Customer Reviews

Unclutter Your Life in One Week

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I think the book was awesome! I think it had great information in it. While a week, is a little unrealistic, because who wants to get up early enough on a Monday to unclutter you WHOLE closet, not I said the fly. Especially if it is followed by a whole day of work and more uncluttering. Instead I split it into two weeks, did each task on the day it was assigned with the AM things the first week and the PM things the second week. It worked great, even though I think I could go even further in a few more months..

HOWEVER! Kindle purchasers beware, there are charts that are not Kindle friendly. They get cut off and aren't on the next page like I thought they might be. While you still get the idea, it is annoying since you only save yourself a dollar from the paperback version.

But you do save yourself more clutter(hahaha)

...but I didn't. I've followed the blog for a while (though lately I'm less enthusiastic about it) and I've read lots of few decluttering books. This book was neither an inspiring pep talk reminding me why I want to streamline my life, nor a great how-to manual. The how-to was cursory, and the time frame was ridiculous, probably a publishing gimmick. The why, the philosophy of decluttering, which is the part I enjoy, is better covered by Peter Walsh or Don Aslett. Apartment Therapy: The Eight-Step Home Cure was much better for how to actually achieve a decluttered space.

In comparison to other books on organization, I didn't find anything particularly new and the writing style is average at best. Also, for those who really need to unclutter their home, office, etc. It will take longer than a week unless you have a small place and can devote yourself full-time to the task.

I also am deducting a star for the higher price of the Kindle edition while being a very average book.

I found her maintenance routines questionable. She says that she does all of her laundry (granted, it's only 2 people) in 1 hour per week. I don't understand how that's even possible, and she doesn't really elaborate. How can one wash sheets, towels, unclothes, and any casual wear and complete everything in only one hour per week? I found her timeframes throughout to be pretty unrealistic (besides the obvious use of one week as a literary device). She supposedly needs only 20 minutes a week to handle anything that "needs attention" related to pets, cars, garage, AND yard. A flea bath alone would take more time.

The other issue I had was that she's speaking to a very narrow group of people, but she isn't upfront about that. She clearly has no clue what it's like to have children, and the comments she makes on life with children are laughable at best. "Just sit reading the paper unless you're needed" (in the mornings while your children are getting ready for school) or the suggested 20 minutes for bedtime, which includes simply "tucking your kids in." Granted, my children are small, and they'll presumably require less of my time as they age. She really should have given the book a sub-title that indicates she has no experience with or understanding of children and that the book is for adults living in a strict 9-5 world. I don't think this book even applied to my life before kids when both my husband and I work obscene hours without the predictability of arriving home at the same time daily, which is what Doland assumes throughout the book.

The reason I can give the book 3 stars is that she does have a few nuggets of information that I think I can use. I didn't know about Instapaper, for example, though I read often for my job, and this system could be beneficial to me. I also enjoyed thinking through her laundry tips and how we can conquer that beast in our house. Most of the book, though, is incredibly unrealistic.

At age 80+ it's about time we get around to the difficult process of downsizing, a.k.a uncluttering. A friend recommended this book as having saved their marriage. To my knowledge our marriage is not that much in trouble, but my wife suggested we read the book. It had the desired effect on our lifestyle, but as my wife reminds me daily--"We are just beginning, dear!" And it's already been over a week!!! Nevertheless, I say it it is a good read.

I have been on my own journey to unclutter my life for a while now, and have read more books that I am ready to admit on the topic. I have also been a fan of Erin's blog for while so I got her book on pre-order.
Later on I noticed that the preface was wrote by David Allen, that was a nice treat for me.

I love the first line of this book:
"I will need two copies of your book," my friend said.
"Two Copies?" I asked. "One for you and one for a gift?"
"No, both copies for me," she explained. "I'll lose at least one in all my crap"


This was me a long, long time ago, and I was so glad to read once again that people is open to talk about their messes.

The book is well structured, even that I think that will be hard for a person in my original state (before I read my first unclutter and organizing book in 2002) to acomplished on a regular week, but is full of great tips and information.

This book came at a perfect time for me in my life. I had started feeling like the "gods" were playing jokes on me that I couldn't find things anymore and I was forgetting where I put things all the time. Not to mention my husband is a clumpy-piler of "I'll get to that pile later..." So, in other words, stuff was all around me and I needed a change. This book gave me insight and direction to not only review what I had been holding on to, but how to simply let it go- in an unemotional, honest and genuine way. Since this book purchase, I have cleaned out several closet spaces, donated more than 7 giant bags of "stuff" to Good Will and started organizing house chores throughout the week so I wasn't militaristic on Sundays up to midnight doing laundry and scrubbing. There simply was no enjoyment in any of that. It is a pleasure to get up and know where to find things in my personal clothes closet and follow up with my home office space ready for working- everything is now within reach! To date, I have not finished every single room, or gotten rid of every piece of memorabilia and my husband might or might not fully get with the program and I love him just as much anyway- but I have to say over time some transition will definitely happen. Thanks to Erin for her practical assignments to do what ultimately needs to get done and within a balance of work-life symbiosis. Cheers, readers.