Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff

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Incidentally, I thought a tip that was helpful about decluttering a space is to first determine it's function like in those guest/office/hobby rooms that end up catch-alls because the space hasn't been defined (and this makes it hard to oust the clutter because it has no set primary purpose). I had tried and tried, but no matter how what I did, any progress I made felt like I was holding onto the edge of a cliff, desperately trying to keep from falling back into the mess. The only supplies you need to start decluttering are a black trash bag (black, so people living in your house won't be able to see what's inside and suddenly remember why they totally need it), a donatable Donate Box (the box itself has to leave the house along with the stuff inside), and your feet (in most cases, attached to the ends of your legs).

Author, Dana K White is the founder of the site, A Slob Comes Clean, and is someone who knows what it is to struggle with an overwhelming mess in her own home. I have a messy home, but not on her level of messiness haha), and her advice of doing the decluttering in your own rhythm is nice. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. I had watched "Nony" on YouTube many times, but (very wrongly) thought her books wouldn't have much substance. So this book is really about talking that first step, so that the rest of housekeeping falls into place.It’s very easy to dip into kind of book and is written in a sensible truthful and humorous down-to-earth manner. If there isn’t a space like that, you either don’t need it or you are storing some things you don’t need in this thing’s space, so declutter that, and then you can put this thing away. I gave this a 4 because I ended up actually cleaning my closet of all the 90's clothes/shoes/bridesmaid dresses I had been holding on to. A thinner book squeezing the points in would've been a better container for her message, but in the end, this book was helpful and an easy read.

Her approach is simple- deal with the least agonizing (like trash or daily drop pile stuff) and working up to the big decision stuff. them with my favorite books first, and then, once they were full, I got rid the books that didn't fit. There were also a few more instances of helpful advice, like she says to always start decluttering in the most visible public areas because it inspires you to keep going, you see it all the time and see how much nicer things look, and makes it easier for you to move on to having people over while you're working on more private areas. Dana explains how to use her step by step process to respectfully and kindly, help family and friends sort through their stuff. When I began decluttering like my sanity depended on it, I simply did not have time to use my complicated systems.I think it would benefit from being severely chopped down to a smaller, more affordable book that takes less time to read, though, especially as it really comes down to a very small amount of very good advice. Now, a lot of that is about being stressed and feeling a time crunch but it also really hit at some very clear issues that the author mentions that I share and I related to so much of what she talks about as the whys. The whole book, every chapter and every strategy, helps you make real progress in whatever amount of time you have available. The chapter on letting other people help with decluttering your home when you have movement/health limits was good even if it doesn't apply to me (yet).

Dana White teaches her readers how to use five minutes or five hours to make a visible difference in clutter. If office suits were mixed in with yoga pants and college sweat-shirts, I would have no idea how much space is being given to office suits pg. You start in the most visible space in your home and then work your way into the private/inaccessible spaces. However, they’re all boys, not sentimental in the least, and they don’t care about any of it… absolutely none of it!Dana leads you step-by-step with the heart of a woman who has been there and struggled with the same issues you are currently struggling with. Another concept that I will be grateful for as I move forward is that of a shelf or a closet as a container. I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who needs simple procedures - the key word is simple - for decluttering in a variety of situations. When you get to that place, if that container (shelf, closet, box) is already full, then you have to do one-in-one-out.