recovery language and principles associated with Alcoholics Anonymous to problems involving clutter, including the concept of powerlessness over one’s clutter and the importance of a continuing recovery practice.

• Newcomer literature

  Is CLA for You? A Newcomer’s Guide to Recovery

  A 28-page booklet intended to introduce prospective or newer members to Clutterers Anonymous and its recovery approach. It presents the fellowship as a source of mutual aid for people who want to stop cluttering rather than as a commercial organizing or cleaning service.

• Educational literature

  CLA-approved leaflets

  A set of eight CLA-specific leaflets included among the fellowship’s approved reading materials. The leaflets support meeting discussion and explain aspects of the fellowship’s recovery principles and shared experience.

• Peer-support meetings · 1989

  Clutterers Anonymous meetings

  Local fellowship meetings where members share experience, read approved literature, discuss the twelve steps and traditions, and support one another in reducing clutter and restoring greater clarity and serenity. Meetings have historically operated in the United States and in several other countries.

• 2021-10-11

  Teampay announces Agile Finance Summit partnership[2]Teampay宣布Agile Finance Summit合作prnewswire.com

  Reported: 2021-10-11

  Teampay announced that its Agile Finance Summit would return in 2021 in partnership with Mosaic, Tesorio, CLA, TravelPerk, Plastiq, Attivo, Eventus Advisory Group and Controller Collective.

1. 1Clutterers Anonymousen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Teampay宣布Agile Finance Summit合作prnewswire.com