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 If an item has outlived its meaning of use in bringing you fond memories or is obsolete then you probably won't miss it once it's gone.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.”

I did enjoy this book. However, once I understood the principles, I found some of the content a little repetitive. I am sure others will love it for exactly that reason. It's clear and easy to understand. If you take action you will definitely reduce the clutter in your home. Essentially we need to ask ourselves, "Do we love it? Do we use it? Would we buy it again? Not difficult questions to answer.

The objective is clear, we declutter so we can experience more peace at home, and I love that! I aspire to being content with fewer things and having a closer relationship with God. So thought resonated as well.

Definitely worth a read.

My thanks to Netgalley, Harvest House Publishers and the author for my Advance Reader Copy in exchange for my honest review.

Now I have read this book, I can't wait to get started and get rid of all my clutter. This book is easy to follow with great tips and advice. If you are like me and have drawers full of rubbish, piles of paperwork and general clutter then this book is for you.

When I saw this book on netgalley, i was excited. I have a clutter problem. I've read quite a few books and articles and nothing seems to help. I liked the examples given and I liked being reminded that these items are all memories. There wasn't anything in there I didn't already know, but they were great reminders.

This is the first book I read about the subject of getting organized that gave me the feeling, that I can get it done.
You can start small with 10 to 15 Minutes a day to declutter a part of your house or apartment and 1 hour for a whole room.
And the author always states that I can take time to get rid of all the stuff that is making life harder.
And yeah, she is so right. It is not an easy journey, cause it is also about letting things and feelings go, you have to get out of your comfort zone.
But it is so worth it.

I am really thankful that I got the opportunity to read this brilliant book

This book was exactly what I needed at this point in my life. A great little book for people who know they need to declutter and live a clutter free life. I've been using the steps and so far so good. I'm still on the fence with some things that I just cannot bare to part with but I will in time.

I have read so many books and blogs about clutter and how to tame it. I've watched the TV shows. I've listened to podcasts. And yet, over and over, I come away feeling overwhelmed and defeated. This is the first book that I read about clutter where I felt the author actually understood me. It is just NOT going to work for me to gather all of one type of item from all over the house and sort it. No way. Kathi Lipp totally understands that. Instead of offering advice that will overwhelm and defeat a messy-cluttered person, she gives helpful, realistic, practical, and effective tips. What a breath of fresh air! My house is already looking better because of this book. And even better than that, I now have a daily/weekly strategy for continual improvement. I am so very thankful for this book!

Nice thought process of decluttering and spaces looked at. Some worksheets (the same) for each space looked at. How to involve kids at end which is nice to see in this type of book.

I've read a lot of decorating, decluttering, and cleaning books. This book is nice because it isn't as hardcore as Marie Kondo's method, but it provides a lot of useful tips and information for how to really make your house a home. You can declutter all you want, but unless you have made your home a place you want to be, you won't be happy there. You'll be on the search for new things to add and the clutter cycle will continue. This book shows you how to make your home inviting and a place you love so that you aren't always buying new things to add to the décor, etc.

Thank you very much to Netgalley and Harvest House books for letting me read a copy of this book . I am sorry but this book is not for me. It is too preachy and nothing new said . I will not be posting this review, as I feel that other people would really enjoy this book

I enjoyed reading this book by Kathi Lipp, even though I already knew some things from other decluttering/organising books I've read.
The Clutter-Free Home is rather oriented towards people who are at the beginning of their declutter journey and is a quick and comprehensible read. No complicated or overwhelming theories, no criticism, no pression to do everything right away, on the contrary. Clutter accumulates over years and cannot be gone in a few days. That's a good thing for those who feel overwhelmed and don't know where/how to start.

The author goes room by room and tells you to write down the top 5 uses of the room, 5 words to describe how it should feel and to associate the five senses (sight, smell, taste, touch and sound). I thought these were a bit of a stretch sometimes (coffee smell in the living room and in the office, coffee taste in the kitchen, I was almost expecting to smell or taste coffee in the bathroom and the bedroom too) but it's an interesting approach and I did stop and think about the senses for each of my rooms while I was reading (I didn't find all 5 senses everywhere though). Writing down the uses of the room (whether they have to be five or not) is a great starting point to make decisions about what to keep, what to move to another room or what to get rid of.
A very important point she makes is "think about how you really live, not how you think you should live or anyone else lives". It struck me most while she was covering the bedroom and one of her 5 uses of the room is watching TV. I don't have electronics in my bedroom to avoid distraction/screen light right before sleeping but I can still adapt her method to my needs.
The author won't make you buy expensive storage or new decor but rather make you see your belongings in a new light and try new things with what you have.
The references to God were a bit unnecessary to my taste but at least they were short. I just skipped those passages but it might bother some readers.

I recommend The Clutter-Free Home to anyone who wants to declutter their home, this book gives you a gentle push in the right direction without being overwhelming.

Thank you to the publisher who provided me with an e-copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this book was well written and I enjoyed how the author gave practical tips but also looked inward as to the root of the issue. I would recommend this to many of my friends and family.

The Clutter-Free Home is a great book for decluttering and organizing. It helps you go room-by-room and decide what the purpose of the room will be and then you will be able to declutter with that in mind. I like that you do small amounts of daily decluttering, focusing on a different room each day of the week. Then there is a once a week deep decluttering of one room. I love decluttering books and have read many and I found this book very helpful with many fresh ideas. After reading this book I began listening to the Clutter-Free Academy podcast as well. I would recommend this to anyone interested in decluttering, particularly beginners as it offers simple and non-overwhelming steps to begin.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

I liked this book, even though it's not very different from a hundred other decluttering books out there. I can't say it's my favorite. I think my three favorites are (don't hate on me) The Magic of Tidying Up, the old classic Sidetracked Home Executives that inspired FlyLady (keep in mind that it was originally published in 1977 and is a bit dated and needs work but come on, it inspired FlyLady), and How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind (and to a lesser extent her sequel of Decluttering at the Speed of Life). That said, this is a book that will give you good tools to declutter.

The author goes room by room and tells you to basically think of the five purposes you want for that room (like is your kitchen for eating, hanging out with loved ones, working at the table, etc.) and the five senses you want in that room, plus figure out what zones you have and make them functional for their purposes. She says to declutter to 60% done and then start changing rooms to actually fit your dreams for them instead of just using every little thing you have and letting that dictate the room, which is good advice. I'm not sure the 5 senses thing worked well for me. I don't know that I have a taste I want in the bathroom or bedroom, or a touch for the kitchen. It often felt like a stretch. It would be easier for me to just wonder for each room if there's a certain scent that I want to use in that room. Also, I'm not a fan of adding scents via scented candles, air fresheners, scented products, etc. (it's really pretty awful for our health) so I don't want to basically perfume my rooms to set a mood. The basic premise for what to do in each room is helpful though. Fill in the blank charts asking you these questions take up the end of each chapter, which is sort of padding for the book but can be helpful if you have a physical copy and like that sort of thing.

One of my biggest issues with decluttering books is that you can usually sum up the "aha!" points that will change your life in one or two paragraphs in a review, and the book itself is the person talking a whole lot or explaining it in as many words as possible ("Here's how to apply the exact same thing in the living room... Here's a chapter explaining the exact same thing in the dining room..."). The aha! point that got me in Kondo's book was to ask if it sparks joy (plus a couple of others). In HTMYHWLYM it's to think of the container concept -- that you have so much room for each thing and that's how much stuff you can have, so get rid of the stuff that you love least and make it fit that container (whether it's books on your bookcase, underwear in your underwear drawer or stuff in your house in general). In SHE, it's the filing card system, among a few other things. So the best stuff that I got from this book I've just said above. I've noticed that a lot of decluttering authors write multiple books and then they just say the same things again, try to put it in a different order or with a different system, tell different stories, and add in anybody else's tips they can think of. Ironically, you end up with your time cluttered up by a book with one or two good ideas buried in hours of words.

I see from my read shelves that I've read 6 different books just with the word clutter in them, and I know I've read double that many that deal with the subject. I've kind of read it all. This is a good book and I liked it, though it didn't inspire me or help with my own clutter as much as some others I've read that I mentioned above.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

The Clutter Free Home by Kathi Lipp was a superb book and one which I am sure I will go back to for more inspiration time and again.

The book is well written and full of Kathi's own stories of how she overcame her clutter. Its not difficult to follow what to do to get a tidy home. I really liked they way she tackled the clutter and what to do with each room.

I would reccxomend this book as a starting point on having a lovely tidy home

Thanks to Netgalley and Harvest House Publishers for the ARC. My review is my own opinion.

I will review on Amazon once published.

This book was exactly what I needed at this stage of my life. My parents moved to a nursing home at very short notice, and I was left with cleaning out their house , bringing the treasured possessions with me, and selling and getting rid of other belongings. I was also acutely aware that I also needed to declutter my own home.

In this book, Kathi Lipp provides lots of great tips. For example, stepping back first and working out what purposes you have for each room. Sometimes this might be obvious (e.g. a kitchen is for cooking), but there may be other things you want to capture (e.g. a sense of peace and connection). Then use the five senses to work out how you want that room to look, smell etc. Then only put the things in that room that achieve those purposes. I also liked the idea of breaking rooms into zones when they're used for different purposes.

Some of the take home lessons for me were that we are not the sum of our possessions, our memories are more to do with relationships than things, and that you may have to make some tough decisions to have the kind of home you really want (and I'm not talking expensive furniture but more how you want to feel in your home).

Each chapter ends with helpful worksheets. I also appreciated the humour and the down-to-earth nature of the author. She's not into perfectionism and minimalism. Have the things around you that make you feel good, but just remember that every item needs to earn the right to be in that room.

A great little book for people who know they need to declutter, but are afraid or don't know where to begin.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley, publisher and author for letting me read a free ARC in exchange for my review. I like to consider myself an organized person. I don't like clutter and I like to have a place to store everything in my life. This book helps with that. This is a book that I will want to go back to for reference time and time again. There is a lot of useful information and I like the way it is presented.

Clutter always is a kind of problem to me. I have that bit of executive disfunction where I see all the clutters, but cannot seem to wrap my head around decluttering. If I come across a book that tells it will help me, I pick it up. It's a thing.

So, I saw this book on Negalley, and as you can imagine, I had to read it. Again, as you can imagine, I have read quite a lot of declutter-books. That means that many of the tips and tricks given in this book are not new to me. Is that bad? Absolutely not! I think I need this sometimes, just to put me on the right track again. It helps me realizing 'Oh yes, off course, I can do that!' and my house gets a bit decluttered again.

A thing I absolutely love about this book, are the examples throughout it, certainly since my house seems to be a perpetual cluttered thing, even when I decluttered. Because of the examples, this book reads like it is written by someone who understands what it is to live in a cluttered space. I have read many books of it's kind with 'just tips and tricks', and although we all know the writers are just human, this using real examples makes her feel more real, instead of someone perfect. I'm not sure if I convey my meaning right, but well ... It certainly is a good thing. We all like realness and being understood, right?

Great book. Full of fantastic ideas to put into practice. The book was full of great knowledge. Well written.