As a part of the parenting community, we are all too familiar with frazzled family life. Jobs, sports practices, piano lessons, and general life take over, and the next thing you know, your home is a disaster. Authors S.J. Scott and Barrie Davenport have another book to help you take back your life and gain control of your possessions and home.(Book c/o Develop Good Habits) Post may contain affiliate links.
10-Minute Declutter: The Stress-Free Habit for Simplifying Your Home
Authors S.J. Scott and Barrie Davenport
{Book Review}
Admittedly, I am not likely the target audience for this book. For most of my life, I’ve been an organization junkie and didn’t have a problem with clutter. Then I had a bunch of kids. With children, came more stuff, less time, and eventually things pile up and you no longer recognize your life. It happens to the best of parents.
This book is a little different in how it approaches this problem, as it is very simple and gives you a step by step outline on directly tackling cluttered areas of your home. The authors are very specific on time limits, strategies, and the hows, without too much focus on the whys. Most books on this topic tend to focus on the emotional part of clutter, while neglecting any good advice on how to attack the physical issue. The authors touch on guilt and attachment to things, but for the most part, this book gives the physical strategy.
At first, I thought the book was perhaps too simplistic and wondered why anyone would buy something like this, when the information is free on many blogs across the net. However, it occurred to me that clutter is often caused, (or excused) by distraction and being overwhelmed. The free information is accompanied by ads, popups, links, images, and a myriad of other things to take away your focus. So,actually, a simple book is the better way to keep focused on the decluttering task. After all, it is easier to declutter your house with an uncluttered mind.
10-Minute Declutter: The Stress-Free Habit for Simplifying Your Home is laid out with a brief introduction section explaining emotional blocks causing clutter, gear you will need to get started and a basic outline of the later chapters. One shining star feature of this section is the discussion of anchoring your daily decluttering session to a task you already do each day at the same time. This is to help turn your declutter sessions into a habit.
The rest of the chapters are a step by step guide to using 10 minute increments to declutter one area of your home at a time.
Each strategy chapter is dedicated to a different area of the home such as kitchen, bathroom, garage, etc., and by the time you finish your home, you will have made decluttering a new habit and can enjoy an organized life. The authors are clear this process can take many months.
Each session is just 10 minutes to keep the reader from finding the task overwhelming. The tasks are laid out with direct instructions like starting with the top shelf and going left to right, and defining donate, sell, and keep boxes.
The themes and ideas presented in this book are not revolutionary, but they are clearly outlined and organized in a way that is easy to stay focused on the job.
If clutter is a problem in your life and you are aware and admit it, then this book can be a good resource in your armory to fix the problem. It is a good complimentary guide to add to a more in depth book. If you have not addressed your emotional issues with your clutter and possessions, start with a heavier self help book or therapy to address your whys, and use 10-Minute Declutter to address the how.
Right now, the ebook version of 10-Minute Declutter for Kindle is only $2.99 or free with Kindle Unlimited, so this guide is a great deal right now.
Side note: I read the printed version, which is literally the ebook in print form. If the print version is to be marketed in book stores, I assume a new version is needed to address hyperlinks and url sources.
If your life is total chaos, I would consider stacking 10-Minute Declutter: The Stress-Free Habit for Simplifying Your Home with another S.J. Scott book Habit Stacking: 97 Small Life Changes That Take Five Minutes or Less.
* Book c/o Develop Good Habits in exchange for review