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 enlarge | Author: Mike Nelson
Publisher: New Page Books
Category: Book
List Price: $15.99
Buy New: $6.78
You Save: $9.21 (58%)
New (30) Used (11) from $3.86
Avg. Customer Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 135510
Media: Paperback
Edition: Revised
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.5
ISBN: 1601630085
Dewey Decimal Number: 648.5
EAN: 9781601630087
ASIN: 1601630085
Publication Date: March 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Not your typical de-clutter book... July 25, 2008
Stop Clutter
From Stealing Your Life
Mike Nelson
ISBN: 978-1-60163-008-7
New Page Books, 2008
Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for ReviewYourBook.com, 07/2008
Not your typical de-clutter book... 4 stars
I have read a lot of de-clutter and organize-your-home-and-life books. Stop Clutter is different. The focus of this book is on why we hoard and clutter our lives. Nike Nelson is the founder and executive director of Clutterless Recovery Groups. He delves into the why we clutter and why we hoard. The difference between a hoarder and a person that clutters is distinct. A hoarder "can't tell trash from things of value." A person that clutters has a "this might come in handy later" attitude.
Stop Clutter is a must read book if you are or know a person that clutters or hoards. It helped me to understand the behavior of others. The information within the pages of Stop Clutter is insightful. If you need a book to help you organize your home, look elsewhere. Nelson does not tell you how to organize your home, but does help you to understand why you behave the way you do.
 A ten star gem of a book...Must read! July 15, 2008
Because I have been a leader in a local simple living group since the 90's I have also amassed a nice selection of books on decluutering, zen living, feng shui and other simple living ideas.
This book however is the first to have an entire chapter (9) devoted to the subject of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Attention Deficient Disorder (ADD), Hoarding, Depression, and other mental and physical health issues. All from a medical standpoint, complete with factual information from the medical experts.
And very informative on how much this is costing society as a whole. Even more so and very timely when one looks at the economic concerns so many Americans are having in 2008, and the rise in depression rates as well as according to some experts a rise in the number of people who are stuck in a clutter mode, afraid to move forward or backwards.
Clutter- The Heart Of The Matter July 13, 2008
This book advises us to "Change Our Cluttering Behavior." It emphasises keeping stuff from coming in. We need to change our behavior, through the causes of the problem, not the symptoms. We tend to concentrate on the STUFF, better organizing techniques and finding the right organizing tools to make the messes go away. This is proven not to work. Mike helps us free ourselves from our having been "trapped in a prison of clutter of our own making." The book is different from most others relating to "Clutter." It's a worthwhile read for those of us trapped in the clutter cage.
Is clutter your way of hanging on to "baggage?" July 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book takes you from the gamut of mere cluttering all the way to hoarding (the author notes: the difference is you can fix cluttering; you can't fix yourself if you hoard.) But even cluttering can be a symptom of depression or other problems.
The author has strategies for limiting your own clutter, dealing with "OPC" (other people's clutter) and for dealing with messy teens (hint, let them paint their rooms purple if they want, but give them a system that works for them. They don't like drawers? Give them crates. They want new things? They learn they need to make room for the new thing by getting rid of the old.)
The book has practical methods (from a reformed clutterer) for dealing with the behavior which may be overwhelming you. As the author says, realize, YOU are not your stuff.
This guy GETS IT October 8, 2006
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
This book was a revelation for me - this guy is a 'recovering' clutterer, if you will, but this book is NOT about 12-stepping, though that is mentioned. It's the first thing I've ever read that reflected a true understanding of the reasons - and I stress the plural "s" there - WHY and HOW clutter can take over your life. He understands the emotional underpinnings of cluttering, and the difficulty of uncluttering even after you've decided it's something you really want to do.
He doesn't try to suggest that there is ONE reason for this, but there are a few that probably do cover most situations. I certainly recognized myself in many of the examples. I also discovered that as awful as I thought my situation was (until I moved recently, I couldn't let almost anyone in my apt, and had pretty much stopped using parts of it at all), it turns out plenty of people who are NOT afflicted with OCD or anything of that level, nevertheless have situations even worse than mine. Regardless of the specifics of each situation, the real thing about the examples was recognizing that other people who seem totally 'normal' in their public lives, can have this awful situation in their home environment, and not know how to fix it. As always, *understanding* is key to beginning the process of healing, and that's what this book offers.
Reading the examples reminded me again how incredibly POWERFUL it is to realize that you're not alone. It's one of the key elements in AA, in Weight Watchers, in women's groups, etc. Just *reading* the book made me feel more able to tackle my clutter and gave me real hope that I can prevent the same problems from happening to my new place, something I'm really afraid could happen all too easily.
I have to mention his chapter on 'okay, let's start decluttering' - I was instantly skeptical - 'here we go, this book is about to turn into all those others' - but I was happy to find it did not. His very straightforward description of what to do is both to the point, and also takes into account the dodges he KNOWS you will immediately think of as a reason not to get rid of things. He is not being Little Mary Sunshine - 'It's really *easy* once you know - just do this!' - but he also doesn't let the difficulties of it be an excuse not to try. He speaks with the empathy and understanding only someone who has had this problem can about how difficult it can be to get rid of things, and he suggests various ways you might get past blocks, recognizing always that different things work for different people.
If you are like me, you've bought lots of books on organizing over the years, and never really been able to implement the suggestions of any of them. I bought this book along with a more practical one that got the most consistently good reviews (Organizing Plain and Simple), and I actually think that after reading this book, I may finally be able to make use of the 'how to' one! I'm also seriously thinking about going to a weekly Clutterers meeting in my area, because it really is best to get support from others who truly understand. My friends are *wonderful* and have been totally supportive of me, but they don't actually understand the problem, not actually having it themselves.
Thanks beyond measure to Mike Nelson for this courageous and helpful book!
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