Kick the Clutter: Clear Out Excess Stuff Without Losing What You Love

by Ellen Phillips

Is your stuff pushing you out of your home?

Find hundreds of proven (and painless) tips for clearing out your clutter room-by-room and top to bottom in Kick the Clutter. For each room, you'll learn how to identify key objects you really love or need, how to separate yourself from stuff you never liked but feel you "have" to keep, and how to let go of those sentimental keepsakes that have outworn their welcome but become a habit. And you'll learn how to reorganize what's left.

Once you've cleared all that clutter, you still need to kick it out of your home. You'll find out what to do with all that stuff (and even make some money!)--from how an eBay store works to how to get the most from consignment shops, yard sales, used bookstores, flea markets, and antiques auctions, to how to donate items for tax deductions, to creative ways to get people to haul your junk for free. The key to clutter freedom is to clear out the excess without losing what you love in the process.

Look inside for these helpful
-"Love It or Lose It" gives you the inside scoop on what works and what doesn't.
-Kick the Clutter's unique before-and-after workbook feature helps you set your own clutter-kicking priorities.
-"5-Minute Fixes" for every room show you what an amazing difference 5 minutes can make.
-"The Pros Know" offers you clutter-kicking solutions from the top clutter experts in the country.
-"Five Simple Steps to Kick Your Clutter" presents a five-step program that will help you end clutter creep once and for all.
-The "Top 10 Clutter Traps" allows you to spot incoming clutter and kick it out before it can get a foothold.
-And much, much more!

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help

480 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It would be an OK read if you just read the chapter about the room you wanted to declutter. It's very repetitive. Every chapter follows the same format and I could just skip each chapter's intro and conclusion. If the same type of item belongs in multiple rooms her suggestions for how to clear or organize them would be copied word for word.

[R · Rating 2 out of 5]

First few chapters are great and then it narrows down into room by room help. I only read the first few chapters and got the inspiration I needed! Good resource!

[Kelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m powering thru this while watching declutter videos on YouTube. This is one of those books I grabbed at
the thrift shop while I thrift and make sure I’m only buying items I truly need or have been looking for at the thrift shop.

A good declutter is so satisfying and always feels like a weight has been lifted.
Is this book amazing and life changing? No, it’s basic and repetitive. However, it gets the job done. I loved the 5 minute fixes parts of the chapters the best. Easy ideas for fixing clutter.

[Ruthmgon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Skimming through this and reading some is exhausting. And not just a little intimidating. Its very thick. Its very perky! There are tips for putting away your kids stuffed animals in different colored hampers. Tips for storing stuff on top of the fridge, and locking up chemicals that are bad for kids (really!--not a huge news flash there) and keeping your holiday decorations separated by season--chronologically! Thanks but no from me.

This book veers from the clutter title and is really an idea book for people who arent having serious problems with their clutter. This is for people who are still organizing their clutter.

[Kristi Strong · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must-read for anyone with emotional ties to "things". While I could see that this book is not for everyone, especially those who are organized, it is wonderful for those with emotional ties to clutter.
Kick the Clutter not only gives ideas for how to get rid of/organize the clutter, but also why we accumulate it in the first place. It is only once we address the emotional ties to the clutter (gift from a deceased parent? tie to childhood?)that we can truly let it go.
I feel like this is the first book to realize that we don't WANT to live in a house of clutter, but for some of us, it's just not as easy as getting rid of the stuff.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has some good ideas in it for managing clutter, but regurgitates them over and over to turn what could have easily been a ~100 page book into a whopping 450+ pages of repetition. At least is it a pretty quick read, and the chapter titles and index make it a decent resource if you need to refer back to something.

[Danni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holy Cow what a lot of information. While reading this book I got the courage to clean my laundry room. It looks so much better. For the last two years it has kind of been construction head quarters. Now it is a laundry room. I am going to clean out my make-up bag next. I am glad I read this book.

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a big book, 472 pages. Most of the book is just common sense. There were some helpful hints on getting rid of your stuff. All I can say is the book was okay, but maybe I was expecting too much.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full of lots of good tips that I've heard before. I mostly skimmed it for renewed motivation.