Customer Reviews

Degunking Your Home

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Now *here's* a practical book that I really needed... I have teenagers... :) Joli Ballew's Degunking Your Home.

Contents: Why Is My Home All Gunked Up?; Learn the Degunking 12-Step Program; Throwing Stuff Away You Don't Really Need; Getting Rid of Clutter Using the Four-Box Method; Degunking Problem Area: Closets; Degunking Problem Areas: The Kitchen; Organizing Living Areas; Organizing the Home Office, Utility Rooms, and Bathrooms; Create Long-Term Storage and Maintain Storage Spaces; Taming Daily Tasks through Organization; Cleaning Efficiently and Successfully; Express Cleaning; Prepare Yourself for Cleaning Emergencies; Maintain a Degunked Home; Checklists; Must-Have Stain Removers; What to Do with Items You No Longer Want or Need; Index

As I said, having two teenagers pretty much guarantees that this book will be applicable from page one. Not to say I'm completely innocent of all clutter. But you know you're in trouble when you muck out the kids' living areas and you end up with twice the dishes you thought you owned. Joli uses the 12-step Degunking method to show how you can eliminate all the clutter and filth you currently have, and better yet, how to keep it that way once you get there. As with all "programs", there has to be a commitment to start and maintain your effort, but still... this is not hard to grasp and follow. I think I'd probably buy it for the kitchen tips alone. Notice a trend here? :) If you've never read a book in the Degunking series, it's a real treat. The writing is *very* practical and humorous, and it's impossible to walk away without picking up *something* that makes your life/work area/environment more efficient and less cluttered. Even if you don't have time (or the inclination) to follow the whole program, there are subsets (10 minute, 30 minute, one hour, half-day, weekend) that can at least get you further down the road than you were before.

If you've just become oblivious to all the junk around you and you need help in starting to deal with it all, this is a solid first step...

Do you need to Degunk your home? If you do, then this book is for you. Author Joli Ballew, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that is structured around the order of the degunking process that you should follow.

Ballew, begins by getting you in the degunking mindset. Then, the author shows you how to take out the trash. Next, she shows you how to use and apply the four-box method for controlling clutter. The author also focuses on closets in which you store clothes. She continues by showing you how to degunk, declutter, and organize your kitchen. Then, the author shows you how to finalize the degunking of your living areas, including dinning rooms, family rooms, bedrooms, and kids' rooms. Next, she tackles the garage first, if you have one. The author also shows you how to tame daily chores. Finally, she shows you what measures you need to put in place to facilitate effective cleaning sessions.

This most excellent book uses a unique approach that can save you countless hours of valuable time, and a bundle of money. More importantly, this book ends with some hard-nosed ideas for dealing with the first offenders, from gathering up their stuff and holding it hostage, to refusing to do laundry, or to simply throw out the misplaced items.

This book not only shows you how to degunk your home, but it covers cleaning out and organizing everything from the garage to your wallet or purse. If you don't think you have time, It shows you organizing tasks that can be done in 10 minutes, 30 minutes and 1 hour. The best part of the book is that it shows you how to keep it that way once you have it organized. There is also a task chart to get all of the family involved by age and tasks they should be able to perform. To help you get rid of no longer needed items the Appendix lists charities and what they specialize in.

I'm a big fan of the degunking series. So it's nice to see them take that format into the larger world of time and space management. It's an increasingly crowded field. But I find this book is a lot more practical and down to earth than books like "Getting Things Done". Though it benefits on being more focused on the home. Which is all at once more narrow, in that it's space management, and broader, in that hazard areas like the kitchen are involved.

Pack rats and neat freaks will enjoy this book. Though I think the pack rats will benefit more from it.

Has household junk threatened to take over your life - or bury it? Then you need degunking your home: a fun yet specific guide to how to reduce clutter and keep it at bay. A 'quick degunking sheet' offers a template plan of attack, room-specific tools offer methods for de-cluttering common space hogs, and tips include saving money and having fun in the process. A 'must' for any who find clutter taking over