5 Days to a Clutter-Free House - review

Do you ever watch those house-cleaning or hoarding shows? I'm not all that into reality shows myself, but I do find myself fascinated with those occasionally. Maybe it's because it helps me realize I'm not the only one who struggles with keeping my house clean and clutter-free.

Goodness knows I've read just about every book on the topic! At least the ones at my library. (You see, books are part of my clutter, so it seems counter-productive to buy a book on de-cluttering.) However, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to review the latest book by Sandra Felton and Marsha Sims 5 Days to a Clutter Free House.

Five days? Really? I found that premise hard to believe, so I was interested to know what their approach was. The idea is to set up your own "clean sweep" team, so to speak. You find four or five friends who are willing to help with your decluttering project for five days. The book explains how to figure out who to ask.

There is a zone for each day, and everybody works on the same zone, but in different rooms, all day... and then move on to the next zone the next day. Each day your team is sorting all the surface clutter into labeled boxes, with one box labeled "Trash?" with a question mark. The only thing your helpers are allowed to throw away are things that are obvious trash like candy wrappers and the like. Anything else is put into a box to be decided on later.

So. At the end of five days, all the visible clutter is stashed away into carefully sorted and labeled boxes which are stacked along the wall (or wherever you decide would be the best place), to be gone through at your leisure.

The thing is, I don't need a team to help me do that. It's the going through the boxes that bog me down. It's so hard to make decisions about what to get rid of and what to keep. Carefully organized clutter is still clutter. And that's where I struggle. But, the book offers tips for that... as well as tips for staying decluttered once you've conquered the mess.

This is an issue I'm constantly working on. I appreciate the fresh ideas and inspiration in 5 Days to a Clutter Free House. Thank you to Baker Publishing Group for sending me a copy in exchange for my honest review.