The Baby Boomer Generation
Did They Learn About Clutter Control From the Silent Generation?

The baby boomer generation are the children of the silent generation and the parents of Generation X.

Organized living challenges include not only their own stuff but also people's stuff.

Baby boomers have become literally sandwiched between the clutter of their parents and their offspring.

The baby boomers were born between 1946 and 1964. The term "boom" was used to describe the massive increase in population after the second world war.

This large population cohort was raised by the members of the silent generation (born prior to 1945) and were significantly affected by their parent's pattern of thinking to keep material goods for future purposes.

The baby boomers were probably the first generation with a realistic expectation to "do better" than their parents! Unfortunately they never learned from their parents how to purge their possessions, after all the silent generation would never think of throwing anything away!

See "What is Purging?" on the Clutter Control page.

At the same time that their parents were telling them to "wear it out or use it up" the media was conducting a massive marketing campaign telling boomers that their lives would be improved if they only had more of everything!

Accumulating more and more without giving up anything is the recipe for clutter!

Baby Boomer Generation

Major influences include:

television
Kennedy assassination
Beatles
space exploration and the first moon landing
civil protests
birth control pill

Read about the organized living challenges of the baby boomer generation and others!

Here is an interesting website for the mature woman of the baby boomers demographic.

The Baby Boomer's Clutter Profile

Boomers are also the parents of Generation X (born 1965-1981).

The term sandwich generation is sometimes used to referred to the boomers because they are sandwiched in between the older silent generation and younger generation X. We see this influence in their clutter profile.

Two significant clutter challenges are:

Aging parents - as life expectancy increases the silent generation is living longer than even they expected too. Boomers are now faced with not only looking after their parents but all their stuff as well.

Boomerang children - Generation X is not giving their parents a break as quickly as was anticipated. Instead of growing up and moving out of the house the gen X children are staying in the family home much longer than previous generations and once they do leave they come back several times before finally parting for good!

The baby boomer generation is literally surrounded by stuff!

Such are the demographic influences on the baby boomers when it comes to organized living.

Every body deserves a good laugh! At least the boomers can laugh at themselves!