269 of 290 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Read This Book First, November 3, 2009
I've read an embarrassing number of books on organizing and de-cluttering and this is the book I wish I'd read first.
When I read a book on this topic, I want a solution. I don't want to be entertained with silly jokes and I don't want a therapist to try to work through my issues with clutter. I'm not looking for an overly familiar, dear-friend type (in an author I've never met) to douse me with warm fuzzies while I get rid of my stuff. Most of the books I've read aren't bad, per se, but there's often quite a bit of fluff (clutter?) in the way of the message.
Erin Doland's book really is different. It's accessible and casual in tone, but to the point. She also acknowledges that different methods and systems work for different people. For each step along the way, she offers several approaches so you can choose the way that best fits your life and your style.
I was impressed by the way she manages to cover home clutter, work clutter and general life clutter. I came away from reading the book with a definite sense that I can actually do this -- and isn't that the point of this type of book anyway? Save yourself a lot of time and money and read this one first.
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132 of 141 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Needed an editor to de-clutter the text, April 20, 2010
There are some great, practical tips here, but I think the author may have gotten confused about who her audience is and what exactly we are hoping to get from the book.
She goes from assuming we are tech-savvy folk who know about or may be interested in using expensive project-management software like Backpack (which is most effective for people who work online with other people who are online), yet feels the need to explain how RSS feeds work. That's speaking to wildly different audiences.
She also spent time giving us tips for how to give an "uncluttered" office presentation, which is really not what anyone picked up the book hoping to get, I don't think.
Then, in the middle of some pretty good, if basic tips about decluttering the home, she stops to give a lecture about having an exterminator visit if you have rats and roaches. EEW! I think anyone who has rats and roaches will know that it is a priority to get rid of them, and won't be reading the book going, wow - it never occurred to me that getting rid of roaches should be important enough to call a professional in to help with!
Little things like that really annoyed me through the whole book. She'd be kicking along with some simple, encouraging advice, and then would talk down to us with stuff that sounded like she was imagining we were extremely dumb. That's not so annoying to have some dumb tips if the others are mostly high-level, non-intuitive things, but most of the book felt like warmed-over advice from other decluttering books, and not like the really interesting, lifehack-style things she recommends on her blog.
I have read two other books on decluttering to help me balance living with someone who likes to hold on to stuff, and to encourage me in a more minimalist lifestyle. My favorite of these was Peter Walsh's It's All Too Much, because he brings his own encouraging, cheerleading personality to the table and helped me feel excited to get going! I also enjoyed Maartje de Wolff's book Clear Your Way to a Clutter Free Life, again because she brought her own uniqueness to the table in exploring our feelings and thought processes carefully...
I think that's really the problem with the Unclutterer book. I expected Erin Doland's personality to shine through more deeply than on Unclutterer's website, and instead it felt like I got less of that special something that makes her tips and advice so unique.
Of course, maybe the layout of the book just didn't work well with my small Kindle 2. Take my advice with a grain of salt and read the other reviews, because I was surprised to dislike this book. I really expected more.
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33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Straight talk and simple solutions, November 29, 2009
I'm not the kind of person who could get my whole house (or my life) uncluttered in one week. But neither am I the kind of person who takes a book's title too literally. :) No matter what your problems with organization or clutter might be, you will find something in this book that speaks directly to you. The day-by-day approach is a simple, logical way to begin to get organized and works well to keep the reader from feeling overwhelmed by the task. You don't actually have to get the whole job done in one week (and the author makes that quite clear at the beginning). If you haven't seen the Unclutter web site, you should make it a point to check it out. This book is a great companion to the site and a great inspiration for anyone who wants to get started on uncluttering.
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