Welcome to Part 2 of the Clutter Clearing Series!
My List of The Very Best Books to Help You Let Go of Clutter - They all get 5 Stars!
Summer is almost here and if it gets too hot to actually physically clear your clutter, perhaps it will be a good time to read a book by the pool and get yourself motivated and ready to clear your clutter by Fall!
In spite of the fact that I LOVE the following books, I realize they won't be enough for everyone to dig out of their clutter situation. Some people need someone there to help them stay focused and get the job done. I know it helps me tremendously to have someone there.
These books will help you understand why you need someone there and if you do hire an organizer, will help you get the most out of your investment in working with a professional organizer! Seriously, the closer you are to "ready to let go" - the more you will accomplish during and in between sessions with an organizer.
So without further ado - Here are the BEST books on clearing clutter
Karen Kingston: Clear your Clutter with Feng Shui
To learn more about clutter, how it affects you and ways to start preparing yourself psychologically and emotionally to let go of the everday clutter that's holding you back, I highly recommend starting with Karen Kingston's book. "Clearing Clutter with Feng Shui" It's inexpensive, brief, gets right to the point and best of all it really does help you change the way you look at your stuff forever. It helped me convince my husband to partner with me in letting go of stuff when we got married and had to merge 2 homes full of stuff. He read the book reluctantly, but then loved it. Now he enjoys clearing clutter as much as I do! If you can only buy one book - this is it.
Fugen Neziroglu: Overcoming Compulsive Hoarding - - Why you hold on to stuff and how to stop!
If you think you might have issues with hoarding, check out the best of the very few books on the subject "Overcoming Compulsive Hoarding" I give it 10 stars in helping me to understand and help my clients. Here is just one of the many touching reviews on Amazon by people suffering with clutter who have been helped by this book.
"Overcoming Compulsive Hoarding saved my life! It's the first book I have read that accurately addresses why I hang onto things and why I can't let them go. I have had to deal with clutter all my life. I have felt shame and been hard on myself until I read the book. The invaluable insights in this book have helped me to clear the clutter. Once I know why I'm hanging onto something it's much easier to let go of it! Other organizational books have not worked for me because the books assume I have no emotional obstacles to becoming organized. This book is a must-read! I am very pleased with this book and recommend it to anybody, hoarder or non-hoarder, who has difficulty with clutter and organization." (by Gwendolyn Thompson)
If you can get more than one book this summer, these are at the top of my list as the very best books to help people overcome clutter & disorganization by getting to the source of the issues:
Marilyn Paul, Ph.D.: It's Hard to Make a Difference When You Can't Find Your Keys
Marilyn is awesome. She is a self-professed "recovering chronically disorganized person". She grew up thinking that a neat home or desk meant you spent too much time organizing and not living life. But she learned the hard way the very steep price to be paid for chronic disorganization and found a path out of the belief system that that held her back from getting organized. Her book is deeply insightful and has helped so many people change their lives. Here is a excerpt of a review by a real person whose life she has affected.
"I can't express how differently I feel about my "chronic" clutter and disorganization after reading this book. I have used organizing methods and "tip" books before...many of them quite good, but the new regimes would only last for a little while. This is the first book that has truly gotten to the "why" of my cluttering tendencies, in a genuine, non-judgmental, humorous, and compassionate way that WORKS...
The result has been a completely organic shift in my behavior that has been completely effortless. It IS a process...my life hasn't become neat, clean, and fully organized overnight! But the small beginning steps have made a truly dramatic difference. My whole attitude has changed. I see progress every day and am so optimistic now that I know it is only a short matter of time before other areas of my home--and life!--will follow suit. "
This is what I mean when I talk about finding your personal balance between NEAT and LIVING. It's not about being perfect all the time, it's about developing habits that help you be "neat enough" to "enjoy living"!
The next 3 books reviewed here will help you clear clutter AND get organized!
Judith Kolberg: Conquering Chronic Disorganization
A short, very easy to read book that is life changing. It is a resource I've referred to over and over and used to help many clients. Her non-traditional approaches to the emotional side of organizing really work. (Her ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life is also excellent and her non-traditional simple approaches work great even if you don't have ADD!) Conquering Chronic Disorganization is a fairly short simple concise and easy to read book but every sentence is packed with great tips that can change your life forever. Here's one of many heartfelt reviews from people this book has helped dramatically.
"I have purchased dozens of self-help books on clutter, disorganization, cleaning, and organizing. Unfortunately, I can not find most of them...because of the ongoing difficulty I have with "stuff." This book was meant for people like me, people with good intentions of "someday" having everything in its place so we don't spend an hour trying to find a past due bill, a late library book or coming across an invitation to a party held yesterday. Incredible frustrating is how I would describe my dilemma with "stuff." One bedroom is totally filled with overflow from other rooms in the house (my current method of "cleaning"). It holds(self-improvement)books, clothes, papers, bills, pictures, (self-improvement)tapes, boxes, files, baskets, cabinets, the list goes on and on. This book, unlike ALL the other ones I have purchased in the past, finally helped me visualize solutions - NOT conventional solutions but ideas which are helping me solve the chaos and confusion which reins in my home (and sometimes office)." (byjibmeyer)
I loved this book. Cindy really gets to the psychology of what's underlying clutter so that you can change the habits that lead to clutter in the first place. As one reviewer writes:
"I have a number of books on organizing. They do give specific advice... but the trouble is, they didn't fit my situation. Their advice was often so detailed (and specific to the exact items being organized) that I found it impossible to translate it to my things in my home. My stuff stayed disorganized. This book is wonderful!...It helps you understand the psychology of why you buy the Things you buy and why you keep them. Once you understand that, the organizing part is easier. You'll have a better understanding of what is most important to you--what Things to keep and which will need to be kept in a prominent place. And you can always refer to one of the many "clinical" books out there if you need more help with the putting away part!" (by C. Potter)
Julie Morgenstern: Organizing from the Inside Out
Julie's Book is a classic. It is the bible of professional organizers. It covers all the reasons why people are disorganized and hang on to clutter, though not to the extent the other books do. The other books I recommend here focus mainly on what's behind the clutter. Because in the end, it's really not about the stuff, it's about how the stuff got there in the first place.
Once you have read some of the other books, dealt with your personal attachments to your things, and are truly READY to let go and change habits (I can't stress enough that you have to be "ready") then this book provides the process and framework to take you the rest of the way. It can help you get uncluttered and organized. It takes you room by room and shows you how to apply the process and gives some great ideas for organizing specific things as well as how to STAY organized.
If you read 2 or 3 of these books and find you still can't dig out alone, you probably will do much better working with a professional organizer. You can find one near you by searching on NAPO's website at www.napo.net or at NSGCD's site www.nsgcd.org
Or contact me, and I will help you find someone right for you in your area. You aren't alone! You can also just leave a comment here and I'll do my best to help.
