A how to book taking each room in turn. Useful, not groundbreaking and afraid I did not care for the many religious references.

I purchased a goal-setting planner at the beginning of the year, and one of the habits I decided to instill was to dedicate 15 minutes a day to eliminating clutter from my life, beginning with my home. Imagine my surprise when I began reading “The Clutter-Free Home,” and author Kathi Lipp was sharing her plan to declutter the home. Part of this plan was to spend fifteen minutes a day attacking one small area in one room.

Of course, Ms. Lipp’s procedure has more than just those fifteen minutes a day, though what she suggests is not any more difficult. With over 50% of households struggling with their own clutter issues, this book is a haven and a promise of better times ahead. The author maps it all out with simple, easy-to-follow steps. Rather than tell us to set up in similar to her own home, Ms. Lipp first asks each of us to determine what is the purpose of each room in our house, and how should it function. Once we understand how we want each room to function, it is easier to declutter.

The author cautions us that this is not an overnight fix. The reality is that we will have to develop some new habits and make what might be some difficult choices. When debating whether or not something is clutter, the initial questions are 1) Do you love it? 2) Do you use it? 3) Would you buy it again? You need a strong yes to at least one question to classify the item as not clutter. Ms. Lipp also tackles the fun part of making each room our own, offering tips on decorations that enhance your enjoyment as opposed to setting out new clutter.

The book proceeds in a logical fashion. The overall plan is explained, and then the author moves to each room, explaining in greater detail what each of us might be faced with (and I recognized my own home in many of her descriptions). The author writes in a matter-of-fact, entertaining style, and her reality-based humor constantly put a smile on my face.

There are many tips in the book, and I firmly believe that giving up a few minutes a day (and one hour once a week dedicated to one room) will, in the long run, actually save time! If your house is always perfect, good for you. You’ve already mastered the necessary habits. For the rest of us, we have Kathi Lipp’s book…we’ll be joining you soon. Five stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and harvest House publishers for a complimentary electronic copy of this book.

I received an electronic ARC of this book as part of the book launch team. I chose to be on this book launch because as a Teacher with multiple jobs, clutter is a huge part of my life. Starting a new year, I figured this would be a good book to read for some tips! As I said, I'm a teacher, and since I'm on Christmas Break, I read this whole book in a few hours in pretty much one sitting. What I loved most about this book is that Kathi breaks everything down into steps that are DOABLE!!! She also clearly states over and over that this will not happen in one sitting. So if you are looking for a book to tell you how to accomplish this in one day, this book is not for you. This is more of a book for people who are busy and only have a few minutes (15 minutes a day!) to accomplish the task over time. Kathi describes all the steps, then takes you through each room in the house and describes how to accomplish each of those steps in each room. The other thing I love is that Kathi doesn't just say "get rid of everything except your 5 favorite things".... because, let's be real, very few people have the ability to really do that. Instead, she gives you questions to ask about your items to determine if you should keep them, put them in a different room, donate them, give them to someone else, or just throw it away (hello almost empty shampoo bottles that you keep meaning to somehow get the last little bit out of! Just me?) I highly recommend this book if any of those things sound good to you!

If you only own one decluttering book, this is the one you need. In fact, you can declutter all the other ones that didn't work and just buy this one. Kathi Lipp incorporates management of the entire house into this book in her unique down-to-earth voice. She breaks down the house into manageable blocks to make consistent progress. I also love that she isn't about minimalism. It isn't about how much you can live without, it's about how much you choose to live with. It's okay to keep the things you use, love, and would buy again. She helps create a routine for the household that creates bite-sized chunks to make progress and remain in control of your household over the longterm.

I have struggled with Clutter all my life and I’ve read so many books and blogs. Subscribed to many newsletters and helps but none have been this helpful. I’ve got the beginnings of a plan and tools to use now. I’ve already started to see and feel a difference around my home. Thank you Kathi Lipp!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley on behalf of the Publisher and was under no obligation to post a favorable review.

This is a book I would recommend to all. It has cleared my mind and brought a whole new meaning to the term 'head space' for me. Now when I look around I don't see bundles, bags, and clutter old and new, I see clear spaces which bring calm and contentment. I have always been a hoarder, old books that I might reread, notes from college- in case I need them again!!!!, items from travel that look gaudy now, that suit nothing and that certainly won't ever be meaningfully displayed, but are kept for the sake of nostalgia. I have my memories of those experiences. that's enough. The rest is baggage. I no longer need to hoard and I am so much happier about it. My home is mine now, I have many spaces of calm, and I'm happy. 5 start Kathi, well done, and thank you!!!

Not really what I was expecting, but it wasn't a bad book. I was expecting more photos of a beautiful "clutter-free" home for inspiration, but it was more of a read-to-retain book. Which, don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad! I really liked the portions of the book where you can actually fill out the things that matter most to you in each room of your house.

Not impressed. Most of the organization and work on clutter stuff is the same thing in many other books. Could not finish it.

I had read other books by Kathi Lipp on clutter control and was pleasantly surprised that The Clutter Free Home has new ideas than her other materials. Kathi always writes to the point and lays out her techniques in a way that anyone can use them. This book is great to start for someone who is looking at a huge decluttering project, or like me, just looking for new tips to keep clutter from piling up. I received a complimentary copy of this book opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

As I tend to put everything away as I clean up every week, I wanted to learn more about decluttering and decided to try and read about this topic. I have tried to declutter for quite a while and this book offers us a wealth of ideas, sound & logical advice, tips and tricks that I am going to try out!
Thanks for this enjoyable book!
#TheClutterFreeHome #NetGalleyFrance

I have read a lot of decluttering books in my quest to try and read all of them. These books can all seem to blend into each other over time, but this book does have some things that make it stand out.

I really liked Kathi's tips on declaring what each room is for before starting your decluttering process. I liked her ideas on using your senses to plan the room out in your mind and getting started before getting started. Her lists of places to look at, which includes "the cabinet about the fridge that no one can reach" are well thought out, and I thought about my stuff differently.

What some people may not like is that Kathi brings in Christianity and faith throughout every chapter which I was caught off guard by, but didn't mind.

Overall this was a great book to read before moving into my first home and trying to figure out what I wanted for each room.

After knowing someone who was a horrific hoarder I have been reading on the subject to better understand the thinking of people that are ok with a home in chaos. I personally am extremely organized and keep a well organized home that is neat and tidy at all times. One always has more to learn so I wanted to read this book. It was very well done with an appeal to anyone that wishes to improve on their home and of clutter. . I enjoyed the authors humor and did learn from her suggestions some new tips.. I agree if we all take 15 minutes a day you would find great improvement. I highly recommend this book. Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity. My review is my own opinion.

A great introduction to living a clutter-free life. There is a growing number of books in this genre, and this one adds enough uniqueness to be valuable. The author's approach is both practical and emotional. There are humorous relatable stories, but also step-by-step suggestions for making progress to the never-ending consumption of stuff. The 3 major sections of the book are The WhyWe Buy, The Why We Keep, and the How to Get Rid of Stuff. I recommend the book. You should read it through once. Then read it slower the 2nd time through to truly absorb the information and make life-changing decisions.

When I saw this book on Netgalley, I knew I wanted to read it. Whilst our house is not cluttered (unless you look in the loft), it's always good to see ways of managing day to day and being able to pass on these tools to my daughter as at times her room looks like a bomb has hit it - she's nearly a teen, what do I expect really!

There are a number of case studies/students who followed the authors ideas, but they don't really go into detail of what they did, but each one is touched by God which can be a little off putting to the reader as it then comes across as a religious book rather than a Clutter free help book.

The book is split into different rooms, which includes the kitchen, living room, bedrooms, bathroom, home office and other spaces (garages, basements - that pesky loft!). There is also a chapter for getting the kids involved. Plus there are spaces to write Top Five Uses for a room or how you want the room to feel.

There wasn't anything in the book that I didn't already know, but they were great prompts for me and my daughter.

I received this book from Netgalley in return for a honest review.

I was concerned at the beginning, because the book starts with citations for bible quotes. I began reading and discovered that the author has a great writing style. Her anecdotes are interesting. She talks about her personal journey as well as what those of us who are messy can do to improve our homes.
The big drawback is, she does bring religion into the book, a lot. I'm not sure how Christianity has anything to do with de-cluttering and I wasn't really interested in that aspect, I skipped many pages because of the inclusion.
There are better books out there, without the bible quotes, but it's not badly written. #TheClutterFreeHome #NetGalley

Thank you NetGalley for letting me review this book for my honest opinion. I struggle with clutter as I'm not the most organized person. This is a detail oriented book that has lots of great ideas of ways to reduce clutter. The book goes room by room and leaves space to write down your own ideas. The ideas are simple and doable without all the guilt.

I'm a piles girl. I dont want to be, but I am. I find myself often drawn to books about how to eliminate those piles. My home is rather clean but there is always clutter. I have found recently that the clutter has a direct impact on my mood.

I decided to give this book a read in hopes to gain new insight on eliminating clutter. While I dont feel that there was anything profound and ground-breaking about releases the bonds of clutter, I did find that simply reading about it helped me want to eliminate it.

I read this in a few sittings. I enjoyed that I was amped up and ready to get organized when I would take reading breaks. There are some parallels between cleanliness and a Christian faith drawn in this book. I didnt necessarily find that helpful or hurtful for the read. I enjoyed that the author discussed her own life experiences with clutter rather than just be preachy.

Thank you netgalley for an advanced readers copy of this book. These thoughts are my own and have not been influenced by any outside sources.

The Clutter-free Home is an amazing book! The author Kathi Lipp writes in a very readable way. She made me feel like she understood. She offered amazing tips and tricks to help me de clutter my home. I recommend this book to anyone who needs help figuring out how to de clutter, organize, manage or maintain their home!

THE CLUTTER FREE HOME
BY KATHI LIPP

There are a large quantity of books on the market and are being published about organizational skills and de-cluttering our homes. From Martha Stewart to Maria Kondo it seems that many people have their own hat to throw into the ring about what makes up our lifetime of accumulated stuff to differentiate between our most sentimental pieces that we would never part with and what no longer serves us. One thing that we can all agree on is although we might like the rooms in our homes to be beautiful showcases they don't need to be. They only need to be functional and celebrate our own sense of style and bring us peace. Our homes should also be a safe haven that is of our personal tastes and a safe haven to love our families from.

What I loved about Kathi Lipp's book about organizations and living in a clutter free home is that she takes a much gentler approach. You don't need to live a minimalist life or give up your most treasured keepsakes to live in a home that is clutter free. Your home can still be beautiful and a dedication to all that you hold dear. Just break up your home into organizational zones where you evaluate each item by using your five senses: sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste. You can start by only taking fifteen minutes per day and dedicate the time as quality time by reflecting on your things and deciding how they make you feel. If an item has outlived its meaning of use in bringing you fond memories or is obsolete then you probably won't miss it once it's gone. Only after fifteen minutes of deciding, dedicating maybe an hour per day can increase your re-evaluation of your things. Your house should be comfortable and doesn't have to be perfect to start enjoying your re-dedication to your stuff into new zones of your home. Your belongings shouldn't control you it should be the other way around.

Thank you to Net Galley, Kathi Lipp( a self admitted former slave to clutter) and the Publisher for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

When I received my copy for review, I was surprised by how little pages it had, that many pages for a step-by-step guide? But, turns out, Kathi goes way beyond just giving you a checklist (which you probably have already come up with a hundred times before), to really get into your heart’s true desire as to why you want to clear clutter in your life. It gets you to also focus on the underlying reasons why no amount of resolution you have had in the past hasn’t worked; even if, like me, you know deep down you are an organized person – you have been before!
With her inviting and familiar writing style, the author manages to connect with you at a personal, to-the-heart level, helping you discover parts of your mind and heart you hadn’t examined before, all with understanding kindness and encouragement.
I found myself just like that, almost without knowing, sorting and tackling clutter right after finishing the book, with renovated hope and a can-do, will-do, I’m-showing-love-for-me, feeling.

“You can declutter. You can make decisions. You can love your stuff again.”