Decluttering at the Speed of Life

I've been on my decluttering journey for a couple of years.  I've never been a collector at hoarder levels, but there are definitely areas of my life that need decluttering as I can tend to want to hang on to items “just in case”.  Books are by far the biggest offender for me and as I start to take a critical look at my print library, I decided to read Decluttering at the Speed of Life.  I've seen a few of Dana K. White's videos on YouTube and someone I follow on social media had recently read this book, so I picked it up on Kindle Unlimited.

Ms. White's process is pretty simple.  And she repeats it over and over during the course of the book so that it sinks in.  Get rid of the trash, donate the “duh”, put things in their place and if it doesn't have a place would you know you have it.  If not, get rid of it.  Then she talks about the container being your limit for your stuff... such as, you have a sock drawer, if it's comfortably full, then you need to get rid of a pair of socks to put in a new pair.  That sort of thing.

I'll be honest, I knew most of this going into the book.  However, I found Ms. White's writing quite humorous while tackling what can be a quite serious issue.  And while reading, I kept thinking about the areas in my place that still need decluttering, like my books, and how I can use these techniques to finally get the process done.  

Decluttering at the Speed of Life was a pretty quick and easy read.  There were a few chapters that I skipped, such as tackling a loved one's house, since it doesn't pertain to me in this season of my life.  And while the information was repetitive, it was helpful that various examples were given as she moved from room to room around the house.  I'd totally recommend this book if you're looking at decluttering, not organizing, your space.

No brainer advice but I needed to read it right now

This book introduced a few key mindset shifts that are actually changing my life.

If you heard about Marie Kondo and felt an avalanche of overwhelm at the prospect of ripping everything out of a drawer and then having to contemplate each individual item's joy-inflammation level, this might be for you.

KEY CONCEPTS:

1.) You can declutter WITHOUT pulling everything out of a drawer/closet/etc. Previously I thought decluttering was a choice between a death-march approach (Pull everything out, get it all organized, and put it all away in one go), or being interrupted/worn out mid-stream and winding up with a bigger mess than ever.

This book has practical (physics-based!) instructions on decluttering without ever pulling out the whole contents of a container. That way you always made forward progress, rather than making things worse. And you can make progress in five minutes if that's all you have.

2.) Things should be stored where you think to look for them. Shockingly simple, right? But how many times have you tried to organize by putting things in a “logical” or “proper” place instead? (Bonus: if it would never occur to you to look for an item in your house, don't keep it in your house at all!)

3.) Don't decide whether to keep things on the basis of “it's perfectly useful” or “I might use it someday.” Decide based on the capacity of your container and the relative value of the thing.

E.g., I want my whisks to live in the drawer by the stove (because that's where I look when I need a whisk). If I go to put a whisk in there and there's no room, I don't contemplate the inherent worth of each item in the drawer - I just need to decide if the whisk is worth more than, say, the two extra measuring cup sets I have in there that would make room for the whisk, and get rid of the lower-value item by donating it.

3.b.) Have a donate box/bag that is itself donatable, so you don't have to empty it and go through things an additional time when it's time to hit Goodwill.

That's really it! The rest of the book is some fine details, a bit of helpful empathy for people who don't come to this “clutter free” thing naturally, and some useful repetitions of the specific steps to take in each area of your home or in specific circumstances.

I loved this book, and it's already been so helpful! The audio version is delightful - you can even use it to step you through actually working on a room/closet/drawer/box.

I think this is my favorite decluttering book.

Pretty useful even for long-time reader of the author's blog ( which I recommend as well, and you'd want to read from the beginning - so inspiring and practical!)