What do you think?
Rate this book
Take the U out of Clutter: The Last Clutter Book You'll Ever Need
The host of Style Network's #1 rated show and a renowned life coach and New York Times bestselling author team up to teach people how to permanently de-clutter their homes.
Does this sound familiar?
"I've had that since I was a kid; it holds so many memories."
"How can I give this away? It was my grandmother's."
"But what if I need this eventually? You never know..."
Mark Brunetz, host of Style Network's Clean House , and life coach and bestselling author Carmen Renee Berry share a simple yet breatkthrough understanding of clutter and how to conquer it.
The source of clutter is the stories, beliefs, and emotions attached to objects. If readers learn to change their attachment to clutter they'll be able to clear away their mess. Each chapter includes stepby-step instructions, inspiring success stories, and exercises. The result will be a personally meaningful makeover-a new method to align the person the reader wants to be with the home the reader wants to have.
Does this sound familiar?
"I've had that since I was a kid; it holds so many memories."
"How can I give this away? It was my grandmother's."
"But what if I need this eventually? You never know..."
Mark Brunetz, host of Style Network's Clean House , and life coach and bestselling author Carmen Renee Berry share a simple yet breatkthrough understanding of clutter and how to conquer it.
The source of clutter is the stories, beliefs, and emotions attached to objects. If readers learn to change their attachment to clutter they'll be able to clear away their mess. Each chapter includes stepby-step instructions, inspiring success stories, and exercises. The result will be a personally meaningful makeover-a new method to align the person the reader wants to be with the home the reader wants to have.
- GenresNonfictionSelf Help
272 pages, Paperback
First published May 4, 2010
13 people are currently reading
69 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
October 4, 2011
Useful book that goes asks the reader to look beyond the container store and look inside to why the clutter is there. From a psychological perspective, the clutter serves some sort of purpose in a person's life or, presumably, it wouldn't be there. A really quick read, but a thoughtful framework for addressing clutter, not for organizing clutter. The book points out, correctly for me, that most people have read more than one un-clutter book. Also, the process of removing clutter is only temporary without understanding why the clutter is there.
The book validly assumes the reader has an issue with clutter and wants to deal with it. The book goes through several logical steps to get people to understand a person is not their clutter, different sets of logic and emotions cause people to keep clutter, and removing clutter is an opportunity to figure out what in life is more meaningful than the clutter. The book has anecdotes from the authors (Brunetz and Berry) and clients, as well as affirmations (kind of goofy) at the end of each chapter.
The last few chapters include list of common logic/emotions for keeping stuff (I might need it one day, my dead relative gave it to me, etc.) and some techniques for implementing the ideas in the book. I'm not sure I can implement it, but the 3-2-1 technique for hobbies (like reading books!) was eye-opening: limit ongoing projects to 3 projects (books) that could be done (read) in a day, 2 projects that could be done in a week, and one that could be done in a month. That would really cut down on my bookshelves, as well as some other hobby stashes, if I could follow through on it.
The book validly assumes the reader has an issue with clutter and wants to deal with it. The book goes through several logical steps to get people to understand a person is not their clutter, different sets of logic and emotions cause people to keep clutter, and removing clutter is an opportunity to figure out what in life is more meaningful than the clutter. The book has anecdotes from the authors (Brunetz and Berry) and clients, as well as affirmations (kind of goofy) at the end of each chapter.
The last few chapters include list of common logic/emotions for keeping stuff (I might need it one day, my dead relative gave it to me, etc.) and some techniques for implementing the ideas in the book. I'm not sure I can implement it, but the 3-2-1 technique for hobbies (like reading books!) was eye-opening: limit ongoing projects to 3 projects (books) that could be done (read) in a day, 2 projects that could be done in a week, and one that could be done in a month. That would really cut down on my bookshelves, as well as some other hobby stashes, if I could follow through on it.
June 28, 2013
I really loved this book. Maybe it's the story teller in me, but I really connected with what the authors said, and it made me look at everything in my home differently. The day I finished the book was the day I began decluttering, and I think this time it will make a difference in what happens in the future. Pick this book up if your house is out of control, especially if you know the power of stories.
July 30, 2013
Fantastic! Opened my eyes to some things. I would recommend it to people who are struggling with the "why" of it all. Not a book of ideas on how to fix your clutter, but in fact it's a book on how to stop it from happening.
April 11, 2011
An interesting book and helpful! I'm getting rid of so much old baggage!
November 3, 2011
Best de-cluttering book I have read yet.
May 6, 2018
This book is less of a how-to & more of a why. The author has the reader analyze the reasons behind why the clutter exists & how to let the causes go in your mind before dealing with the actual stuff.
May 21, 2022
Mindset behind decluttering (how to emotionally detach so you can physically detach) with simple step process
February 14, 2015
While this was interesting, I didn't find it all that helpful. It's an interesting perspective - that all of the clutter is because of one's emotional/psychological "stories" and that once you clear that up, you'll be able to deal with the clutter with no problem - but I had trouble buying it.
Sure, some of this is true, like the difficulty in dumping something that was a gift, even if you don't like/need/want it. That's a problem with emotions, not with practical reality.
But, you know, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. There's a pile of stuff on the kitchen counter to be sorted and pitched/recycled/filed/dealt with - and that's not because of psychological issues about mail. It's because it's boring and I'd rather spend my time doing something else. Sure, it's got to get done, but I don't really have to work through emotional stories to do it - I just have to do it.
The authors also seemed to miss the point that some of the clutter and having "too much" of something isn't because there are deep emotional/psychological issues involved. Sometimes, you just see it, love it, and haven't had time to follow through on your idea for it yet (I'm thinking in particular of craft type supplies here). I guess you could get into deep psychological issues, but maybe it's just a question of not having the time to follow through right now, and not having an effective way of storing the things until you do have the time.
Interesting, but too long on pop psychology and too short on practical solutions.
Sure, some of this is true, like the difficulty in dumping something that was a gift, even if you don't like/need/want it. That's a problem with emotions, not with practical reality.
But, you know, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. There's a pile of stuff on the kitchen counter to be sorted and pitched/recycled/filed/dealt with - and that's not because of psychological issues about mail. It's because it's boring and I'd rather spend my time doing something else. Sure, it's got to get done, but I don't really have to work through emotional stories to do it - I just have to do it.
The authors also seemed to miss the point that some of the clutter and having "too much" of something isn't because there are deep emotional/psychological issues involved. Sometimes, you just see it, love it, and haven't had time to follow through on your idea for it yet (I'm thinking in particular of craft type supplies here). I guess you could get into deep psychological issues, but maybe it's just a question of not having the time to follow through right now, and not having an effective way of storing the things until you do have the time.
Interesting, but too long on pop psychology and too short on practical solutions.
October 6, 2013
This book is amazing and just right for anyone who knows or grew up around hoarders as I did.
We always asked, "why?" why, in God's name would they keep junk like that? How could I get them to see that it was okay to get rid of some of their stuff?
This book has been the only one I had ever found that dealt with these issues in a real way, not just suggesting organizational methods like most books did.
I tried organizational methods, etc with the hoarders in my life. It created more space for them, which they were highly grateful for and promptly filled with more stuff.
This book (one of the authors was a hoarder at one time by the way), gives real solutions for change at the root of the issue, so that we can change the stories in our lives and that we have about our stuff.
We always asked, "why?" why, in God's name would they keep junk like that? How could I get them to see that it was okay to get rid of some of their stuff?
This book has been the only one I had ever found that dealt with these issues in a real way, not just suggesting organizational methods like most books did.
I tried organizational methods, etc with the hoarders in my life. It created more space for them, which they were highly grateful for and promptly filled with more stuff.
This book (one of the authors was a hoarder at one time by the way), gives real solutions for change at the root of the issue, so that we can change the stories in our lives and that we have about our stuff.
December 31, 2012
This was an interesting book regarding solving the problem of clutter. It dealt a lot with finding the emotions and stories behind hanging onto "stuff". I think everyone agrees that sometimes our attachments to items is more psychological than actually needing the object but this does bring that point out with some specific methods for dealing with the emotional aspects of clutter. Not sure that will automatically result in getting past the clutter problem but still interesting. The practical points were more what I was looking for and there's not too much of that. It was interesting hearing Mark Brunetz speak about his book and I do have his autograph.
August 9, 2010
A good, solid book about decluttering that asks its reader to take a look at the WHY of their clutter and not just the WHAT.
January 5, 2011
This book is awful. Curse you, extensive e-book section at the library that makes me check out random crap. I did not finish.
Want to read
October 4, 2011Going to give this a try--though it seems to have both lovers & haters....interesting
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews