A guide to understanding why your possessions keep overwhelming you and what to do about it, written by a professional organizer and psychotherapist.
Do you spend much of your time struggling against the growing ranks of papers, books, clothes, housewares, mementos, and other possessions that seem to multiply when you're not looking? Do these inanimate objects, the hallmarks of busy modern life, conspire to fill up every inch of your space, no matter how hard you try to get rid of some of them and organize the rest? Do you feel frustrated, thwarted, and powerless in the face of this ever-renewing mountain of stuff?
Help is on the way. Cindy Glovinsky, practicing psychotherapist and personal organizer, is uniquely qualified to explain this nagging, even debilitating problem -- and to provide solutions that really work. Writing in a supportive, nonjudmental tone, Glovinsky uses humorous examples, questionnaires, and exercises to shed light on the real reasons why we feel so overwhelmed by papers and possessions and offers individualized suggestions tailored to specific organizing problems.
Whether you're drowning in clutter or just looking for a new way to deal with the perennial challenge of organizing and managing material things, this fresh and reassuring approach is sure to help. Making Peace with the Things in Your Life will help you cut down on your clutter and cut down on your stress!
I REALLY DO HATE MOVING. And I didn't love this book, which had a few, small nuggets of excellent advice and a lot of dross. Plus the therapy stuff was embarrassingly obvious and shallow and the author illustrated *everything* with stupid, childish named "characters". Mary Spendalot comes home from a shopping trip with five dresses she doesn't even remember buying! While Johnny Hoarder has kept every newspaper since the invention of the printing press! Seriously, there was actually a Somebody Stillbottom (to exemplify the low-energy types). Not enjoyable to read, but I'll write down the few useful ideas and get rid of the book immediately - there's hope even for me, Hallie Havealotofbooks!
I'll definitely reference this book again and again. Flip through my copy and you will see underlined passages, stars, notes in the margins, circles and arrows. Although tedious at times, I am so glad I didn't skip through any part because I found gems in every chapter, I was initially distracted by the names she chooses for character examples: Griselda Backglance, Professor Tightstring, Freddie Whizbang... but in the end it wasn't too big of a deal and I ultimately found a few of them endearing.
This book is 75% focused on looking at the reasons we clutter or are surrounded by "Thing Mountains" as she calls them. Then in the final section you find more tangible step-by-steps on putting your own issue-specific tools into action. Each section of the book builds on the one before, so that when you get to this final section of the book you are ready to sit down and begin crafting a realistic plan that is specific and personalized. This is not an Organizing 101 book with tips on how to maximize storage space or what baskets you should get to corral your beauty supplies. She respects the place those book have, but avoids potential quick and cosmetic fixes by first taking a look at the real roots of the clutter problems so you can truly "Make Peace with the Things In Your Life". The other Organizing books come after identifying why you have the "Thing Habits" you have.
A quote: "Paying attention to Things is important only insofar as this impacts people- including YOURSELF as well as other living creatures. If hanging up a raincoat or creating a home for your Monopoly game gives you the space or peace of mind to make a discovery, fall in love, rethink a problem, or dream a dream, these tasks are worth doing: if not, you might as well use your time some other way."
My friend Laurie gave me this book, presumably after she helped me move and subsequently helped me get rid of large quantities of crap I don't need. I read half of it in 2006 when I was supposed to be packing to move to California. I stopped reading it because my partner was going to leave without me if I didn't stop reading and start working.
Fast forward to 2009, and we are moving again. This time we have a bit more time / leeway, so I thought I'd finish the second half of the book and re-skim the first half, and maybe even benefit from it, which is sort of the whole point.
A couple of things I have already found useful is that I realize I am both internally and externally distractible, though more internally than externally. The book then provides tips and ideas of how to capitalize on my natural brain chemistry (so work with it instead of against it). (The funniest example was to make large red signs that say things like "STOP! SORT THESE PAPERS ON PERIL OF YOUR LIFE." I liked it so much I made a sign and put it over my desk that says "DO WORK ON PAIN OF DEATH." Ha ha. I'm weird.)
Another helpful tip I found was that I have a personality type that once I get on a roll it's better for me to keep going with the project and do a marathon than try to do an hour of organizing a day. So for me, it's better to embark on a project when I have eight hours to devote to it. (Thankfully as a self-employed individual I do have the ability to set aside eight hours for this kind of thing.)
So, it's got some helpful information, and the author is corny, like me, so there you go. Win-win.
Since the author is a licensed psychotherapist and personal organizer, this book takes a different twist on clutterbugs. Ms. Glovinsky posits that it is not enough to just put things where they go; we must also figure out where our head is, and work with it. Since our brains are hard-wired individually, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to managing things. I was relieved to know that I'm pretty functional after all when it comes to clutter, and interested in the challenges that others face.
Especially interested in the way Ms. Glovinsky quantifies Things: an abstract no-strings-attached way to define the stuff in our space that must be dealt with.
There were some good points, but overall a very confusing and overly complicated book. If a person is having trouble organizing their physical space, it stands to reason that they might need some help organizing their mental space. This book, unfortunately does the opposite of that.
Since the author is both a therapist and an organizer (what every great organizer should be in a perfect world!), she writes from an interesting perspective. I especially appreciated her insights on chronically disorganized people. But while the book is a good read and full of helpful information about the inner workings of our brains, it's not -- dare I say it? -- well organized. I found it daunting to attempt to use it as a workbook. As others have pointed out in their reviews, Glovinsky overwhelms the reader with lists of questions to ask yourself. And the book lacks concise chapter summaries that would help people put the lessons into action. When I finished the book, I had no idea where to start and what the key tools were (other than a clipboard and four labeled boxes for sorting). There was also a lot of cross-referencing (if you're this type, go back to Chapter 4) that made following her guidance feel like a lot of work (it goes without saying that organizing is a lot of work, but reading the book should be more clear cut). I love to see an organizing plan for each type detailed in the back of the book. Cindy, we chronically disorganized people need more help in translating your insights into action!
I read a good bit of it before I stopped. It mostly put me to sleep in 10 minutes. I could see this was a different clutter book than anything I have read before, but it still didn't help the clutter in my house. I don't think a book will ever help me or anyone else for that matter. If you have anxiety over the clutter in your house, really the only way to remove the clutter is to get up and go through it. You have to ask yourself, "Can I live my life without this?" and then toss. I know it sounds easy, but it's not as I have done this several times a year. But really a book is not going to teach you how to be clutter free.
this is more a psychology treatment on paper - i'm way past that! hooray! pack rats on self-therapy might need this - but those who simply need a road map to take action should look for a certified space organizer (ask Oprah or get a PA)
I've been told I over analyze, but this author takes the cake! The over analyzing goes beyond helpful and is nauseating. Reading this book feels like an unpleasant chore with no point to it.
Interesting take, but too scientific for what I was looking for right now. (But I gave an extra star because the author name dropped Kuhn's theory of scientific revolutions. You go, girl!)
Ms. Glovinsky begins with a simple idea: that all people have emotional responses to their Things. And she ends with a meditation on life. Warm, witty, thought-provoking and kind, Ms. Glovinsky gently teaches you to identify your reactions to Things, whether those reactions are fearful, possessive, angry, joyful or a complex mix of many feelings. She goes on to coach you to learn detachment from your emotions and Things, to allow you to more easily relate to, organize and even let go of items. She also teaches that there is no "right" way to organize: there is whatever way will work for you. This is the first book I recommend to my organizing clients.
Lauren Williams, Owner, Casual Uncluttering LLC, Woodinville, WA USA
Very helpful book if you wonder why your things keep messing up your space even though you are a somewhat organized person. This book focuses on physical, psychological and behavioral reasons for clutter. Questions and exercises help you to analyze yourself and the author gives some guidance to deal with your issues. I enjoyed this book a lot.
I found the psychological aspects somewhat helpful. The further I read, the lower my interest and by the end, I was reading far faster than normal. The end was more about how to declutter and pretty much like every other decluttering book on the planet.
The best part was understanding the obstacles to doing what we all know we should do. It was worth the read for that reason alone.
Not really a very helpful book on decluttering. It does give a few points that can be helpful if you're getting ready to move but mostly it was a little complicated and confusing to read. There are a lot better decluttering books out there. Don't waste your time with this one.
Great is you need self-guided psycho-therapy over how you regard and process (or don’t) the things in your life. I was definitely not the intended audience, but I read it anyway. Learned a few useful bits but not much else.
This helpful book looks more closely at the why’s of disorganization than the techniques of organizing and decluttering (though you will find some of those as well). This is especially important if you have not had immediate success instituting some of the wonderful organizational advice out there. When the process of organizing is especially hard, it is likely that learning to understand what exactly is making it difficult would be a necessary step to achieving your goals. This writer comfortably brings information from psychology into the process of “making peace with the things in your life”. In addition, to this more psychological approach, she educates the reader on individual, cultural and experiential differences that contribute to the challenges of keeping our homes, offices and lives in an order that feels comfortable to each of us (and she recognizes that what is comfortable for one may not be the same for another and reminds us that this is ok!) At times the writer’s insistence on referring to our belongings as “Things” can make for a less entertaining read. She does not wander from that specific term. However, I forgive this because in this way she helps us maintain a bit more objectivity in this process of organizing our belongings. The very nature of the situation of ownership, responsibility, and attachment clouds our ability to make quick decisions from the start. By relentless referring to each item as “thing”, this tendency begins to be minimized, allowing us to bring judgment and our current needs into the assessment of what to do with this (thing) and what to do with that (thing). Ms. Glovinsky guides the reader on a systematic journey of self-discovery as she points the way to a self-assessment of one’s current processes of handling “things”. You learn about the various ways that difficulties with decision-making, visual processing weaknesses, attachments to things, different attention strategies, and many other possible “glitches” to the multilayered process of keeping tidy. Ms. Glovinsky manages to help us come to terms with our strengths and our weaknesses with empathy and an optimistic frame of mind. After educating the reader about different contributors to difficulties keeping Things in order, she offers a number of strategies to work around many of these weaknesses while reminding us to also note our strengths and to capitalize on them whenever possible. The reader who applies and thoughtfully considers the assessments will gain in self understanding while also likely making progress in their relationship with the material things that accompany them in life.
I read this after a friend asked if I wanted to check it out, not because I was trying to get control of clutter. I think I'm doing okay in that area and I don't think that's denial talking. I thought it was an interesting take on clutter. This book delves into your brain and inner workings that make you the clutter bug that you. I think even people without clutter problems (or Thing issues as the author would put it) can see themselves in various aspects of this book. I know I could relate to some areas, such as how the family you grew up with influences you. That said, I wonder if people who truly have serious Thing issues would even bother to pick up this book in the first place and would they stick through it to be able to get anything out of it? I have to say I felt the book was a bit disorganized. One would have to read the whole thing to see where in it there fit (here and there in every chapter) and then go back through it to re-read what relates to them specifically. It is well indexed though with shortish chapters so it could be done. I thought it was interesting and I learned a thing or two.
This is an unusual book about the psychology of our stuff--how we feel about our Things and what we do with our Things, etc. And how was it? A mixed bag. For sure.
You see, I thought I liked lists. Making lists, checking things off lists, stuff like that. But, wow, this book really pushed my list limit. It seems like a very large percentage of the book is lists. And lists and lists and lists. And most of them are lists of questions. Sometimes the questions are very leading, which made them much less effective for me.
Now, on the other hand, the first couple of chapters of this book were illuminating. I enjoyed the insights the author presented. But by the end of the book I was feeling picked apart, but not put back together. Maybe I'll refresh those first couple of chapters before I send it back to the library.
A pretty good book that focuses on defining one's relationships with their Things (capital "T"). A little bit clinical, and emphasizes the analysis of emotions that we feel with our Things. A little bit short on the practical methods of clearing out Things, since it really focuses on feeling OK with the Things you have, no matter how many there are. This book is very supportive and talks about changing our habits with regard to our Things, getting at the root cause of clutter. This book is more about stopping additional clutter from happening, rather than cleaning up the mess you've already made.
This really is about making peace with your things and understanding the psychology behind why these things are cluttering up your life (at least by your perception). I found it helpful because it wasn't a cookie-cutter solution of how to organize, but looked at the root of the problem which is more important for me to understand so that the organizational system that is put in place can be MAINTAINED. That's why it's critical to understand one's own personal reasons behind the clutter so those can be addressed.
I read this book to understand a close relative's hoarding habits but this information on cluttering definitely applies to me, a clutterer all my life! This book analyzes the psychology of cluttering in great detail. There's so much detail, in fact, I just skimmed most of the text. However, I found many of her insights about our feelings about "things" real helpful. If you are interested in decluttering and simplifying your life, this would be a good resource and motivational book!
This book has been really interesting... It approaches the reasons behind different activities and relationships with things. We all know different people who deal with some of these issues. It's nice to read a book that demonstrates a healthy approach to dealing with these issues and relating and encouraging people that may struggle with them in a manner that avoids shame, blame, or temporary, superficial fixes.
Or, how to cope with all of that clutter. For me, it's books and art supplies -- everything else I can cope with and discard when useless. But books -- well, I'm here on Goodreads, aren't I? This is one of the better books out there, nonjudgmental and easy to get through without too much guilt. I really do recommend this one.
I enjoyed that the writer took a psychological approach to clutter. There are a gazillion books on the how of organizing and cataloging things. Unfortunately those books don't address the why of the clutter, nor how to tackle it from the source, rather than just treating the symptoms.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who's lived a packrat/clutter way of life, and wants to find a way to change.
This looks like a good book, a blend of the "why" we keep stuff and the "how" to get it sorted out and seriously "make peace" with it. I don't have stuff of my own, I am just married to someone with lots of Things who comes from a family that hold on to stuff. For instance, when our son was born, his parents sent all the old blocks that they had. Who keeps wooden blocks for 40+ years?