Beyond Tidy: Declutter Your Mind and Discover the Magic of Organized Living

by Annmarie Brogan, Marie Limpert

The Top Ways to Declutter, Organize, and Get your Life Back in Place!   Are you overwhelmed by clutter and disorganization, or are you already organized but want to take it to the “next level?” Either way, you’re in the right place! Go beyond the tidying effects of Marie Kondo and other professional organizers. Discover not only the best ways to declutter and organize, but also how to create a positive growth mindset that will keep you motivated and solution-focused. Learn to plan for obstacles and stay resilient throughout the organizing process, all while moving through it with self-compassion and a newfound vision of what’s possible.   Included in this easy-to-read handbook are sections that discuss pertinent topics such   Setting Manageable GoalsSorting Through Your BelongingsCreating AssociationsManaging Your SpaceFinishing the Task!Defining Different Types of ClutterAnd more!   Using eight simple but powerful principles coupled with the science of positive psychology, the authors, founders of Organize Me! of NY, LLC, a New York-based organization consulting company, help you to declutter and organize effectively. With an empowering and non-judgmental approach, they demonstrate how organization (and disorganization) impacts our home, relationships, quality of life and overall wellbeing. With this guide, you will discover how each principle saves you time, money, space and energy, giving you more to spend on family and activities you love. There are many reasons why people become disorganized and have cluttered spaces. However, none of them have to stop you from getting your home, your office, or any other aspect of your life sorted out and headed back in the right direction. With these newfound skills, you’ll be empowered to go “beyond tidy” to create a home and life you love!  

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Audiobook, Adult, Ebooks

171 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 16, 2020

Reviews

[Sue B · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Judgement-Free Zone Alert*

I highly recommend this book! It is a wonderful organizational tool that will truly bring well-deserved peace into your heart and your home.

Annmarie and Marie have such a beautiful way of connecting to the reader. The intro had me in tears by the way they made me feel as if I have a trusted friend with me along the way of my organizational journey. They remain totally judgement-free throughout the book, and even pepper in some of their own experiences to remind the reader that they are human too!

By page 26 I had already sensed a "shift" in my thinking. "Taking the space you have and getting the most out of it" was a game-changer for me. Annmarie and Marie gently and lovingly delve into the psychology of some of the causes for disorganization tendencies, as well as loss over control of our environments. For me, at times, some uncomfortable or embarrassing feelings would come up as I was faced to look inward at myself. Yet in the way Annmarie and Marie lovingly guide the reader through these steps, I felt reassured that this process of decluttering my mind and space would be very beneficial. And let me tell you, it has been truly transformative!

I would recommend keeping a journal nearby as you read through this book, as Annmarie and Marie continuously pose really great, thought-provoking and insightful questions along the way. Some questions are posed hypothetically to apply to your specific space and it is helpful to "answer" these questions in your journal and generate ideas as you're reading through each chapter. Trust me - you will feel numerous moments of great gusto, excited to tackle a space, and capturing that enthusiasm as you're reading it has proved to be so effective for me! Annmarie and Marie are extremely enthusiastic and motivating - don't lose the gusto!

As I navigated through the book, I not only learned new things about how to best utilize certain spaces within my home, but I also learned new things about myself. This is not a check-list kind of book, it is more of a self-discovery journey with two well-equipped guides, compassionate for helping others. Let me repeat: Annmarie and Marie are TRULY truly passionate for helping you - yes, YOU!

By having a journal nearby, you're going to want to really capture their great wisdom and insight as much as possible. They outline types of clutter, reasons for clutter, locations of clutter, etc, and you're really going to want to assess your own home as you go through these chapters and content.

I also found that somehow, Annmarie and Marie knew just what I needed to hear and when. I'd pick up the book to continue reading, and hit on the very thing I was practicing or facing (now that you've decluttered, what to do with all the stuff, for example). They are very in-tune with the reader and the journey that a new organizer or even a seasoned organizer partakes.

Overall, there is truly something very different about Annmarie and Marie's approach that really spoke to me. For me, it's their compassion piece. That non-judgmental understanding that those of use who are unorganized (for now!) are not necessarily failures, we just have to work a little harder to create a clean and efficient space for us and our families. I really enjoyed their non-critical nature and their understanding of some of the psychological aspects of disorganization, etc. I always feel better when I hear them speak and read their book (btw - check them out on social media, they post some amazing videos and content! @organizemeNY )

Get this book - you will be so happy you did!

[Steven Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful Organizing Tips

This book provided helpful, practical strategies for organizing your home. I just finished the book and I am already incorporating these ideas to make our home more comfortable and better organized.

[Anna Abney Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Michelle Sun · Rating 5 out of 5]

*review based on Audible*

I loved this book! Not only was it simple and straightforward with decluttering tips, but it also shed light on how clutter impacts your mental health.

If you’re looking to take control of your life through becoming more minimal and decluttering your home, this is definitely the book to read. It was entertaining from start to finish and I was able to listen to all of it easily while doing chores or cooking because the content was that captivating. Honestly, it sort of felt like listening to a self-care or self-improvement podcast because this specific decluttering book ties in mental health with decluttering - a wise approach from this book that I ended up loving.

5/5 from me!

[Toby Philpott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Straightforward and full of common sense

This is a good book with practical principles for getting your home decluttered, your personal paperwork organised and for better self-management. It’s also a little bit less “dictatorial” than Marie Kondo (e.g. you should only keep 30 books kind of thinking).

Definitely worth a read if you are struggling with clutter or want insight into why people hoard.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am always looking for new ways to declutter and to keep my home running smoothly. The authors gave ideas that many others do, but did provide some simple steps towards assisting people to maintain their spaces. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

[Laurie P. Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!!!

This book will be one I refer my patients to from now on. I treat many adults with ADHD and organizational skills are always a struggle for them. Thank you for a really wonderful resource!

[Mervi · Rating 2 out of 5]

The authors, Annmarie Brogan and Marie Limpert, write: “This book is a fusion of our best organising principles with positive and behavioural psychology.” I found the book more like an advertisement, in fact, I’d say it was a whole sales pitch for their New York-based organisation consulting company “Organize Me! of NY, LLC”.

There is nothing original in this book. Brogan and Limpert proclaim to spend their energy in increasing one’s self-efficacy, which is typically the idea in self-help books, and yet the book has a lot of content to do with their organisation.

The authors give a new definition of being organised: “Knowing what you have, and where to find it, when you need it”.

They discuss the reasons behind disorganisation, giving professional organiser and author Andrew Mellen’s “Clutter is a series of deferred decisions” quote. The reasons why one organises are also given, as are the benefits and detriments of buying.

They go on to say that they have the sincere desire to improve your situation, and willingness to shift mindset and establish new habits, leading to organising success. One should use solution-focused thoughts and beliefs. Here, they explain that the fixed and growth mindset abilities are just foundations that can be developed, thanks to neuroplasticity, through which rewiring the brain to adapt to new information and situations, changes both the structure and the functionality of the brain.

These are some of the common time management, Law of Attraction, and organisation practices mentioned:
– Set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timebound) goals.
– Use the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) method for goal setting.
– Write down your goals. There is a 42% increased possibility of them being achievable.
– Break things down to smaller, achievable goals.
– Affirmations. Express goals in the positive and present.
– Be proactive, not reactive.
– Negativity bias. Pay attention to your thoughts, replace the negative with the positive.
– Finish the task. The Zeigarnik Effect. People remember unfinished or interrupted tasks better than completed ones.
– Where to start. In the area causing the most stress and that will have the most impact on your daily life.
– Prime real estate. The most accessible and convenient areas within a space or storage unit.
– Establish clear zones.
– Everything deserves a home. A place for everything and everything in its place.
– Group like with like.
– Manage your space and inventory.
– Empty your sink before going to bed. This is the Fly Lady’s “Shine your sink” principle. See https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

There are so many better books out there than this one. My go-to book for years was Karen Kingston’s “Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui”. Nowadays, there’s also so much readily available online, which will cover the same material in a much briefer and concise format.

The lack of an accompanying PDF file of the case study before-and-after photos with the audiobook is a huge minus.

Erin DeWard is the narrator of this audiobook. I had to increase the playback to 1.35× to get to the finish before my life ended, or I fell asleep, which ever came first!

[Amanda Youngs · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book rather "scrapes" three stars from me. I'm sure it would have been less underwhelming if it had been something I had simply read in text form, probably on Kindle. Unfortunately, I read it on Audible as an audiobook and within moments, I knew I was in trouble because I am picky about the readers I think do a good job and what makes a good read for me.

Sadly, for me, this was somewhat of a robotic, almost AI-style read. I really thought about this to work out why I was feeling so critical of someone who is presumably not an AI voice, and I realised that it is to do with the flow of the sentences. There are pauses - almost micro-pauses - in unusual or unlikely places, giving a slightly "staccato", jerky feel to things. It's what (if I put my teaching hat on) I would call poor phrasing. Anyway, this is something there's no point in me complaining about. It's just that I would say, unless you are visually-impaired or a blind reader, consider carefully how much a good read matters to you and maybe go with the text version if you can.

Having said that, even if you compensate for my pickiness about readers, there's nothing here in terms of content that couldn't be found in almost every other book on the subject. And these writers quote, directly or indirectly refer back to, so many productivity and business (behavioural economics, anyone?) gurus that it was no surprise to me that they both studied business to start with. Do you want that in a book about organising and decluttering? I don't, and so it annoyed me.

Yes, I'm fussy. I read books like this to keep me motivated while I'm decluttering, cleaning and organising - which is a big job since I never really did it at all before now and I've recently taken early retirement! You may be much kinder about it, depending on where you're at when this book comes into your orbit.

[Janice Imbrogno · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this book three times because it motivates me to organize even more each time I pick it up. I continue to learn more and more upon each reading. I love the supportive, conversational and yes, organized tone of the book.
What is different about this book is that it explains the why behind one's behaviors and organizing strategies. Every principal is clearly laid out and thoroughly explained. One lasting principal that has revolutionized the organization of my home is "Finish the Task". My children have even picked up on it and remind me that it only takes a short moment to finish the task to keep our home organized...sometimes it only takes 30 seconds.
As a result of reading this book, I now have a handle on my inventory because I learned to organize my space properly. I could go on and on about all the wonderful organizing tips and ideas in this book but I would like to sum it up that this is indeed a great read-so enjoyable, so encouraging, and so different than a typical organizing book. This book will help you achieve lasting results.

[Alice Livermore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am thrilled with the amount of practical and useful tips in this book! You can feel the experience that the authors have working with people to help them create a less stressful and decluttered life. The real world stories help to understand that you are not alone in getting overwhelmed with stuff!

My favorite part about this book is that it’s like a simplified intro to positive psychology. They explain practical approaches to organization and give the “why” behind why they work.

This book came to me at the perfect time - setting up my new apartment! I was able to move into my new place with a clear and effective plan on putting my stuff away (and how to keep stuff I use easily accessible). It also helped me part ways with the things I just didn’t need anymore.

A big thank you for writing this book. You have changed my relationship with things, and given me the tools and confidence to keep my place tidy.

[Ally · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve always been a fairly organized person, but albeit one who *always* had to “clean up” every evening after the rush of the day. Beyond Tidy gave me the huge “AHA!” Moment by pointing out that if you’re spending a significant amount of time tidying, something isn’t working in your organizational pattern! The thought of never having to clean up but rather embody a functional way of being for me and my family was enough of a selling point to make this book worth its weight in goal.
This book is a quick read but high impact. It provides a ton of clever tips and tricks that you can easily adapt to your lifestyle.
You can clearly see the passion the authors have for their craft and the higher impact it has on well-being. I HIGHLY recommend to anyone - even those who may have thought they were already tidy like me!

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is truly great!!! I can say this with emphasis because for me it has achieved its objective! Our garage, after years of discontent with its cluttered and unruly state, is now blissfully organized making not only us, but our cars very happy - they can finally come in from the cold. As the saying goes, “the proof is in the taste of the pudding!”
In addition, the book is a pleasure to read, is well written, well thought out, and goes beyond the ordinary “how to” nature of instructive texts. It touches, softly and carefully, on the psychology of how we creat barriers, as well as how to overcome them; something that goes far beyond tidy and is applicable to many aspects of our daily lives. As for me, I’ve just started.
Read, enjoy, and do!

[Vijay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before you start organizing, it is important to understand why you should organize. This book talks about some of the first principles of organizing, and establishes that organization saves time, money, energy and your sanity. The underlying principle (such as everything needs a home) is also well explained. Note that decluterring is just a small (although important) part of organization. If you are struggling to organize yourself and your environment, this book could be a pointer. Note that this is not an explainer that talks about detailed steps of organization. It just talks about such things in passing.

[Bethany Kellogg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not revolutionary, but a good read

I bought several organizational books at once in order to get a variety of ideas and approaches. This was a solid book, with a good framework for how to set up a system for your home. It did not give a lot of suggestions/motivation for getting rid of stuff, so if that's your main need you might look elsewhere. But if your looking for a low-guilt book that will help you think about how to set things up in a way that makes sense without asking you to give up most of your treasures, you should check it out.

[Bethel Swift · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beyond Tidy gives a very nice encouraging overview of the basics of organizing your home and, perhaps more importantly, gives several clear examples of the benefits of getting and staying organized. This book is geared towards clients, not pro organizers but I loved how the authors explained the why behind each action and included simpler phases of organizing for beginners as well as more advanced options. I also enjoyed their explanation of closed vs open storage and how what you think you prefer, might not actually be what your habits prefer. A recommended read (or listen at 1.5 speed).

[Ian M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Happy to have read this.

While I'm way way ahead of myself in terms of being organized, I guess I would have to say that this book and many others like it would've had a huge impact on seeing things through to completion.I've been very slowly and gradually working at it over the years, and I can admit it does lend peace of mind.

I will read again sometime and I recommend this book because it is very thoughtful, and well stated, or I guess to say, well written.

[Everydayreader1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read, filled with all sorts of organizing strategies for home, office and personal space. I would have rated it 5-stars were it not for the fact the authors used primarily visual strategies for labeling and color coding storage bins/organizers. As a person who is DeafBlind, color coding is not a useable tool. Of course there are work arounds. However, I think a discussion of other strategies would have made the discussion much more inclusive and valuable.

[Stacey Hatfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well with any book you read you need to deliver your space. Clutter causes stress and anciety. This book mainly goes over the types of storage you need to have.

It is a play book. It goes over the reasons why you need to clear your space. You will have more time and energy for yourself.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this to be a lot of the same old same old,not very original at all. I think that Marie Kondo book is much more helpful and inspiring. The book seems to offer, and its title implies, something that goes beyond organization and I thought it was also going to deal with mental clarity. Not so. It was just the same general organizational practices that you can find in any organizing book.

[Jayne Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was extremely helpful in helping me understand the most effective principles in decluttering and organizing. I was able to immediately put the strategies into a plan that helped me make progress in my home in many areas that I had procrastinated on for a long time. I highly recommend reading this book and using the practical suggestions offered.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it but it was very reminiscent of the far superior KonMarie method. They even quote from the Life Changing Magic of Tidying up and admit they didn't come up with the concepts. Still I find it valuable to be reminded of the power of decluttering your physical space for decluttering your mind.

[Cathryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not horrible, but not too much new here. The cutesy blog posts interspersed and !! exclamation points ! were just too much for me. Once one has read the groundbreaking Peter Walsh and Marie Kondo, there's really not much else left to inspire.

[Kim Woodbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

I try to read an organizing book at least once a year to help me stay motivated and give me new ideas and this book was perfect for that. There wasn't anything revolutionary, just a lot of good reminders and useful perspectives. I appreciated the realistic and encouraging tone of the authors.

[Judy Elizabeth]

Beyond Tidy offers practical and positive advice

I liked the positivity and practicality of Beyond Tidy. Thank you, Annemarie and Maria for offering the organizationally-challenged hope in a judgement-free way!

[Mary Diebel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to it. I'll be honest, I missed some because I fell asleep. But there wasn't much different from other books on decluttering. One thing I liked was that they said numerous times to organize things in a way that is good for you.

[Johnny Tammaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

You’d think you would get your things in order after reading this book....much more.....you can get your life in order. A great read. Thanks for the help!

[Romany · Rating 3 out of 5]

The added value part of this one is a bit of positive psychology.

[S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very similar to all the other organizing books out there, but a good reminder.

[Paula Soper · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yeah, if you’ve read Carol Dweck or any good pop psychology book, you’ve read this. Very disappointing because the organizing part is missing.