Decluttering at the Speed of Life audiobook

This book was a lot more than I thought it would be and simply amazing. It did not only give you tricks and hacks on how to declutter your space, it helps you change your mindset on how you think about clutter and stuff. The psychology behind it makes sense and was a lot more helpful than just giving out tricks of the decluttering. Thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend this book for anyone struggling to come up for air from beneath their mountains of stuff.

:: March 2021 :: I revisited this primarily to reinject more zip into my zest for decluttering. The right mindset is all. I'm making slow progress, astonishing my husband by suggesting we get rid of things he thought I considered "sacred". In 2017 we stumbled into a tiny Exhibit A of tidiness. Our laundry room is next to the attached garage. The dryer, next to the back door, would develop tottering piles, the launch pad for "stuff". We bought a new dryer in 2017 that had a sloping top. Nothing will stay on it if the dryer is in use! Bingo! Keeping that area clean *still* makes me smile in gratitude. :: January 2021 :: Oh my, YES! This book came to me (thanks Robin!) exactly at the right time and mood. Dana White teaches her readers how to use five minutes or five hours to make a visible difference in clutter. This is NOT a take-everything-out-of-the-cupboard-and-make-a-big-mess method. She is not teaching how to organize your stuff, but how to get it out the door. Her main idea is the Container Principle: seeing your closet, your refrigerator, your bookshelf, your bedroom, your pantry —hey, even your house—as a container. It is the size it is. After preliminary tidying, you decide which stays according to the limits of your "container." Dana used scarves as an example. I bounded out of bed and decluttered my scarf hanger. I realized that I never wore the huge, bulky, hand-made, six-foot gifts because they made me feel like a hippopotamus. I bustled them down to People Helping People while it is still scarf season. It felt SO good!So enthused and enthralled with these thoughts, I made my husband sit. And listen. A naturally tidy man who excels at organization, he watched as I bubbled and squeaked. A look of puzzlement settled on his brow. He kept waiting for ... an epiphany. Soooo, you limit what you keep to the size of your "container?" You had to read a book to learn that?! Oh, I love him.My most challenging struggle is/has been/will be with books. When my bibliophile friend Chris died last year, his parents offered me his library. He had 1100 books in his bedroom!! They live nine hours away, but photographed piles of books every day for weeks and put what I wanted in boxes. I have eleven boxes of books coming! My friend was a discerning and omnivorous reader. So. I am culling my current collection like a crazy woman.I have been pondering limits lately. Eating, drinking, days of our lives, energy, strength, traveling. All tied in with acceptance and gratitude. I paid the greatest compliment to Decluttering...: immediately on finishing, I began again.

Update (1/16/22): The author is on YouTube as well, under the name Dana K. White. If you're on the fence about reading her book, consider giving one of her YouTube videos a listen. Update (1/11/21): It looks like this is a free Amazon Prime read!I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who needs simple procedures - the key word is simple - for decluttering in a variety of situations. Dana K. White is a blogger and podcaster with lots of experience decluttering. I stumbled on her podcast a while back while looking for a decluttering podcast to try - my very first podcast! (I actually did this because I was so behind on reviewing books that I wanted something else to fill my listening time.) Her previous book, How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind: Dealing with Your House's Dirty Little Secrets is about how to deal with "the daily stuff," as she puts it. This book focuses on how to deal with clutter in the home. She recommends getting the daily stuff under wraps first - and I agree - so if you are in need of a routine/system for keeping dishes/laundry/tidying under control, read that first book first! I also highly recommend her podcast from her website, A Slob Comes Clean as another source of this information. But if you want a great start, I'd go straight to the books, which are more concise and more organized. I was able to listen to this audiobook for free from my local library via Libby! I love my library!

Good if you need inspiration and practical suggestions for decluttering. 4 stars for being helpful. A bit repetitive but she claims there is a reason for that. She also has a helpful section on the difference between regret and grief in decision making.

Another terrific book by Dana!! If you need to delcutter (which you probably do), this is an excellent start guide! I listened to the audiobook which is read by Dana herself and it was perfect!

Right now we have five large boxes in the car to be donated to our local thrift store. Last week we took three boxes. This is after reading Dana White's book, DECLUTTERING AT THE SPEED OF LIFE. With wry humor and down to earth common sense, the book was the kick in the "you know what" that finally got the ball rolling in our house. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

I read decluttering books as brain candy. I think White is a good motivator for the truly clutter-bound. She was once there herself & it took her years of trial & error & living in extreme clutter to finally figure out how to declutter. She's both realistic & funny. Her opinions & manner of delivery are, for the most part, ones that would appeal to those approaching hoarding levels, reducing defensiveness on the part of her intended audience. While she advocates decluttering as finding/keeping/using the things you love (similar to Marie Kondo's "spark joy" mantra), White has a concrete way for those buried under piles to really begin to address the accumulation. She also has two unique (to decluttering books) questions to ask when decluttering, providing a clear, unemotional way to deal with stuff while reducing the amounts. And, after asking/answering those questions, she says your "container" (shelf, cabinet, etc.) needs to limit the amount you keep (similar to Peter Walsh). White also tells how to declutter during daily life without creating a bigger mess (often a huge stumbling block for those who are serious about decluttering). She knows her stuff & her audience. Recommended for those with loads of accumulated things & for whom Marie Kondo's way probably won't work.

I love a good cleaning book, and I really enjoy this author! I listen to her podcast whenever I want to get motivated around the house. She’s funny, motivating, very practical, and guilt free. This is not an organizing book, but getting stuff out of your house. I like how she goes room by room and addresses the challenges each space presents. Her ending chapters on helping others declutter, spouses, and dealing with things after someone dies is helpful and not something you hear much about. I didn’t necessarily learn a ton of new things, but the reminders are good and she has classic ideas like clutter threshold and the container concept. Highly recommend for anyone needing motivation!

I loved this pretty hard. It’s nice getting advice from a recovering slob, since I am a slob myself. Her “formula” for decluttering acknowledges that you don’t always have a lot of time, interruptions happen, and it can be really discouraging when things initially look worse as you try to declutter. So her method focuses on making sure things start looking better immediately. (No dumping all your clothes in the middle of the floor. Sorry, Marie Kondo.)Her order for tackling a space is to start in a highly visible area and do the easy stuff first: 1. Trash2. Easy stuff (stuff that belongs somewhere else—put each item away immediately)3. “Duhs” (stuff you already know you want to donate)Then you can start making decisions about the stuff that is left, now that you see how much space & how many items you have to work with. Because you can’t keep more than the space (or shelf, or container) can hold. Now, some readers complain of redundancy, saying that she just goes to different areas of the house and applies the exact same steps. But I thought that especially when she is talking about kitchens and storage areas and clothing, there needed to be a specific discussion because those spaces have unique challenges. I also appreciated her suggestions about how to be an effective, non-jerk helper when you’re dealing with someone else’s clutter. (Like with your own kids, or if someone asks you to help them, or if a relative passes away or moves into assisted living.)