Friday, May 07, 2010

Books: Throw Out 50 Things

Throw Out Fifty Things
by Gail Blanke
270 pages
Copyright 2009

I mentioned this book recently but I had not read it. Now I've read it so here's the book review.

This is a great book. The author goes room by room and suggests certain items that all of us have - shampoo bottles under the sink or in the bathroom, old medicine bottles, magazines, etc. She considers piles of items to be one item, so if you toss out 500 magazines it only counts as one thing. I imagine one could consider that two if it were really that many!

After  clearing the clutter from the home and the office space, she moves on to internal clutter. Her pop psychology is very good and offers up a quick way to clear cobwebs, if nothing else.

I read the book through without doing any of the exercises but I will now go back and do those. Even if I don't, I have been inspired to rid myself of a few items that have been taking up space and which really do not need to be here. I have a small house and it's not like I have the room to spare.

First on my clean-out list, I think, will be the sock drawers. They generally get an annual cleaning anyway and I just this morning went to the store and returned with 20 new pairs of white crew socks for each of us. Yes, we are rednecked to the core.

After that I have a few big items in mind, some of which I will list here and maybe on Craig's List in hopes of selling and/or giving to a worthy home. If nothing else I see a yard sale in my future. We shall see how it goes.

If you have clutter, either external or internal, do yourself a favor and take a peek at the website link for this book, if nothing else.

Key to the book is to write down what you're throwing out and she has a workbook online that can help you with that. So I am off to start my list!

7 comments:

  1. Good luck in your cleaning quest! All I have to do is watch an episode of "Hoarders" and I go to town ;)

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  2. I'll have to get this book and add it to my collection of organizing books. I love to read books on organizing and getting rid of clutter.

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  3. I love to de-clutter and I don't do it often enough. Under the bathroom sink-- thanks for that reminder of a much forgotten place!

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  4. Maybe we should all gather our excess clutter, meet as a group, and trade clutter.

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  5. I have a book of cool toys to make with odd socks. I haven't done it yet as I have many many other areas to tidy first, but when I get to the sock drawer that's where the odd socks will be going.

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  6. I'll have to see if I can find this book at the library. Lord knows, I don't need to buy another book to add to the teetering stacks I already have.

    Hey, Anita, maybe you could make a sock monkey like my Homer with your socks! I made him with a pair of white crew socks. :-)

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  7. Sounds like an interesting book. I've gotten rid of A LOT more than 50 things during the past year. In addition to some surplus furniture I sold, there were two huge car-filled-to-capacity trips to Goodwill. Now to get rid of the cumbersome, old living room furniture...

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