Live More, Want Less: 52 Ways to Find Order in Your Life

by Mary Carlomagno

Get rid of clutter and live a more meaningful life. From taking control of an overflowing closet to creating clear and achievable life goals, Mary Carlomagno shows you how to strip away the nonessentials and make room for serenity, change, creativity, and even enlightenment. Offering a practical week-at-a-time approach, Carlomagno helps you shed not only the unnecessary things that are cluttering up your day, but also the habits and mindsets that keep you from reaching your fullest potential. 

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Personal Development, Health, Sustainability, Ebooks

193 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Mary Carlomagno is a bestselling author, organizer, speaker and spokesperson specializing in helping individuals and groups embrace simplicity in everyday life. She is one of the nation’s leading experts on organizing and a frequent contributor on national television, radio and print.

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

More than half way through this quick self-help book focused on un-cluttering your life literally and figuratively. It's mostly advice we've heard or read before (if you pick up any woman's magazine), but Carlomagno offers good advice in a realistic way. Given are small ways of changing troublesome areas of your life over time. 52 chapters for 52 weeks pretty much sums up that idea. Quick read. I'm in the process of planning another move. Thought this might motivate me to pare down the stuff that surrounds me (and has followed me around, still in their boxes, for over a decade). Completed one large and one small purge so far. Pick a favorite charity and donate to those who need it :) Just as important, think hard before bringing more stuff into the house! It really is more about getting rid of stuff. When your home is uncluttered, it clears your mind, gives you focus and energy for the important stuff. Who knows--it may give you a little more peace and happiness. I'm game!

[Erica · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not what I had thought it would be, nor what I wanted. I was hoping to find some solid tips on letting go of all the little things we allow ourseves to get caught-up-in on a daily basis. Instead, this is a series of stories, almost trite, that are not applicable to every reader, with quick tips at the end of each short chapter suggesting ways to achieve the success outlined in the story.
I found it almost offensive in its pat, cliched style. I suppose these "lessons" would be good reminders for those who already live a planned, de-cluttered life, but it's not a useful tool to help those who are trying to get to a better place.
I would not recommend this book.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing really new there but I think that is what all the books on minimalism have in common. Just watched a talk from Marie Kondo and her KonMari Method and I had the same feeling.
But maybe that is the key. Basically we all know what to do and how to get rid of all that stuff but still we have to read it again and again..other words but same content. We hope that someday an author chooses just the right words to trigger the action in us.

[Mycala · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. A lot of it was review, but I like review from other perspectives. It's not just about having fewer belongings -- I am a minimalist and I really don't own a whole lot of stuff -- it also covers the stuff you can't see. Thought patterns, habits, attitudes, people, routines... It's a good book. It's also excellent reading when you're super stressed out both at home and at work and you need to focus on something positive that you can control.

[Daniil · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most useful and helpful book that I ever read, it became my table book. It gives you the key on how to get rid of unnecessary clutter and get things and mind organized and focus on what's really important. I strongly recommend this.

[Vive · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring.

[Kelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the suggestions and ideas of this book. I will re-read (maybe a chapter a week) over and over again!

[Margaret Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A weekly schedule to help you achieve your goals

[Zoe · Rating 1 out of 5]

My full review is on my Blog (My Nonexistent Minimalism).

The idea of 52 is one area of focus a week for a year. If anyone got that far... Full disclosure, I was not able to finish this book. I got to Chapter 25, I noticed that not a single thing in the past five chapters sunk in.

I think the book mentioned saying 'No' to stuff that adds stress to one's life. I toke that advice to heart and returned it to the library.

Below are bullet points notes I took as I read along:
-Chapter Two is called "Procrastinators Read This First". How would we know to read this first? It's the second chapter... Lord knows how long before we would get to that point in the book.

- Each chapter is really, really short. Usually just an ancedote with some daily "practices", which aren't even that actionable.

- "I recycle my schedule which made me feel eco savvy." Mmmm.... That's not how that works.

- Each chapter kinda reminds me of something you would read in a horoscope.

I don't know who this book was written for! The book is too vague and unguided for self-help Newbies and too redundant for Veterans. I suppose it could be Baby's second or third self-help book, but it's written very poorly. So I wouldn't want the reading experience for anyone.

To conclude, I wasted more time and effort on this book than it's worth. I want to live more, by wanting less of this book's existence.

[Wan Shoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Live More, Want Less" is an inspiring guide that calls us back to our true needs. With compassion, it examines the ephemeral joys of consumption versus the deeper, more fulfilling happiness that nourishes our wellbeing, guiding us toward reconciliation in a world fueled by materials. The 52 ways are not just tasks but a path to separate, leave, and let go. They teach us to engage with the present and discover the profound wisdom of wanting less. The book's philosophy of the middle path—a compassionate space beyond right and wrong—resonated powerfully, emphasizing empathy and the practice of seeing through another's eyes. Written for the hoarder, the shopaholic, the perfectionist, the depressed, and the follower, it offers essential tools to order our external and internal worlds. This is a book that truly deserves a wide readership.

[Katie R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing I didn't know already, but something topics will help me help others, and some were firmly reenforced. For example, I think it's time to let go of (most of) my coastal/beach house items for the beach house I plan to have one day in the future. The sentimental ones, of course, I will be keeping! And using now - not waiting.

It did feel a bit dated even though it hasn't even beeb 20 years!

[Mina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of the book has practical advice and is worth reading. The second half is bogged down with the author talking about how awesome her life is and her clients lives are and how we should model our lives like that. Not really sure who edited this book, but it should have been much shorter.

[Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was shallow on many subjects, about how to get order in your life in so many areas, it kind of felt like a ping pong game. It is also a little dated to me, and it may be that I am just at a point in my life that I don't need all the little suggestions about how to get more organized, do more, want less, find order in life.

[Janelle French · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an organizer, I'm always looking for ways to help people live more happily in their homes. While this author offered some good tidbits of advice, I feel she stretched herself too thin by trying to cover 52 different topics in a relatively short book. I wish she'd focused on fewer topics and taken the time to delve more deeply into each one.

[Chantel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very easy to-read snippets of.. dare I say it, common sense?
Nothing new here. Anytime I got partially interested in a paragraph, the topic would switch to something completely different. Very basic life advice that you could probably find in a Cosmopolitan article.

[Abigail G · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice defined way to cover all aspects of a life without creating a huge book. The short chapters made the information easy to comprehend and the little suggestions at the end of each chapter made it easy to remember each point.

[Romany · Rating 3 out of 5]

The structure of this book was great, 52 sets of instructions for living with less. The writing was not as great: cliche-ridden with repetitive anecdotes. In general, it hasn’t aged well, but I enjoyed reading it.

[MariWabiSabi · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was basically 52 different suggestions to declutter your mind, home, and schedule. I think it was too redundant and could have been 10, but then it would have been a blog post instead of a published book, so I’m guessing that’s why she stretched it out to a year of minimalism. Ironic.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bite sized and palatable.

Loved the format. Helpful and enjoyable advice that follows logical steps. I read straight through, but selective reading would work as well.

[Anne B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many interesting tidbits, but covers far too much territory without enough depth.

[Alessandra]

Couldn't get through this one.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[lori gale blevins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helpful

Very helpful, great insights into taking smaller steps to get to the final goal. Reading one chapter a week broke it down in to more manageable challenges

[Michaela Benson · Rating 1 out of 5]

looking for ideas for how to help someone declutter and this just didn’t do it for me.

[Madison · Rating 4 out of 5]

A survival guide

[Jenelle Guerrero · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked it. It's a good book that gives you a lot of different values to live by/keep in mind but it gets straight to the point. Each "chapter" is like 3 pages long, but they give you a clear real life example & daily practices to keep in mind. I liked that each chapter wasn't dragged out too long but I still was able to grasp the authors meaning.

[Jenny T · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more than just a catalogue of organizing tips. It's also a gratitude, beauty, and focus manifesto. I read this book in 2013, and according to my book journal, "I want to read the book again, week by week, in order to use the suggestions each day. The book has 52 groups of exercises that I can practice, each at one reading. People who don't decide/ choose are denying change and are refusing to live in the moment. To live in the now, we must stop overthinking the future and sh0uld process what is going on from moment to moment.

Wisdom:
1) Begin from a place of gratitude for what you have.
2) Do not seek to fill the empty spaces.
3) Don't add more; build on.
4) Express a purpose before making a purchase.
5) Just because it's cheap or free (available) doesn't mean you need it.
6) Junk clothes you know you don't wear.
7) Store off-season clothing/items elsewhere.
8) When you get something new, let something else go.

[Artemisia Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, there are soooo many books about de-cluttering, organizing, living more simply or some variation of these, out there. And yes, I'm a bit of a sucker for these because of course, I'm always looking at my life and wanting to pare down somehow, somewhere, sometime......which of course must be a common yearning these days, considering all of the books there are about just this same issue. (And yes, as I'm writing this review, my husband comes up and asks where our Christmas tree skirt is and all I can say is "It must be in one of the closets behind something else. I'll look for it later." Which of course just proves things, doesn't it?)

SO when I find a book that actually says something new on this topic, or that approaches the issue with a bit more of an inner approach than just another look at all the mechanics involved in sorting and deleting the extras, well....that gets my attention. And this book did all that.....in an organized and entertaining format that also kept my attention, gave me some very good aha moments, and did it all without getting all that analytical about the whole thing either. The proof must be in the pudding too, because I've been so inspired by this book that I've already started sorting out drawers and closets I haven't wanted to touch in months.

Now, where IS that Christmas tree skirt?......see you later.......

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

The biggest part of each chapter is given over to anecdotes. The author spins a brief lesson out of them, though sometimes the stories seem only loosely tied to the conclusions she reaches. For example, a story about how she once had a meditation class that conflicted with a self-help seminar was intended to illustrate the need to remove things from your life to move forward. Um, okay.

The focus is more on evaluating your behavior than taking practical steps, and the tone is very self-congratulatory. Many of the topics are about getting a handle on compulsive shopping (which isn't an issue for me), and the same set of shopping-related points are repeated over and over again. The intended audience seems to be women who angst at the thought of cutting back on their designer wardrobes, which is so far from the experience of everyone I have ever known that it's difficult to relate to.

I only read half the book and skimmed the rest.

[Caro Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A view of clutter, more form the psychological and spiritual perspectives, rather than nitty gritty organizing tips. Easy breezy style with little stories at the beginning of each "week" and suggestions on how to address those issues. Not surprisingly, not every psychological issue applies to everybody. Some of the tips were too big picture for most people to implement. For example, use internal cues rather than external cues (advertising or keeping up with the joneses) to determine whether it's appropriate for you to buy something -- a lot easier to say than do in our society where marketing has some pretty subtle techniques. The later weeks seemed to repeat themes from earlier weeks. As other reviewers have mentioned, the tips are probably nothing new, but the presentation was helpful to me.