Declutter

Reading Declutter: The Simple Guide to Tidying and Cleaning Your Home, Room by Room, to Help You Organize Your Life is like getting advice from a friend who is very supportive, but who will not hesitate to give you some tough love when you need it.

This is a practical guide to decluttering and organizing that will help you whether you live in a studio apartment in the city or a six-bedroom home in the country.

Quotes are presented throughout the book to inspire and entertain. They range from authors of classic American novels to modern day decluttering and organizing gurus.

You will be guided through your home, room by room and given practical advice for each. This is not a "do as I say, not as I do book." This is an "I've been there, this is how I handled it, and you can too!" book. Nothing in this book is unattainable. You do not need to go out and buy any special equipment. All that is needed is some hard work and the ability to be honest with yourself.

You will learn:

• How to make your own cleaning products with ingredients you already have laying around the house!
• How to declutter each room!
• How to maintain each room once it has been decluttered!

The goal here is organization, maintenance, and happiness. You will be encouraged to:

• Embrace items that add to your life.
• Release items that detract from your life, along with any associated guilt.

Real life examples will be provided by an author who has been on the journey to decluttering. The book has a very approachable tone, with a been there, done that, still trying to make it better attitude. All of the goals presented here are attainable.

Your home is like a living organism that needs to be nurtured. This book recognizes that you have a life outside of the home; you cannot, and should not spend every day making your house look like it belongs in a magazine. What you can do is devote some time, every day, to making it a comfortable, relaxing place to be. In short, it should be a retreat from the rest of the world.

You will learn to identify what your cleaning and decluttering style is. You will not be told to change how you do things, rather you will be given advice on how to do things according to your temperament and personality. Have you ever wondered if you are more like a Hummingbird, Beaver, or Gopher? Read this book and find out!

The best way to work with this book is to read it through and get started on your charts. Then as you go room by room, reference the applicable chapter and update your charts. The charts provided at the end of the book will help you:

• Find and utilize previously squandered downtime!
• Keep up your daily and weekly home maintenance!
• Identify your decluttering goals!
• Making a house-wide decluttering plan!

The difficulties people face when decluttering are faced head-on. You are not expected to easily make every decision. The struggles are recognized and addressed. You will be given ideas on how to:

• Preserve sentimental items that bring you happiness!
• Release sentimental items that bring more guilt than happiness to your life!

Even the items that travel with you as an extension of your home are addressed, as well as things that clutter your digital life. These days what is stored on your phone can have more of an impact than what is stored in your pantry.