Marla Stone

Don’t waste your time. This book actually reads more like an infomercial for itself by often repeating cliche phrases like, “With The Clutter Remedy Strategy you can recognize your personal truth.” It contains endless amounts of redundancies, often stating the same thing several times in a row, just with different word order. It’s also NOT for the average person. It caters more to wealthy audiences that need a healthy dose of self-help mixed in.

Over a third of the book is all about the various psychological reasons why someone builds up clutter to the point of hoarding, and how to mentally prepare for the decluttering process. The next part of the book talks about how to physically prepare, and this is when it becomes clear it’s meant for a more wealthy audience with advice like, “buy as many containers as you can afford” BEFORE decluttering, invest in custom shelving, consult with a stylist, etc.. The author also repeats that the goal isn’t to get rid of stuff, but to have it all visible, which seems counter to the whole concept of decluttering. Then contradicts herself by saying if there isn’t enough room to have everything visible, just put it back in a closet somewhere - again, counter to the decluttering concept.

The method for decluttering actually sounds like a hot mess. Pull everything out of its original container, and re-containerize in plastic bags that you put in general category bins. I would literally lose everything, and it is exceedingly wasteful to constantly use plastic bags and bins for everything. And I am truly baffled as to why a person needs to store their plastic container lids in plastic bags when there are easier, more accessible ways to store them.

The author also throws in personal advice on the types of health and beauty products one should own, which has NO place in a book on decluttering. And the advice to keep medication out of sight because it “tells your subconscious to get sick” is so I’ll-conceived I almost stopped reading right there.

Advice for invigorating your space and arranging rooms doesn’t have anything to do with decorating or lighting, instead it’s about superstition - loose doorknobs symbolize loose friendships, fame depends on keeping houseplants alive, keep the toilet lid down or your wealth will go down the drain, if your work deals with “ugly” information hide it so you only see positive things, get rid of art of Elvis because he died and that’s sad, don’t have any art of single things because they’re alone and that’s sad, having your couch face away from the door is bad for your health. This whole section was garbage.

The entire last section of the book circles back around to psychological blocks when decluttering. It’s basically a repeat of the first third of the book with the exception of a far flung dream symbology section, and a section on hoarding without actually using the term “hoarding” (which denies a legitimate mental health issue), and the painfully increasing pushes to hire a “Clutter Remedy expert” who knows the “Clutter Remedy strategy” as if the constant marketing-style reminders for using the “Clutter Remedy” method wasn’t enough.

Save yourself the grief and eye-rolls, and don’t bother with this book.

… (altro)