Yes friends you read that right. I'm a horder. There's a quiz at the beginning of the book and I scored a 13 out of 20. Peter was shocked I could find a pen to take the quiz :) I have dirty dishes in my sink. I don't know where my car insurance policy is. And I have clothes in my closet with tags on them.
It's All Too Much is not a how to manual on how to clean up your clutter. It doesn't outline what storage containers you should use or quick tips on keeping your home clutter free. No it deals with why you have all this crap in the first place.
While reading It's All Too Much I realized how much junk I was keeping. I had planned on my day off from work to clean out our second bedroom. When we moved we stashed all the stuff we didn't know what to do with in there til we figured it out. We've lived here over a year and no sign of moving those items out or dealing with them at all. Well Monday morning using my new found clutter busting strategies (do these items hold meaning to me and am I honoring their importance?) and my resolve to reduce the amount of stuff in that room by half, I succeeded. I filled my trunk and backseat with items for the Goodwill and took 4 paper bags full of recycling as well as several empty boxes. I found papers that we now longer needed. Trinkets and toys that could serve someone else better than me. The room isn't empty (not enough to put a futon in there) but it's progress. Now I look stuff and say do I need this or is it filling a void (sadness, anxiety, frustration)? And I'll continue to review items and par down to only those things that bring us happiness.
I highly recommend It's All Too Much to anyone who feels overwhelmed by their clutter and wants help solving their clutter situation for good. Others who shared their thoughts on It's All Too Much: The Recessionista, The Great Shrinking Euphie and Maw Books Blog.
I'm ordering this for my mom (and myself) today. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteMy house is usually clutter free except for three spots. One is the guest room where we are using as storage but I have guests coming tonight so I must clean it. Thanks for posting this, I think instead of stuffing away, I'll go through it and declutter while I clean!
ReplyDeleteI already told Chris about this book. Think I'm going to order it for him tonight. I could forward him this link, and he'd say "Yeah, that looks like a good book. I'll track it down LATER..." which means "NEVER"!!! But if I order it for him and stick it in his bag, maybe he'll crack it open! ;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing about it. And by the way, I'll send you pics of our office, guest room (which used to be clean, but is now a mess) and our garage. Then you can feel better about your "hoarding" tendencies!
Who doesn't have dirty dishes in the sink, since we have no dishwasher ;)
ReplyDeleteMy mum and dad are such hoarders, while I love throwing things away..except for books
I need a copy of this one!! I have too much stuff too. But never too many books!! LOL!
ReplyDeleteI bet you my mom has you beat!
ReplyDeleteOmg that woman has no counter space... my dad waits till shes asleep or out shopping and boxes stuff up... and she never sees it again.
But I think I would do that too.
I think being a bit of a hoarder is better than being a painful perfectionist.