While I appreciate the fact that some organisation professional use an all or nothing approach and create beautiful results, I've never been the type to be able to live in a minimalist space.

With Declutter Like A Mother, Casazza provides helpful tips that provide a more flexible approach to streamlining the house. While minimalism is still the central theme of this book, it provides you with options to suit all lifestyles. Don't like the idea of a capsule wardrobe? Then don't do it, just make sure you're getting rid of the things that no longer work.

Overall it was a different approach to shedding the deadweight in your life. Providing a general overview rather than hard and fast rules, this one is guaranteed to be a hit with minimalists and clutter queens alike

I appreciate Nelson Books and NetGalley for the advance digital copy.

Allie Casazza is likeable and this book does offer many helpful suggestions. It's nothing ground breaking, but I do appreciate methods that don't follow an all or nothing theme. 
The minimalism adjacent approach appeals to me and feels more attainable.
It felt like a lot of time was spent referencing her blog and website, but the reminder that she had other resources available didn't bother me too much.
It did feel as if the book was geared primarily toward mothers and families, but it DOES say mother in the title, so this shouldn't have surprised me. 

Overall this book did exactly what I read it for...motivated me to find ways to declutter my home. And as an added bonus it helped me try to keep a sense of humor while doing it.

Thank you Netgalley and Nelson Books for providing a copy of Declutter Like a Mother by Allie Casazza for an honest review.

Declutter Like a Mother was a very informational book that explored many different avenues of tackling the typical disorganization and clutter of today's family. The book talked about the reasons for clutter and how to not only address the physical cleaning but also how to keep your life and home clutter free. I enjoyed the practical steps outlined in this book and how detailed each section was. Allie Casazza is a likeable writer with a friendly and supportive voice. Although decluttering is often overwhelming Declutter Like a Mother had a nice breakdown of common problem areas that made it feel manageable.

I love Allie's writing and all that she offers the community. Thank you for the ARC.
This book is great and offers so much for those who need some handholding to improve the quality of their life through intentionally clearing their homes of clutter and organising things to suit them better.
Personally this book is too longwinded for me. For a project like this, I would prefer more bullet points and checklists.

This book was all the same strategies that the author gives for free on her blog and social media. It may be better for someone who hasn't been following her for awhile. I was hoping there would be some new strategies presented. Overall it was fine.

honestly i wanted to like this book, but it did not work for me. i wish it would have because i was so excited to read this one and to get to read it way early?! thank you so much netgalley!!!!!

Very useful but would have liked more images, like examples of how to set up things or just more personal images.

A great read and makes you really think about how you want to run your home and how you can make it work for you. A great how to book and I felt like I gained a lot from this read

Always interested in this topic!  Not much new info (toss, keep, donate) but helpful room by room guide was motivating!

Great book for anyone but can be an essential tool for todays busy moms!! I have flagged this book so that I may reference back to it as I implement Ally’s strategies in my own chaotic household! Highly recommend!

Engaging and entertaining, Declutter Like a Mother was a fun take on doing just that. Geared more for busy mom’s, this book offers practical tips and guidance on tackling clutter for good. Fun, useful read.

This book was ok. It didn’t have any information that I didn’t know already, but it is always nice to hear reminders of the importance of decluttering your home.

Simple, easy to follow guide for declutting. Goes by different areas of the house to help things become more manageable. I am already a minimalist but this helped give me the motivation to purge even more.

I was a bit skeptical before reading this book - I thought "another blogger with unrealistic advices, telling me how to be a perfect mom". But I still decided to give Allie's book a change. And I am so happy that I did: I was pleasantly surprised how relatable and down to earth Allie was. While her book didn't reinvent the wheel (mostly it is common sense), it was a pleasant read that provided some useful tips and encouraged me to take a different approach to my motherhood, family and home.  

What I did not enjoy was what felt like constant advertisement of her paid courses, but I just tried to ignore those parts of the book.

Thank you NetGalley and Nelson for an ARC for the option to leave a review voluntarily. I really like this book, it provided useful tips and the emotional connection of a mom trying to juggle so much resonated with me. I found the suggestions easy to follow and helpful for my home.

Declutter Like a Mother is the most recent book by stay-at-home mom, turned blogger, turned entrepreneur, Allie Casazza. She found many benefits in decluttering/minimizing. This book explores the steps she's given her consulting clients to go through their belongings.

Before I get too deep into the review, I got this  book off NetGalley. So I didn't pay for this book (thanks). But most importantly, I'm not the intended demographic for this book: I'm not a mother. Casazza does mention early on that this book can be read by anyone. But I got called Mama enough times, that I'm not convinced that this is true.

My largest gripe about this book and something that makes it feel less evergreen, despite it being a new release (Sept 2021) is the number of references to her programs and website. Very early in the book you discover that this book is basically a promotion tool for her online program for decluttering your home (priced at $397 USD at the time of writing). The chapter on tackling children's bedrooms seems sparse, and Casazza happens to offers a program on her website specifically for decluttering children rooms ($349 USD).

You can definitely read the book and follow the steps and likely get ~a declutter~. But the majority of the steps are so light on details. Which is a mixed bag. I dislike books that are too repetitive when it comes to the declutter process. But this swung the other direction. 

For example, the Chapter about clothing. Which is big enough of a topic that there are many books just tackling that, was really really vague. She mentioned keeping what fits and you enjoy having. Then goes on a multi-paragraph discussion of how her favorite underwear are the high-rise Spanx, and why it's her favorite. I didn't find that helpful to my own closet pair down process. 

But the closet isn't the first area she recommends you declutter. Which is very refreshing for this style of book. That fresh feeling was short lived though. Because the title of the chapter starting the declutter method dang near killed me: 

Chapter 5 - Begin Here - Where the Poop Happens 

Some people may find that chapter title funny. Maybe people will appreciate random Fergie reference from a song that came out in 2003, that was used in another chapter title. But I just find the writing style very dated. I would have completed believed you if you had told me this book came out in, like, 2014-2017 during the high of the Chevron, mint green, maxi dress era of life. 

Despite me thinking the writing style was dated, it was straightforward, and easy to follow. I wish the book was more detailed, and didn't reference her website as much. After the chapters about the declutter, she did have a FAQ and testimonial section that was an interesting addition. I would have liked it expanded as well. She mentions having clients, I would loved to know more about of their common road blocks and how to get past them. But I guess that's something only people in the paid course get to know.

In general, you are asked to visualize the intention you have for the space and keep items that serve that purpose. She was really clear at multiple times in the book, that the program isn't about minimalism, but "it's about having less of what doesn't matter in order to make room for what does".

I actually did a bunch of research to confirm that sentence wasn't plagiarized from one of the ~minimalism girlies~. I was that convinced that I had read that before somewhere else. But that's a me problem, not the books.

She calls her lifestyle "simplicitism", which feels impossible to pronounce and harder to explain. But it's basically minimalism: the movement, not the aesthetic or art style. There was a whole chapter about how to keep going and not let the idea of minimalism (dudes that only own three shirts and can fit everything they own in a backpack) distract you from how you want your space to be used. 

I briefly checked out the Goodreads reviews after writing my first draft of this review. Despite Allie really not wanting this book to be about minimalism, most positive reviews mentioned that's what they got from it. 

Would I recommend this book? I'm learning more towards No than Yes. I do think that Allie does fill a niche in the 'owning less crap' space, even if it's not really for me. But I don't think the book provides enough info to its reader. Additionally, I don't think its effective enough at it's main goal: funneling people into joining her course. Like people are already paid for a product and it didn't provide that much value. How can we be sure the next product won't be the same...

I know this book has "mother" in the title, but I didn't expect it to be quite so exclusionary to other people who might be interested in decluttering. At one point, she dismisses traditional minimalism as something that only people who are "single", "bored", or "don't have kids" would have time for. As a busy single person, I was also hoping for some useful advice on decluttering, but apparently I have too much free time and can turn to the wisdom of Marie Kondo instead. And what about fathers or other parents or guardians who might benefit?

Much of the book seems to be an advertisement for Casazza's paid courses and newsletters. I understand that Instagram influencers need to earn a living, too, but I have presumably purchased your book and don't need to be upsold in every chapter. 

There's also more Christian content than I expected, based on the book's marketing. Casazza has the right to her religious beliefs, but I don't appreciate when it's not included in the blurb. Especially since I'm considering this for a public library collection, and would not put a book with religious themes in the same section as one without.

Thank you, Nelson Books, for the advance reading copy.

I really like the presentation of the contents. For non-fictional/self-help/productivity books, it really helps when the presentation is minimal and fun to read.

The choice of words used and the style in which the book is written are the best parts of the book. It makes the reading quite engaging and entertaining.

Decluttering is a process we would all love to do but mostly we do not. For various reasons and we keep on adding piles and piles of things, more so in case with families with kids.

Briefly divided into eleven short chapters, the book deals with decluttering ideas and the various difficulties we are going to face while in the process of doing it.

I find the things said here quite practical and minimalistic. However, for such kind of books I was expecting pictures (or some minimal illustrations) alongwith some space provided for reflection at the end/within/in between the chapters. 

I appreciate the notes at the end which I would called references to be more exact.

This book couldn't have come at a better time. As a mom to a toddler and a newborn, I've found myself overwhelmed by our day-to-day. Our belongings, our commitments, it has all been weighing me down.

Allie shows the reader that the desire to live a simpler, purposeful life is valid and she provides practical advice (and encouragement) to get you there. With focus and dedication, Allie's methods are easy to implement and have lasting results!

What an awesome approach to decluttering the home. My life situation is a little different… I am not a mother and I don’t live in a home- just a small apartment. But I personally have struggled with having a clutter free (and stress free) dwelling. The principles in this book are guilt free and timeless and I cannot wait to put it into action. The only thing I didn’t like in this book focused mainly on the introduction chapters. It felt very repetitive and made me feel a little impatient to “just get on with it,” almost if the author had a word quota to meet. Other than that it was a great book. Happy I came across it on Net Galley.