Your favourite books about decluttering

[Marion]

I have a major problem with clutter : I live in a small studio appartment (31 m2 = 333 square feet ?), and on top of that, I do have a problem hanging on to stuff (clothes, books, you name it).

The two following books always inspire me when I am in need of encouragement and motivation for decluttering :
- Karen Kingston's "Clear your clutter with Feng Shui" (short and very effective, not because of the Feng Shui bits in it, but because it motivates me)
- and Cindy Glovinsky's "Making Peace with the Things in your Life" (great in depth explanation of the problem and good solutions).

What are your favourites ?

[catherine]

I like reading about people who are considered minimalists. Their lifestyle stories really inspire me to the point where I don't even need a "how-to" book--I'm so inspired, I just do it! However, I also have Karen Kingston's book, and I do like it a lot.

Those include Peter Lawrence, The Happy Minimalist; Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus, The Minimalists; Francine Jay, Miss Minimalist (who has been a member of this forum).

I also like to read about people who live on less for political or environmental reasons. An example is the book Twelve by Twelve by William Powers, or The Good Life by the Nearings, or the writings of Peace Pilgrim. Again, the books are about how to declutter, but they show by example how great life can be if you have less.

[herbgeek]

The one that turned me around was "Organizing from the Inside Out" by Julie Morgenstern (?). I'd read a lot of how-to's that seemed like they worked for someone else. This book got me to thinking about what would work for ME. And although there are times the place gets cluttered (like when on a work crunch), it basically has stayed organized for a very long time (with periodic cleanouts every few years).

[Gardenarian]

"Apartment Therapy: The Eight-Step Home Cure." I love this book.

For keeping things neat and organized, I like "Sidetracked Home Executives: From Pigpen to Paradise."

[Marion]

These are great recommendations, thanks for posting them, they have been added to my reading list

[Joyous_5]

I'm really interested in minimalism as of late and completely inspired by Joshua Becker--have purchased two of his e-books. Also, Francine Jay who Catherine mentioned and Be More with Less--great ebooks and I'm also trying out the 333 Project (33 items of clothes/accessories for 3 months) and really enjoy the blog and books of the founder, Courtney Carver.

Great thread!

[shadowmoss]

Walden by Henry David Thoreau. The first chapter gets me going again.

[danna]

Peter Walshes book connecting losing the stuff to losing weight was very good!

[Float On]

"Organizing from the Inside Out" is the one that really stuck with me. I loaned it out and never got it back. The other one that I kept and continue to re-read is "The Simple Living Guide" by Janet Lhurs (sp?)

[simplelife4me]

Never buy clutter (books about clutter) to get rid of clutter.