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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Decluttering book recommendations

37 replies

Soulsearcher1 · 16/02/2025 10:27

Hello, I need tk declutter my house and wondered if anyone could recommend a good book on how to declutter? I've already got Marie Kondo but it wasn't quite for me. I was thinking maybe the book by Dilly Carter from Sort your life out.

I'm a single mum with a demanding job and time poor as well as constantly tired. I live in a very small house - 2 up 2 down - with hardly any storage. The house looks a ness all the time, i find it exhausting to ckean as j have to move everything out the way and im just so fed up..

Thank you.

OP posts:
Theresacatinmykitchenwhatamigonnado · 16/02/2025 10:36

If you are exhausted and have no time and lots of clutter, buying a book is surely adding to the clutter, giving you yet another thing to have to do and, honestly, it sounds like procrastinating.
If you need a sort out, start small. One drawer, or one worktop in the kitchen. Set a timer for 10 minutes, bin rubbish or anything broken, put things in their rightful place. Done. Small steps. I'm the queen of procrastination and I just need to do it, or it never gets done.

HundredPercentUnsure · 16/02/2025 10:39

Start by not buying books to add to the clutter. In fact, start with your bookshelf. It's one of the easiest places to start, you can do a shelf and feel you've accomplished something, then do another shelf and another and so on. Don't have to do every shelf in one day, either.

Then pick another small contained space like a single drawer and go from there.

It's very cathartic once you get started!

FrannyScraps · 16/02/2025 10:41

What causes the biggest issue? Clothes, toys, kitchen? Start there!

Then move on to the next biggest problem. Slowly your daily to day life will become easier and you will have energy to sort drawers and cupboards with miscellaneous crap in them.

Soulsearcher1 · 16/02/2025 11:37

FrannyScraps · 16/02/2025 10:41

What causes the biggest issue? Clothes, toys, kitchen? Start there!

Then move on to the next biggest problem. Slowly your daily to day life will become easier and you will have energy to sort drawers and cupboards with miscellaneous crap in them.

Its everything really. There just isn't anywhere to put things so it'd just left out. I've always struggled to be organised and suffer with depression so I find something like decluttering incredibly hard which is why I think a book will help. I understand the points about a book only adding to the clutter but I think it'll help.

OP posts:
Bankholidayhelp · 16/02/2025 11:40

What about team Tom - the organised mum method? Takes you through a declutter boot camp.

CocoPlum · 16/02/2025 11:43

Decluttering At the Speed of Life by Dana K White. Have a look at her youtube/podcasts for her 5 step decluttering process and the container concept. Her method is progress and only progress with no mess.

TwoFatDucklings · 16/02/2025 11:43

Why not join us on the decluttering thread? I find it helpful to know there are other people trying alongside me and writing down what you've got done is motivating

GutsyGertrude · 16/02/2025 11:44

Theresacatinmykitchenwhatamigonnado · 16/02/2025 10:36

If you are exhausted and have no time and lots of clutter, buying a book is surely adding to the clutter, giving you yet another thing to have to do and, honestly, it sounds like procrastinating.
If you need a sort out, start small. One drawer, or one worktop in the kitchen. Set a timer for 10 minutes, bin rubbish or anything broken, put things in their rightful place. Done. Small steps. I'm the queen of procrastination and I just need to do it, or it never gets done.

I agree. I've got the Marie Kondo book, but it never got read and now ironically cluttering up my bookshelves

I quite like youtube for decluttering tips

theboffinsarecoming · 16/02/2025 18:44

I read that Marie Kondo book - SIL lent it to me and she swears by it - but I couldn't get on with it at all.

I try to adopt the 'neither use nor ornament' philosophy. If something doesn't have a specific use or purpose in life and doesn't look attractive to look at either, get rid of it.

username299 · 16/02/2025 18:51

I've just had a major declutter. The first time I did it I just emptied all drawers and cupboards (bar food) into the sitting room. I was knee deep in junk.

I got three bags: recycling, rubbish, donate. Anything I wanted I put to one side.

I then cleaned out the cupboards/drawers and put everything I wanted in. I also bought storage containers, boxes and baskets.

I organised a charity collection and a bulk waste collection.

Organisedwannabe · 16/02/2025 18:54

Just get started. Do 10 mins a day if you can or 10 mins as many days of the week as you can manage.

I agree with PP what is the most difficult for you right now, finding clothes, toys, putting the food shopping away? And start with that. If it’s clothes start small, knickers, then socks and bras. Then tops.

Tooty78 · 16/02/2025 19:41

Listen to Dana White on YouTube with ear pods or headphones, seems to make decluttering less of a chore!

Caspianberg · 16/02/2025 19:44

I would start small and do the three box method.
ie open kitchen drawer everything into keep, donate or bin box. Keep goes back into drawer, donate into bag for charity and bin straight away

VirginiaCreepers · 16/02/2025 20:11

Hi Op

I've read a ton of books on minimalism and decluttering recently- all of them borrowed from the library. I didn't particularly get on with the Dilly one but might suit some. I don't plan on becoming a real minimlist but the mindset has really helped with decluttering - Goodbye Things' by Fumio Sasaki was inspiring. The Minimalists documentary (free on You Tube) and Buy it Now on Netflix are also good to get into the right frame of mind.

The old thread 'Moving Forward With Minimalism' (in Housekeeping - 2003) was alao one of the moat useful things I've read so far - do search for it up.

Good luck - my house is so much nicer with less stuff.

UninterestingFirstPost · 16/02/2025 20:14

I find the website unfuck your habitat useful

Soulsearcher1 · 16/02/2025 20:45

Thank you all so much for your advice. It's given me food for thought and a lot of good tips. I think I need to start small like sorting my cutlery draw and just spend 10 minutes or so at a time. I need to then stop bringing more stuff into the house!

OP posts:
Boriswentcamping · 16/02/2025 23:17

CocoPlum · 16/02/2025 11:43

Decluttering At the Speed of Life by Dana K White. Have a look at her youtube/podcasts for her 5 step decluttering process and the container concept. Her method is progress and only progress with no mess.

Yes this is a great suggestion - why not get the audiobook and listen whilst you clean and tidy. I've made big progress this way

ChangingHistory · 16/02/2025 23:29

I get you. I need external forces to give me motivation.

I don't need instructions but I need to hear from someone who is enthusiastic and improving their like.

I like Decluttering at the speed of life, she has a blog and podcast Slob comes clean.

My preference is for TV though, love sort your life out but also extreme hoarder sort of thing to really give me a kick up the arse (although I do think those programs exploit people with MH conditions, the later ones make more of an effort to actually help)

I read the minimalism sub on reddit too. I find the Decluttering sub gameifys it too much and they encourage each other to repurpose stuff and buy 'storage solutions'.

UnimaginableWindBird · 16/02/2025 23:33

I booked a few days off work and bought the Kindle edition of Decluttering at the Speed of Life, and I found it incredibly helpful. I've tried Marie Kondo and TOMM (which I love for general housework) but Decluttering at the Speed of Life was far more helpful to me, and it's made a massive difference to my house.

Namechangedforthis25 · 16/02/2025 23:40

I do like the dilly Carter book - It has a lot of really good tips for organising stuff in the house.

Diningtableornot · 16/02/2025 23:45

@Soulsearcher1 if you have nowhere to put anything, the first step is removing things. Bin, recycle or donated. Start by going round the house looking for things in each category and take them away. Then you can start tidying.

mumda · 16/02/2025 23:54

Don't buy another book. Start decluttering.

stargazer02 · 17/02/2025 00:01

Another vote for Dana K Whites books/podcasts/YouTube videos. Look specifically for ones for her "no mess decluttering method" to start with. You never make a bigger mess with her technique - no "make a pile of xyz" and I think it's a great long term strategy to have under your belt. The books /audio books are less waffle-y (she herself admits she goes off on tangents in podcasts and videos) but all extremely valuable.

I'm listening to Dilly's book now and it's not great tbh. Actually my third time trying to listen but think I'm giving up.

Goinggold · 17/02/2025 00:14

Look up Kylie Perkins on tiktok, she's incredibly motivational.

Toddlerhelpplease123 · 17/02/2025 00:30

I’m furnishing a house fresh for first time since collecting items from uni days, hand me downs and charity searching. So everything was a hodge podge.

I would take it room by room.

I have just done the kitchen and what I have learnt in trying to make it as streamlined as possible is to only have items which work very hard and throw everything else.

For example I had myriad of baking trays, tins, ceramic dishes, serving dishes etc etc.

Now I have two large baking trays; which double as additional shelves for the oven as I found the exact size.

All the hodge podge ceramic dishes, serving dishes, and baking tins/ trays thrown out and replaced with a nest of falcon enamel trays.

I also have two attractive nesting ceramic dishes from Ikea (because sometimes you do want a ceramic) but they double as serving dishes and also can be used in oven.

Next I want to streamline is the glass mixing bowls, large crockery serving bowls, colanders, Pyrex and tupperware. So my plan is to throw all of those items and get just the falcon bowl nest (which includes a colander). So that covers mixing, serving and can be used in the oven or even on a hob. Yet all stores perfectly! This brings me so much joy 😂

And get a Pyrex jug with a lid (which means I can use it in the microwave so can throw the tupper).

And only if I can’t live without the Tupperware then I will purchase one efficiently nesting set.

So for me I am finding purchasing is actually part of the process. You can’t just remove stuff if you use it and don’t have an alternative. So buying with the intent of replacing multiple items with one high quality compactly storable multi use item or set is working well for me.

This is honestly streamlining the kitchen so much it’s a joy to open a cupboard.