LIBRARY NOTES: DECLUTTERING AND ORGANIZING
PAUL BIRKHEAD – APRIL 14, 2013
Do you have too much clutter in your life? Do you find yourself quickening your pace and averting your eyes whenever you pass through that messy garage? And let’s not even discuss those piles up in the attic that are out of sight and out of mind. Rowan Public Library has many resources to help you shed some of your excess belongings and organize the ones you decide you can’t do without.
Help, I’m Knee-Deep in Clutter! is a book by home organization professional Joyce I. Anderson. Ms. Anderson gives tips on how to shed possessions by tackling some of the biggest clutter culprits in our homes and then moves on room by room. Next, the author provides helpful daily and weekly checklists in order to keep the chaos from coming back.
It was interesting to me that when I started researching resources on decluttering, that several of them focused on some sort of magic number. For instance, Throw Out Fifty Things by Gail Blanke shows the reader the physical and emotional reasons why people tend to hold onto things. In the book Live More Want Less, Mary Carlomagno shares fifty-two ways to find order in your life. That’s one idea a week for a whole year to help you become less attached to “stuff”. Not to be outdone, Living With Less by Mary Lambert gives advice on how to downsize to just one hundred personal possessions.
Once you’ve banished the clutter from your life, you’ll probably want some assistance on how to organize what’s left. In my opinion, these were some of the most inspiring books I looked through. The Clutter Clinic by Romaine Lowery is a small book but it had some really good ideas on home organization. It also had some nice before and after photos that prove things can change for the better. If you’re handy with tools, affordable and stylish home organization is literally at your fingertips with Storage and Shelving Solutions from the editors of the Family Handyman magazine and Home Storage Solutions from the editors of Wood magazine.
If you’re like me, the change of seasons is inspiring you to declutter your life and become better organized. As with most weight loss and diet plans, decluttering possessions works better with a slow start and a realization that long-term success actually involves making a lifestyle change. As you’ll discover, it’s not easy for most people to get rid of their possessions due to numerous psychological aspects. Just keep in mind that Rowan Public Library has several resources that can coach you through it.
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