Organizing

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson

See my blog post review on this book here.

From Amazon: “A charming, practical, and unsentimental approach to putting a home in order while reflecting on the tiny joys that make up a long life.

In Sweden there is a kind of decluttering called döstädning, dö meaning “death” and städningmeaning “cleaning.” This surprising and invigorating process of clearing out unnecessary belongings can be undertaken at any age or life stage but should be done sooner than later, before others have to do it for you. In The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, artist Margareta Magnusson, with Scandinavian humor and wisdom, instructs readers to embrace minimalism. Her radical and joyous method for putting things in order helps families broach sensitive conversations, and makes the process uplifting rather than overwhelming.

Margareta suggests which possessions you can easily get rid of (unworn clothes, unwanted presents, more plates than you’d ever use) and which you might want to keep (photographs, love letters, a few of your children’s art projects). Digging into her late husband’s tool shed, and her own secret drawer of vices, Margareta introduces an element of fun to a potentially daunting task. Along the way readers get a glimpse into her life in Sweden, and also become more comfortable with the idea of letting go.”

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The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

See my blog post on this book here.

Both this book and Kondo’s follow-up book Spark Joy are landmark books in the organizing profession. Although Kondo’s style varies significantly from most professional organizers, there is no doubt that her books and her methods have gained a wide following. I agree with her principles and feel that she has brought much needed attention to the industry.

From Amazon: “This #1 New York Times best-selling guide to decluttering your home from Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes readers step-by-step through her revolutionary KonMari Method for simplifying, organizing, and storing.

Despite constant efforts to declutter your home, do papers still accumulate like snowdrifts and clothes pile up like a tangled mess of noodles?

Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes tidying to a whole new level, promising that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you’ll never have to do it again. Most methods advocate a room-by-room or little-by-little approach, which doom you to pick away at your piles of stuff forever. The KonMari Method, with its revolutionary category-by-category system, leads to lasting results. In fact, none of Kondo’s clients have lapsed (and she still has a three-month waiting list). 

With detailed guidance for determining which items in your house “spark joy” (and which don’t), this international bestseller featuring Tokyo’s newest lifestyle phenomenon will help you clear your clutter and enjoy the unique magic of a tidy home—and the calm, motivated mindset it can inspire.”

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Get It Together: Organize Your Records So Your Family Won't Have To by Melanie Cullen

My husband Eric and I have completed this workbook. It gives us so much peace to know that if something were to happen to us, all of our records are organized. This workbook covers everything! I highly recommend it for everyone so that if something happens to any of us, our spouse and family have everything they need. 

From Amazon: “Get your life organized with the best workbook available!

Paperwork and personal information isn't always easy to find, and organizing your records can seem like an intimidating task. But, whether you need to organize records for yourself, your family or your executor, Get It Together will show you how to keep track of:

• instructions for survivors

• secured places and passwords

• final arrangements

• estate planning documents

• employment records

• insurance policies

• tax records

• retirement accounts

• government benefits, and

• real estate records.”

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Don't Toss My Memories in the Trash by Vickie Dellaquila

This is an excellent book by a fellow NAPO member (National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals). She recounts experiences with many of her senior clients over the years. Some have made good decisions with their possessions and others haven’t. There is much to learn in their stories. 

From Amazon: “Vickie Dellaquila draws on her experience as a professional organizer and senior move manager to share her most valuable tips on downsizing and moving. Here is a book that will help you downsize, organize, and move in an organized, efficient, and caring manner. With her background in healthcare and social services, Vickie brings expertise and warmth to helping seniors face the physical and emotional aspects of moving to a new home. Whether you are a senior embarking on this new chapter of your life or are helping family members or friends downsize and move, this book is your roadmap.

The first part of this book will guide you through the decision to downsize. Relatable anecdotes from Vickie s clients help you confront difficult questions like, What happens if I fall? or How will it feel to leave my house? Vickie touches on all aspects of the downsizing conversation, including topics such as moving versus aging in place, different types of retirement living, and health and financial considerations.

If you decide to move forward, parts two and three of the book will guide you through the downsizing and moving process. Vickie shares strategies for paring down possessions to fit a new space and/or lifestyle, advice for navigating the emotional challenges and changed familial relationships, and tips for when to call in a professional. She tackles subjects: When should I start? How do you sell antiques? What should I donate versus throw away?

When it comes to moving, Vickie will walk you through every step of your move from interviewing movers to tackling the logistics of your moving day. She even covers steps you can take to keep clutter from accumulating in your life again. This second edition includes updated information on organizing with new technology and updated resources for professional help, charities, and more.”

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Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern

This is one of the landmark books in the organizing industry, a true classic. Here is a link to my review of this book. 

From Amazon: “A completely revised and expanded edition of the New York Times bestselling guide to putting things in order.

Getting organized is a skill that anyone can learn, and there's no better teacher than America's organizing queen, Julie Morgenstern, as hundreds of thousands of readers have learned. Drawing on her years of experience as a professional organizer, Morgenstern outlines a simple organizing plan that starts with understanding your individual goals, natural habits, and psychological needs, so that you can work with your priorities and personality rather than against them. The basic steps-Analyze, Strategize, Attack-can be applied to any space or situation. 

In this thoroughly revised edition, Morgenstern has incorporated new information in response to feedback from her clients and audiences. These changes include

- new chapters on living or working with someone who is disorganized

- new chapters on organizing photographs, handbags, briefcases, and travel bags

- an expanded program for organizing your kitchen

- a new guide to getting started

- a fully updated resource guide”

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How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind by Dana K. White

I love Dana K. White because she is down to earth, funny, and not afraid to expose her mess so that people can learn from her mistakes. Many of my clients can really relate to her (and so can I in some areas!) 

From Amazon: “Bring your home out of the mess it’s in and learn how to keep it under control.

‘The dirty little secret about most organizing advice is that it’s written by organized people,’ says blogger, speaker, and decluttering expert Dana K. White. ‘But that’s not how my brain works. I’m lost on page three.’ Dana blogs at A Slob Comes Clean, chronicling her successes and failures with her self-described ‘deslobification process.’ In the beginning she used the name ‘Nony’ (short for aNONYmous), because she was sharing her deep, dark, slob secret. Now she has truly come clean—with not only her real name but the strategies she has developed, tested, and proved in her own home. She has learned what it takes to bring a home out of Disaster Status, which habits make the biggest and most lasting impact, and how to keep clutter under control.

In How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind, Dana explains that cleaning your house is not a one-time project but a series of ongoing premade decisions. Her reality-based cleaning and organizing techniques debunk the biggest housekeeping fantasies and help readers learn what really works. With a huge helping of empathy and humor, Dana provides a step-by-step process with strategies for getting rid of enormous amounts of stuff in as little time (and with as little emotional drama) as possible.”

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Decluttering at the Speed of Life by Dana K. White

From Amazon: “You don't have to live overwhelmed by stuff--you can get rid of clutter for good!
While the world seems to be in love with the idea of tiny houses and minimalism, many of us simply can't purge it all and start from nothing. Yet a home with too much stuff is a home that is difficult to maintain, so where do we begin? Add in paralyzing emotional attachments and constant life challenges, and it can feel almost impossible to make real decluttering progress.

In Decluttering at the Speed of Life, decluttering expert and author Dana White identifies the mind-sets and emotional challenges that make it difficult to declutter. Then, in her signature humorous approach, she provides workable solutions to break through these struggles and get clutter out--for good!

But more than simply offering strategies, Dana dives deep into how to implement them, no matter the reader's clutter level or emotional resistance to decluttering. She helps identify procrasticlutter--the stuff that will get done eventually so it doesn't seem urgent--as well as how to make progress when there's no time to declutter.”

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The More of Less by Joshua Becker

I always recommend this book. So thought-provoking! It will help you think differently about your possessions. 

From Amazon:  “‘Maybe you don’t need to own all this stuff.’ After a casual conversation with his neighbor on Memorial Day 2008, Joshua Becker realized he needed a change. He was spending far too much time organizing possessions, cleaning up messes, and looking for more to buy.

So Joshua and his wife decided to remove the nonessential possessions from their home and life. Eventually, they sold, donated, or discarded over 60 percent of what they owned. In exchange, they found a life of more freedom, more contentment, more generosity, and more opportunity to pursue the things that mattered most. 

The More of Less delivers an empowering plan for living more by owning less. With practical suggestions and encouragement to personalize your own minimalist style, Joshua Becker shows you why minimizing possessions is the best way to maximize life. 

Are you ready for less cleaning, less anxiety, and less stress in your life? Simplicity isn’t as complicated as you think.”

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The Minimalists Rulebook by The Minimalists

I have found these “rules” to be very helpful guidelines for helping myself and my clients look more objectively at their possessions. They talk about the rules frequently in their podcast.

From their website. “The Minimalists created 16 rules to help you get organized—No Junk Rule, Seasonality Rule, Just-in-Case Rule, Gift-Giving Rule, and 12 others—and we collected them in a beautifully designed ebook.”

The book can be downloaded free from their website by subscribing to their email list (which I also recommend) at this link. You can always unsubscribe if you don’t want to receive the emails.

Productivity

Getting Things Done by David Allen

This book focused on productivity is a classic, and it has changed my daily habits tremendously. I highly recommend it. There is also an app, conferences, website, etc. Great quality information on organizing everything on your To Do list, getting all of the things that clutter your mind into a trusted system, etc. I LOVE this book! 

From Amazon: “Since it was first published almost fifteen years ago, David Allen’s Getting Things Done has become one of the most influential business books of its era, and the ultimate book on personal organization. ‘GTD’ is now shorthand for an entire way of approaching professional and personal tasks, and has spawned an entire culture of websites, organizational tools, seminars, and offshoots.

Allen has rewritten the book from start to finish, tweaking his classic text with important perspectives on the new workplace, and adding material that will make the book fresh and relevant for years to come. This new edition of Getting Things Done will be welcomed not only by its hundreds of thousands of existing fans but also by a whole new generation eager to adopt its proven principles.”

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Habit Change

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Undoubtedly one of the best books I’ve ever read about making successful habit changes. Infinitely practical and readable, Clear is a master at explaining why we do what we do and how to go about changing those habits if they aren’t in our best interests. From Amazon: “No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.”

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The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin

This book has proven to be tremendously helpful both for myself and for my clients. Finding out and using your tendency to your benefit can be a game changer! 

From Amazon: “OBLIGER? REBEL? QUESTIONER? UPHOLDER? Which one are you? Everyone falls into 1 of 4 personality types and knowing yours could make you happier and more successful. During her investigation to understand human nature, explored most recently in her bestselling Better Than Before, Gretchen Rubin realised that by asking the seemingly dry question 'How do I respond to expectations?' we gain life changing self-knowledge.

She discovered that based on their answer, people fit into Four Tendencies: Upholders, Questioners, Obligers, and Rebels. Our Tendency shapes every aspect of our behaviour, so using this framework allows us to make better decisions, meet deadlines, suffer less stress, and engage more effectively.

More than 800,000 people have taken her online quiz, and managers, doctors, teachers, spouses, and parents already use the framework to help people make significant, lasting change.

The Four Tendencies hold practical answers if you've ever thought...

- People can rely on me, but I can't rely on myself

- How can I help someone to follow good advice?

- People say I ask too many questions

- How do I work with someone who refuses to do what I ask - or who keeps telling me what to do?

With sharp insight, compelling research, and hilarious examples, The Four Tendencies will help you get happier, healthier, more productive, and more creative.”

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