Book Review: The Clutter Fix by Shannon Acheson

About This Book-

Create the Organized Home and Life You’ve Always Longed For

Living in a disorganized, cluttered home can leave you feeling chaotic, anxious, and even depressed. You want a change, but you don’t know where to begin.

Home coach Shannon Acheson is here to help. She has written the only book you’ll ever need to get your entire home sorted and organized for good–in a way that makes sense for you and your family’s unique, God-given personalities.

In The Clutter Fix, Shannon helps you

• win the battle with all of your stuff by following her step-by-step instructions and checklists
• discover your Clutter Personality and your Organizing Personality
• create rhythms and routines to keep your home decluttered

Clutter isn’t just about the stuff. It’s about how you feel in your home–and in your mind. This book will give you the peaceful dwelling you’ve always hoped for.

My Review-

I am someone who is always looking to keep my space clean and minimal, and when I saw this book, I was really interested in picking it up! I really benefit from a step-by-step manual of what exactly to do, and this book was perfect in telling me what to clean, how to clean, and where to focus on.

This book was very clearly intended for people with children and homes, and especially a lot of accumulated clutter from multiple years of having a home, like moms, which is not super relevant for me right now. For that reason, I will be passing it on to someone else, but I’ll be keeping it in mind in the future.

With that being said, I think this book is a super valuable tool in those who want to start living more simply and meaningfully: the way it is set up is really accessible, and I really love the checklists and worksheets that are included. There is a section of the book that discusses the reason behind accumulating clutter and long term ways to stay minimal (i.e., mindset, habits, and routines), which I love. The author speaks with so much grace to those who want to start decluttering their homes and the mindset shift that it requires.

By far the best part of this book is how easy and accessible it makes decluttering seem: there are lots of lists of things to declutter, easy ways to get started, and worksheets that lay out a plan without being too overwhelming. I also really like the way it makes decluttering sustainable by laying out a plan that allows for maintenance and habits to learn.

Overall, I really like this book! It is a super handy tool and I think it will be very valuable for homemakers. Unfortunately, this book isn’t super relevant for me during my current stage of life, so I didn’t get out as much from it as I would have liked, but I still think this book is really good and I recommend it!

My Rating-

5/5

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the author. All views expressed are only my honest opinion; I was not required to write a positive review.

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5 ways to establish routine more easily | minimalism and simple living.

Since I’ve moved home from college, I have been struggling to find structure to my daily life. No longer bound by the boundaries that school set, I was spending every day doing tasks as I felt like, only getting my day started at 11 am or 12 pm. Finally, I decided that I needed to sit down and set up routines for myself, and I did! It’s only been a few days, but having a dedicated morning and evening routine has been game changing.

Today, I’ll be sharing 5 ways to make establishing a routine easier. You can make all the best intentions in the world, but setting your routines up for success will not only make them more attainable, but also less mentally taxing to upkeep, which makes it easier for the routines and habits to stick.

Earlier this year, I read Atomic Habits by James Clear, which is a book that many have recommended as a guide to implement habits that are attainable and sustainable. It gave me a lot of tools and techniques, and I learned a lot from it! The tips I’ll be sharing are from my own experience in building habits, but have techniques adapted from Atomic Habits as well.

1. Have an environment that makes it easier for you to cue yourself. This may mean preparing to do your morning routine the night before, laying out your workout equipment clothes before going to work, or thinking of meal ideas so that when you get groceries, you already know what you’re going to cook. Make your routine as easy to start as possible, to increase the likelihood of you starting it. As Atomic Habits says, Habits are easier to build when they fit into the flow of your life.
2. Create a way to track your habits. By seeing the buildup of the habits, it makes it seem more of an accomplishment when you do complete the routine. Checking off a task on a to-do list gives my brain the dopamine it craves, so being able to see a list of checkmarks pile up makes it less likely that I fail a routine. I have completed routines many times because I wanted to check it off, not because I wanted to do the habit itself. My app of choice is Routinery, but I also use a habit tracker in my bullet journal: both serve me well!
3. Relate your routines and habits to your long term goals. When you start eating healthy, are you “trying to eat healthier,” or are you “someone who eats healthy”? If you can identify yourself with your long term goals and the habits you need to reach that goal, it will make you more likely to do that goal!
   For example, one of my goals is to wake up earlier. Instead of saying “I’m going to be trying to wake up earlier,” I think of it as “I’m a morning person, and I’m someone that follows a morning routine.” When I’m building this habit, I’m becoming the kind of person that does follow a morning routine, and if I tell myself that that’s the kind of person I am, then I’ll be more likely to continue doing it.
   
4. Make your routines not require willpower. Oftentimes, when we think about building habits we think about how difficult it is, and how much work it will be, replying on our willpower to actually complete it. If you make the routine not dependent on spur of the moment decisions, you’ll be so much more likely to get started!
   For instance, you want to start going to the gym after work instead of chilling on the TV. What if you packed your gym supplies in the car with you? That ways, all you have to do to go to the gym is get in the car, rather than having to look for your gym clothes, get your food and water ready, get ready to leave, and go. Getting in the car is much less effort than doing all of the preparation, and it makes it less likely for you to default to just switching on the TV. You can even take it one step further and take the batteries out of the remote, so that turning on the TV is actually more difficult than getting in the car!
   Each habit has its own “willpower” state. If you can set up your routine such that it is just as easy to begin as the more appealing “default” option, you can rely on your willpower so much less, and you’ll succeed at it more!
   
5. Never miss twice. The biggest killer of a routine is missing it one day, and then simply never starting it again. I am guilty of an all-or-nothing mindset: “I missed X yesterday, so why wouldn’t I skip today either?” However, when a routine is missed twice in a row, MISSING the routine becomes the habit, rather than the routine itself! I try to never miss doing a routine two days in a row: even if I fail, the next day is there to pick it back up!

The routines that I have established have been absolutely life changing, and I am so glad I am back in a routine! I hope these tips helped inspire you to follow routines, and stick to them.

Do you keep routines? Do you prefer morning or night routines? What is one thing you want to do better in setting up routines, and what is one thing you do well? Leave a comment and let me know: I would love to chat!

10 Places To Declutter That You’ve Never Thought Of Before || Minimalism and Simple Living

Over the past few months, I’ve slowly been transitioning into living a more minimal life. I’ve found that living more simplistically is so much less stressful, and is just so much better for my mental health. Over the past month, I decluttered 500 physical items from my room, which has been so great for my mental clarity! I filmed a video of the process, and it’s at the end of this blog post if you’re interested in watching it.

Anyone who’s spent any time browsing Pinterest or YouTube knows the common places that are suggested decluttering spots: closet, kitchen cabinets, the bathroom, the catch-all drawer, and so on. For today’s post, I thought we would talk about 10 Places to Declutter That You’ve Never Thought Of Before!

I have 5 digital locations and 5 physical places that I’ve either recently decluttered, or am in the process of decluttering that are hopefully helpful to you!

Digital Locations

1. The files on your computer. As a student, I’m constantly downloading files onto my computer: homework assignments, syllabi, data files, and the list goes on. Even if you aren’t a student, digital files add up SO quickly!
2. Smartphone apps. Are there apps that you haven’t used for months now? What about some that you downloaded to try out, but never ended up using? Delete them, and not only will you free up space on your phone, you’ll free up space in your mind!
3. Your photo gallery. This one is slightly more frequently mentioned than the rest, but I’m a big proponent of being minimal with your camera roll. Keeping too many photos CLUTTERS the memories of whatever the photo was about, and only keep ones that remind you of memories! (ALSO: students, delete those photos of powerpoints! You’re never going to look at them again.)
4. Your instagram saved folders. This is one that I just did recently, and it has been so nice! I tend to scroll down instagram, saving things left and right, and if you’re the same way, I encourage you to go through and unsave whatever you don’t need anymore, and file the rest into folders so that you can find the posts easier in the future!
5. Your spotify playlists. I’ve had a spotify account for 6 years at this point, and it is FILLED with music that 15-year-old-me liked, but I don’t listen to anymore. Go through and delete songs from your library, and if you’re feeling extra, give your playlist covers a facelift! (P.S. if you’re looking for my newly revamped spotify, it’s right here!)

Physical Locations

1. Under the bed. The spot under the bed is often a hidden catch-all spot. I had all sorts of random things under my bed, and I finally went and decluttered under there this past month. It’s a trickier spot to clear out, but it’s so worth it.
2. Your notebook collection. This one might be a tad specific to me personally, but I’d been noticing a bunch of my notebooks accumulating for the past few months. I went through all my notebooks, getting rid of whatever ones that didn’t hold significance for me, tearing out pages to reuse others, and filing the ones that I did actually want to keep. I got rid of almost 20 half-filled notebooks, and highly recommend it!
3. Your souvenir collection. When I’m on trips, I tend to get into this mindset of “save everything as a souvenir,” from napkins to flyers to postcards. Sort through your souvenirs and see which ones actually have memories associated with them, and which ones are actually clutter, and get rid of the ones you don’t need! I’m all for keeping souvenirs, but, like photos, make sure you’re only keeping the ones that are memorable for you.
4. Old arts and crafts. The thing about being an artist is that you make a lot of things that you can’t keep! Getting rid of them not only frees up space, but also reminds you of how far you’ve come!
5. Your tea/coffee/warm drink collection. I have no idea why, but tea is just so easy to hoard! Somehow, I always attain tea faster than I can drink it (and I drink quite a bit of tea!). I also have a bunch of hot cocoa mixes, latte pouches, and just drink paraphernalia, and it’s honestly a little overwhelming sometimes. Go through your drink collection and see if there’s anything you don’t want to drink, and get rid of it! It also helps prevent decision paralysis in the future, which is a bonus!

So that’s 10 places to declutter that you’ve probably never thought of before! Both digital and physical locations are so important to keep clear, in order to keep your mind clear.

If you would like to see the process of me getting rid of 500 items from my room in 31 days, here’s the video:

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That’s all from me for today! What spot are you going to declutter next? Are you a minimalist, or do you prefer keeping all your things? Leave a comment and let me know!