Did you grow up hearing "Put that back where it belongs." Or have the idea that everything you owned should have a place it belonged when not in use? I did, but totally failed to follow through. My room was always a disaster. Even after it was clean!
I don't know about you, but often times I look at my apartment and think "What am I supposed to do with this stuff?" I can't call it junk, but most of it isn't essential or even used on a regular bases. My problem is that I can't put it away because it just doesn't have a place to belong. My dining room table gets to act as table, office, landing pad, and sometimes even kitchen counter. I have too much stuff. And I honestly don't know how to
not have it.
I picked up this book as part of a bundled online ebook sale and it came at just the right time. With our never ending hopes of moving (more on that later!!) and the cumulation of toys for two boys (and their clothes) I needed help!
Clutterfree with Kids is written by Joshua Becker who is known for his minimalist approach to life and happiness. He has written several books on the topic and speaks on it often. How do you make a living by not collecting stuff -- this is how I guess!
I liked his style. He opened the book with the theory and reasons behind his choice for not giving in to materialism and filling his home with possessions. This helped get me excited for actually getting rid of stuff. One main point I want to share is that when you buy something, it costs more than just the price you paid. It requires maintenance, organization, your time and energy to keep it in nice condition - that goes for so many things - clothes came to mind first! So much laundry and my closet looks terrible so I organize it at least 3 times a year. If I had less, I'd spend less time organizing and could spend more time doing something fun. This goes for so much more too.
The second half of the book (which is not even 200 pages) is practical steps you can take to declutter your spaces and how to get your kids involved and how to teach them to have healthy boundaries with stuff. I liked the section on photographs because at this same time, our backup hard drive crashed and the normal hard drive stopped working properly. Thankfully nothing was lost, but it gave me reason to pause and look at how I'm storing my photos (I don't delete any of them... and that makes photo editing take forever and finding one particular photo nearly impossible!).
If you want to understand this mentality of living with less, give this book a go. You don't even need to have kids for it to make an impact. And if you need motivation to do some
spring summer cleaning, I bet this would do it!
**I'm not getting paid to write this review, but I think many people could benefit like I did (or hope to!)
Did you grow up hearing "Put that back where it belongs." Or have the idea that everything you owned should have a place it belonged when not in use? I did, but totally failed to follow through. My room was always a disaster. Even after it was clean!
I don't know about you, but often times I look at my apartment and think "What am I supposed to do with this stuff?" I can't call it junk, but most of it isn't essential or even used on a regular bases. My problem is that I can't put it away because it just doesn't have a place to belong. My dining room table gets to act as table, office, landing pad, and sometimes even kitchen counter. I have too much stuff. And I honestly don't know how to
not have it.
I picked up this book as part of a bundled online ebook sale and it came at just the right time. With our never ending hopes of moving (more on that later!!) and the cumulation of toys for two boys (and their clothes) I needed help!
Clutterfree with Kids is written by Joshua Becker who is known for his minimalist approach to life and happiness. He has written several books on the topic and speaks on it often. How do you make a living by not collecting stuff -- this is how I guess!
I liked his style. He opened the book with the theory and reasons behind his choice for not giving in to materialism and filling his home with possessions. This helped get me excited for actually getting rid of stuff. One main point I want to share is that when you buy something, it costs more than just the price you paid. It requires maintenance, organization, your time and energy to keep it in nice condition - that goes for so many things - clothes came to mind first! So much laundry and my closet looks terrible so I organize it at least 3 times a year. If I had less, I'd spend less time organizing and could spend more time doing something fun. This goes for so much more too.
The second half of the book (which is not even 200 pages) is practical steps you can take to declutter your spaces and how to get your kids involved and how to teach them to have healthy boundaries with stuff. I liked the section on photographs because at this same time, our backup hard drive crashed and the normal hard drive stopped working properly. Thankfully nothing was lost, but it gave me reason to pause and look at how I'm storing my photos (I don't delete any of them... and that makes photo editing take forever and finding one particular photo nearly impossible!).
If you want to understand this mentality of living with less, give this book a go. You don't even need to have kids for it to make an impact. And if you need motivation to do some
spring summer cleaning, I bet this would do it!
**I'm not getting paid to write this review, but I think many people could benefit like I did (or hope to!)
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