Decluttering For Dummies

by Jane Stoller

The book that cuts through the clutter of decluttering 

Modern life has produced so much clutter that the thought of packed closets, attics filled with storage bins, and rental units specifically used to store odds and ends produces its own stress. The decluttering movement offers solutions for those interested in reducing the amount of stuff in their life and embrace a more minimalist, tidier lifestyle. 

Professional organizer Jane Stoller helps you bypass the stress of a tidying project by offering simple, proven methods for organizing every space in your life—even your mind!

Build a new mindset for minimalist living Declutter your home, office, and digital life Develop new routines for a tidier life Establish minimalist practices From adopting a decluttering mindset to finding new homes for unwanted items, this is the book you’ll need to keep handy after the big cleanup!

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Audiobook, Reference

302 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 1, 2019

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most important thing to keep in mind is to determine what you actually need vs what you think you might need in a week, a month, a year, etc. As soon as "might" comes into the conversation, the item needs to go.

[Maitha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Each point is repeated million times. The book has like 20 pages of useful information and the rest is just "as explained previously..." and then it explains it AGAIN!!
Waste of time. I wish I spent the time decluttering instead 🤣

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook: I really liked it. It gives you the motivation to declutter while you’re listening, listening to it. Also her narration kept me engaged, sure I had to skip over irrelevant parts, but it’s a for dummies book, it goes through everything!

My biggest takeaways:

have things for the life you have not the life you used to have or the life you wish you had.

Your home is not a museum and it’s not meant to house everything that created a memory for you.

If it serves no purpose, it has to go.

[James · Rating 1 out of 5]

Time cube, time cube, Time Cube! TIME CUBE!!!

If it wasn't for this book being basically just an advertisement for the author's products and website it wouldn't be so bad. However her saying time cube every 5 minutes gets old. Her reasoning is that using a phone's timer will distract you. While ignoring stop, analog, digital, and smart watches, or even an hourglass. Nope, none of those are adequate, you have to buy her overpriced TIME CUBE!

[Dawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little much for me. The digital declutter was not helpful. However… it’s a long listen and motivating as it is oh so sensible and not as self conscious as other house-cleaning books… but I swear.. I’m just hoping one of these books helps me clean my microwave better… this one doesn’t.

[Stacy · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met a very successful young man last year who had an enviable client list for whom he was doing amazing work. He hung out with people who had known Mother Theresa. People who had been nominated for Nobel Peace Prizes. I got home that day, stood in my garage and thought, "Some people are taking life by the horns and doing impressive things. I'd like to do that. But first, I REALLY just want to get a car in the garage." Will it ever happen? How long, Lord? How long?

Turns out that's Chapter 10.

After studying philosophy and theology for several years now, it's painful to admit that few books short of The Good Book have come close to impacting me at the heart level like Decluttering For Dummies.

Nonetheless - unpacking the emotional reasons behind clutter? Offering solid thinking on what to do with stuff you don't need, use or even want but refuse to get rid of? That's gold.

Looking back two generations in my family, it's apparently hereditary. Everyone has piles of stuff in their house that weigh them down. They talk about tackling it but never do. Is this what life is? Endlessly adding more to the piles until you find yourself too old to do anything about it even if you had the inclination?

I hope not.

I didn't even mind Jane Stoller hocking her own products. She openly admits you could do just as well to use your cellphone rather than buy her "Time Cube" - although she ironically falls short of admitting that said cube will actually be one more thing adding to the clutter in your home. But it was still a soft sell and may genuinely help some people who would all too easily be tempted to let doomscrolling on their cell interfere with decluttering.

Speaking of which - MENTAL CLUTTER. It's a thing. I knew it but I didn't know it. She put it into words simple enough for me to get. God bless her for that.

I could go on, but I need to take out the trash. I couldn't be more excited.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book did not meet my expectations of a ‘for dummies’ book. Her area of expertise is organizing. Well organized areas are low clutter.

If I am decluttering I don’t want to be told multiple times, the author has great tools for me to buy. If you wish to read this book, I recommend checking it out from the library.

Since you are still reading, I believe the book would have benefited from a second author for review and one who understands why people clutter. Definitions were given for specific types of cluttering behavior. Solid explanations of how to change such behavior were not obvious.

The author is a minimalist for a number of items. One exception is fashion. Her intention isn’t bad. One of her more solid areas is workspace organizing and management.

If I ever visit her house, I know how to find her personal and valuable possessions. This is based on her labeling advice.

[X · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basically all the advice boils down to "don't keep things you don't use." I found a lot of the advice to be a bit tone deaf and not aware that money is an issue for some people. For example: you don't need to keep a lot of cups for parties because you can rent if you do throw a party. Yeah, unless money is an issue. Also it kinda acted like the default was to try to get rid of as much stuff as possible, it was a little odd. Other decluttering books are more like "don't keep stuff you don't need and don't have room for and find ways to make the best use of the space you have." But this book was more like "purge everything unless you can absolutely guarantee you're going to use it within the week."

[Joanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Overall, the book was super basic and self promoting. I recommend anything by Dana K. White instead.

This book is not worthy of the For Dummies title.

The author has inconsistencies throughout the book. She says not to buy boxes or bins and then recommends purchasing boxes (they're canvas baskets with the words donate/keep) from her website. Those are over $50, by the way! She likes tell readers to buy her time cube too. 🙄

She also directs readers to her website over and over as if she is thee expert on decluttering. I'm truly baffled that she got this contact.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prepare to see/hear some of the same messages repeated multiple times throughout the book. I read the entire book, although much of it didn’t provide much useful information for me, especially the sections devoted to clothes and makeup. I was pleased with her emphasis on sustainability, yet found it interesting that she promotes her website for the purchase of decluttering products. Digital decluttering is discussed near the end of the book.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can see this for certain types of people but it doesn’t work well for me. It is well organized and I did like some of the digital solutions which other books tend not to have if they are more than 2 years old.

[V Andries · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good textbook for people who have NO CLUE how to get rid of stuff and want to organize their lives.

Good to keep as a reference book and for inspiration and basic instructions.

At times can be meandering but it’s still a good starter book.

[Annabell Champeaux · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were some good tips in here and it was an ok book, but I found it hard to finish. 😬 I actually had to make myself finish it. It was a bit repetitive and drawn out for my taste, but maybe someone else could find it more motivating.

[Glen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've never seen a Dummies book (and I have read many) so blatantly used as a vehicle to sell the author's products. That, and some questionable advice (mostly in the digital clutter realm) makes this a dud.

[Amanda Youngs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid advice, but use a text version if you can. Unfortunately, the author reads it herself and like so many writers before her, she falls into some repetitive vocal melodies that many professional readers would have known how to avoid.

Sound decluttering and sorting advice, nonetheless.

[Dogsandbooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like all books in this category, some good tips. Best: importance of decluttering as habit, esp for electronic resources. DPL ebook via Libby

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful! I listened to this one and there were so many great tips.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very helpful book filled with useful, actionable steps for reducing clutter. I like that it encompasses both physical and digital clutter!

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first two chapters were good but then the rest of the book itself was clutter! It was very repetitive.

[Gwen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some useful tips. I mostly read this for motivation. Other books are more helpful so this is more of a general overview if you need a refresher.

[Cindy Jusino · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh, no how to's. Very vague nothing that can actually help someone declutter.

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I am not as big a dummy as I thought. Nothing really new here, but some good reminders to get rid of what you don't need or use.

Common sense is not common, apparently.

[Alli Tripp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick and easy book full of tips to get lots of kinds of decluttering projects done, or all of them! How to start, pause, finish various issue areas. Very useful and step by step with bullet lists for ideas. A tool for the job