My house is a total mess. And it’s been years since that’s happened. While reading this book I realised that I was actually scared and overwhelmed by the whole situation but it also made me realise that I must take things at my own pace and start slow, with small steps.
I’ve already started that process and I can confirm that it’s such a great feeling to be able to have a goal and see the small differences each day.
I really recommend this book.

2.5 stars rounded to 3 stars.
Going into some much needed PTO, I thought this book would get me in the mood to get some stuff accomplished over the holiday weekend.
The positives of this book definitely lie in the actual organizing. I liked the step by step, and sometimes day by day, breakdowns the author did. Most of the tips were also pretty decent and, even though you could probably find similar tips across other apps or blogs, it was nice to have them all in one cohesive place. There were certainly a lot of tips related to kids or clutter related to having a family (the author is a homeschooling mother), but I could easily skip the ones that didn't apply to me.
The rest of the book fell flat to me though. There was a lot of disclaimer-y paragraphs in the intro that felt like they were just a never ending list of ways to say it doesn't apply to everyone, and we can all agree to disagree. There was also a lot of repetition of the rooms being worked on and the tips for each chapter/room/section of the book.
The other part that fell a bit flat to me, was the constantly tying religion back into everything. I understood from the start that this book was cross-listed with religion and spirituality, and was intrigued to see how it would tie into house cleaning and decluttering, but it seemed like there was a lot of "As Christians" that could have been left out, as well as a lot of Bible verses. I am not against looking at things from a spiritual/religious place, as I am religious myself, but it did get to be a lot at some points.
Overall it did have some good tips and tricks for tackling clutter, but other points it felt like reading a Christian mom blog (which, upon reaching the ending and seeing the author does have a blog, makes sense) with the overly friendly language and use of smiley faces. Some of the language was a little off-putting, like the repeated use of sweetie and terms like that. I did like the worksheets and charts and lists, those would be something I refer back to at a later time.
An item of note, the worksheets/charts did end up a little funky in the format of an eBook, the font size would change a lot and I think it's just more of a formatting issue than an issue with the actual information of the book.

This book has everything you could ever want when organizing and decluttering. It has step by step guides that help the very beginner learners how to do it. It goes over tackling big stuff, but also the little, nitty gritty that you probably wouldn't think about.

Overall, I enjoyed The Clutter Fix. Most of it isn't anything new or groundbreaking, but if you're someone who's trying to get your home organized for the first time, Acheson's lists and checklists will be extremely helpful. She does a great job making organization feel approachable.

This book was written by a woman who is a religious, runs a traditional house and homeschools her children. Despite not having the same lifestyle as the author I enjoyed this book. I found the chapters to be well organized. and found several pages that I bookmarked to look at again later.

It’s probably counter intuitive, but whenever I see a book or pamphlet, or some other type of media on Decluttering, I have to pick it up. Not that I need one more thing to Dr clutter, but it always gets me excited. This book was the same way when I saw it on netgalley and requested a copy.

This decluttering book has undertones of Christianity, but it didn’t feel preachy to me. I thought the author sprinkled in some Bible verses, but if one doesn’t believe in the Bible, don’t discount the book. It had some nice check lists and ideas of how to declutter but then also maintain after you’ve gone through it. I didn’t find anything new since I’ve been reading lots of decluttering material for a while, but if you’re looking for a book to help you, I think this could be it. I’m always interested to see how someone approaches their decluttering in their own homes and see what I can take from their ideas and apply it in my own life. I don’t think you’ll find any book that you’ll follow 100%, you’ll want to look through this one and see what can apply to you and utilize it that way.

Overall, if you’re looking for a decluttering book, this is a good one.

I grabbed this because I purchased my grandparent's home (with 50+ years of STUFF with it) and thought it would be the perfect book to help me with the daunting task of making it 'my home'. Immediately I was off-put by the author almost pushing her religious values at me, the reader. I thought, well maybe I'm just being sensitive but the more I trudged through the intro (really, a de-cluttering book should not have an intro that lengthy) I was increasingly more irritated.

I don't care about what claims you are or are not making, I don't care about the legalities of this or that, I don't care about your blog or your MLM or need to know where to sign up to receive your generic mailing list emails that tell me your whole life story before I can even get to the information I signed up for in the first place (don't you say to de-clutter the junk mail?)....

Being harsh in a review is not something I enjoy doing, but I pride myself on being honest about what I'm reading. I review with the hope that it'll help other readers determine if a book is for them before they spend their hard-earned money on it. There were some really great aspects of this book, but if anyone is like me they will get bogged down with unnecessary paragraphs that felt a little....patronizing.

De=cluttering is a process that I would like not to have to read paragraph after paragraph to be able to complete to make it easier and more efficient. There was promise to this in the way the author broke down areas of the house into smaller steps and with the checklists/schedules but it was TOOOOOOO WORDY!

Simple, sweet and succinct would've been the best bet- trim down all of the excess and break down the processes with bulleted points. Less paragraphs, please!

Overall, I will take the authors advice to take what I need and leave the rest because I did find some gems of advice hidden within the almost 200 pages that this is.

If you're into hearing bible verses, reading a lot of words to get to the meat of how to de-clutter- this is for you.
Some will LOVE this- it just was not what it was purported to be in my opinion.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. Great tips and ideas for organizing!

This book is about decluttering from a Christian point of view. The author talks about the mindset of decluttering and living a life with less "stuff" in it. The final part of the book can help the reader establish routines and habits to maintain a decluttered home. She has a number of suggested routines you could implement such as a morning routine, weekly routines, laundry routines, seasonal decluttering and more. As someone who has many routines, such as this, I can attest that they do help keep your house in order.
I have read many books on decluttering, simplicity and minimalism and consider that I have a fairly simple and organized lifestyle. For those Christian women who know they want to declutter and simplify their home, this would be a useful book. I received a complementary copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book. These are my honest thoughts.

I saw this book on NetGalley and thought it looked like a cute, easy read that I could breeze through over a weekend. It’s not unusual for me to read a “clutter fix” book every now and then, as organization is a neat thing, something my detail-oriented brain loves, and something I enjoy seeing other people’s tips about to compare with my own ideas.

There were some pretty good tips in this book. I really appreciated the way the author broke down the decluttering into easy-to-follow steps. I can see how that would be really helpful, especially for those who, like me, get easily overwhelmed by rooms full of stuff.

While I did breeze through it, the vast majority of this book was not helpful for me personally. It was not an enjoyable book for me either.

The introduction was super lengthy. Each new paragraph seemed to get more and more cringe-worthy as the caveats and lawsuit-avoiding disclaimers piled up. These were so off-putting that I nearly didn’t read the rest of the book.

“I think we’ve all forgotten that we don’t have to agree 100% with everything someone says in order to glean some good knowledge from them…” Actually, no. We have not ALL forgotten we don’t have to agree with everything everybody says in order to get at least one good thing from a book or conversation. Personally, I’ve been using discernment, as advised in the Bible, pretty well for the last couple of decades, so this “generalization” did not apply to me; therefore, its claim was inaccurate.

“That doesn’t mean I agree with or endorse everything they have ever said or will say…” This was one of the most egregious lawsuit-avoiding disclaimers.

“I think we’ve collectively gotten a little lazy in our homes over the last several years, and our expectations are definitely a little skewed.” So everyone on the planet is lazy and has skewed expectations? That seems like wild hyperbole to me. Some of us are hardworking citizens who have solid, Bible-based expectations.

“I am not judging you…” A couple of the previous snippets and many of the “tips” included wording that felt “judgy” to me. We’ve “all” forgotten… we’ve “collectively” gotten lazy… our expectations are “definitely” skewed…

“As Christians and plain old humans who need the earth to thrive, we need to take care of it the best we possibly can. [Recycling is] just good stewardship.” So, judgment isn’t applied, but if we don’t or can’t recycle for whatever reason (such as living in a town that no longer offers recycling locations for its citizens), we are bad Christians and bad humans? That doesn’t sound like a non-judging sort of comment to me. I personally do my best to reuse items or pass them on to others who can use them when I no longer need them before I consider placing something in the garbage, but for those who don’t or can’t for some reason, I don’t think it’s right to judge them as bad Christians or bad humans just because their situation doesn’t permit them to recycle or reuse. For all we know, that very human could be currently leading lost souls to Jesus, and that task is, by far, more important than finding a recycle bin.

The insistence that certain things (such as bills and paper menus) must be tossed out because “they can be found online these days” was annoying and too bossy for my taste. This instruction did not take into account that online banking is not 100% secure. In fact, I have acquaintances whose accounts at well-recognized banks have been hacked and drained because they did frequent online banking. About the menus, some people, like myself, prefer perusing a physical menu over adding more screen time to our already screen-inundated lives. One of my jobs over the past decade has been editing books, which naturally requires hours upon hours of computer time each week. The last thing I want to do when thinking about dinner is get on my computer or phone to look up a menu. It’s so much easier to pull out a paper menu to give my eyes and brain a break from screens for a few minutes.

The tone throughout this book took turns being bossy as well as patronizing. Neither helped me have a positive outlook on this book’s content. One major way in which the tone was bossy was the insistence that we ought to get rid of multiples of items because “it’s very unlikely you will ever need both.” Actually, sometimes one does need more than one copy of something. In fact, there’s an example right in the book. In one chapter, snow shovels were used as an example of what to pare down to only one, and there was no option given to keep an extra snow shovel. However, in a later chapter, the author said she herself has three snow shovels because her kids help out with that chore. That double-standard rubbed me the wrong way and also proved that sometimes multiples come in handy.

An example of the patronizing-type comments was this: “That spaghetti sauce is not coming out, sweetie!” No matter that there was a use of an “endearment,” this comment within the context came out as patronizing rather than encouraging. In my experience, sometimes spaghetti sauce does come out. “Plastic storage containers” are made a lot better now than the ones I used in the 1990s, and a little soaking with a squirt of dish soap goes a long way.

Speaking of water, it seemed like there was lots of wasted water mentioned in this book, especially where it came to rinsing off dishes prior to putting them into a dishwasher. That sounded like it would use at least double the water that washing dishes by hand would. This seemed to be in contradiction to the earlier claim about stewardship.

If you read the section about measuring kitchen drawers for dividers and small containers, in which it was said to “measure the drawer carefully and go get them,” please remember to measure ALL the drawers in the kitchen before you go to the store instead of taking a trip to the store after every single drawer. It felt like a case for Amelia Bedelia, because she definitely would have spent hundreds of dollars in gas to take twenty-plus trips across town (or, in my case, into a larger town at least thirty minutes away) to purchase those things for each drawer separately.

It was mentioned to get rid of “flash drives (Be sure to transfer anything useful to the cloud first.)” Similar to online banking, the cloud is hackable. I personally prefer flash drives, terabyte towers, and external hard drives for digital backups, because they are more secure and less likely to be hacked, as they are not internet-based, and they don’t take up much room in a home office or other discreet location within the home. I have found it gives me more peace of mind in my editing and writing work to have those digital backups in-house rather than in a “cloud” online, where any number of computer geniuses could easily steal, delete, edit, or otherwise compromise the documents belonging to my clients or myself.

Later on, there was concern about “identity theft” via “rewards cards or old bank or credit cards,” instructing us to “make sure they’re well destroyed” before we dispose of them. Yet, there hadn’t seemed to be concern about identity theft with online banking (which is hackable, which means one’s money and identifying information, such as birthdate and social security number, could be stolen).

The breakdowns and tips were repetitive. The same sections of the house were gone over 2-3 times, in detail each time. Therefore, it was easy to skim and lose focus in the book. This made me wonder if the book wouldn’t have been better with half the pages and only going through each room’s process one time.

I liked how the author mentioned working the “zones” of a room while getting rid of the clutter. That was a fantastic tip, because it’s easy to get overwhelmed by an entire room, but working in zones helps keep that overwhelmed feeling to a minimum. I also liked that there were worksheets and checklists. Those could be incredibly helpful for keeping a person on task until the job is done and everything on the lists are checked off. One thing that was fun was that the author included anecdotes from her own family’s usage of the decluttering method she was explaining in this book. It was helpful to see how the method could work for the entire family.

I wish I could have enjoyed this book more. The book blurb had sounded like the book would be right up my organizational alley.

Content: one replacement expletive

Everyone is looking for a clutter free house (and life), but it is not easily achieved, sometime the task is so over overwhelming that nothing gets done. This book is great with lots of tips, lists and understanding, one will have a stress free home and lots of extra space with very little pain. The information is easy to follow and actually contains a lot of common sense. It also give information on recycling items to various organisations, with very little is actually thrown into landfill.

I just could not get into this book - I tried. I just felt like it was presented in the wrong format for me to be able to absorb. I need things like this broken down, with lots of pictures. I can't just sit down and read a book about removing clutter in the same way I approach academic interests.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.
If you need to get your life in order, this is the book for you!
Step by step decluttering instructions.
Helpful steps to discover what kind of clutter person are you and how to manage it all.
How to communicate with others involved in your declutter project.
And how to continue to keep the clutter down once you are finished with your project.

I received this book from the publisher through Netgalley for review and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Author admits she is not a professional organizer. This by no means detracts from the quality content, practical solutions and biblical principles she shares. With questionnaires, worksheets and excellence in advice, the author guides the reader on a journey to a simplicity in home living no matter your busy lifestyle. For me it was just a reminder, having done this several years ago. Her biblical perspective was why I wanted to read another book on decluttering. Delight to read and a gentle reminder to let go of even more.

This is a good book with a few caveats. The author is a traditional Christian homeschooling wife and mother with a traditional house, and she does pretty much assume that her readers are too. That's not to say that the book won't be helpful for those who aren't, but it definitely makes a lot of assumptions.

I'm a lot like the author in several of those ways but I still found that I had to adapt it. For instance, she has a 10 day start to decluttering and the first day you spend decluttering your entryway. You're supposed to put everything that belongs there in the closet to deal with on day two. I don't have a closet in my entryway. I have a mud room, basically, with no out-of-sight place to stash all that stuff and not really any room or desire to build one. Likewise, one whole day is spent cleaning off the outside of the fridge. I have no issues with the outside of my fridge. But another day is spent on the "junk drawer" and I have multiples of those and would need a week for them! The ten day assignments seem pretty random. She references making allowances if you're pregnant or have a new baby many times, but never mentions other issues like being disabled or dealing with grief (one of the issues I see coming up repeatedly in my decluttering groups) or depression. And whereas Marie Kondo kind of assumes you live in a small apartment, Acheson kind of assumes you live in a big house.

Acheson quotes and references some famous habit authors and bible verses often, but she appropriates some key tenets of other decluttering authors without ever crediting them, which I felt was a little unfortunate. For instance, she makes references to things like hot spots, done is better than perfect, objects that bring joy, and the container concept (you have this much space for each type of thing you have and that's your container, anything that doesn't fit well needs to go after you keep the best), without mentioning the authors who pioneered these like Flylady, Marie Kondo (she mentions her once elsewhere) or Dana K. White.

That said, there's a lot of meat to this book. There were no photos in my ARC but there are lots of things like figuring out what type of organizer you are. There are four types -- those who like to see everything and those who like to hide it all, and those who like to have lots of specialized compartments or general containers for each of those types. So maybe you need to have containers that are out in the open with everything viewable for you to put things away, whereas another person needs boxes stashed in cupboards, for instance. She also goes through the typical lists of what to do each season, what to do in each room, etc. She also tells you what her family does, which I always enjoy, and has some general questions and forms to get you thinking about what will work for you.

Ultimately, I didn't get anything out of this that I wouldn't get from a short blog post, but it's great for those who haven't already read a hundred decluttering books as I have. It will be especially helpful for Christian, traditional stay-at-home moms, but others are likely to find many helpful tips.

I read a digital ARC of this book for review.

I was intrigued by a decluttering book that was cross-listed in the Christian / spirituality category. There are a lot of bible quotes in this! But I appreciated that in the intro the author acknowledges that this may not be for everyone and that it is just her way of writing / explaining. This book is straight down to business, filled with checklists and no nonsense. If you want to get right to it, pick this up, find the section that you need the most, and start cleaning up all your stuff!

Thank you to Bethany House and NetGalley for the opportunity to access this free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I found that I actually liked this book a lot even though it doesn't have any of the colorful photos and diagrams that clutter books often feature. There are a lot of details, checklists and action plans as to how to keep your house nice and tidy. I liked that she has gathered information, technique, tips and tricks from experts in all the fields that are somehow or other connected to clutter in homes. Definitely a book I will delve more into as I try again and again to keep my humble abode neater!

The Clutter Fix is a practical guide to tackling the clutter and organising your home. To be fair there is nothing new in this book so it is best suited to those who haven't been exploring the subject, or anyone who finds the author engaging. The author attempts to speak to everyone and encourages you to find the methods that best suit you, and while this is credible, I also found it to be a bit too general and high level. There is a lot in the book but some of the sections such as finding your clutter and organising personality types were a bit silly ! It is readable and in a chatty style, so if it encourages you to get going then this book is worth the purchase. It is well organised and there is a lot of content, additional worksheets, and references. Maybe I've read too many books in this area but it didn't really speak to me.

Before I practice minimalism, I'm a serial organizer. Every thing in my place has their own storage. I must say that most of the things mentioned here are the things I previously practice until I realized that a lot of storage boxes and bins are not also good. Storage means amassing more things to put into it thus collecting more and more things in your space.

Is this book for you?

Yes if you are the kind of person who loves collecting / buying stuff and space is not an issue. If you can call yourself more as an organizer more as a minimalist. Additionally, if you are a beginner at organization stuff, this will be a great book for you to start with.

Thanks Netgalley for this wonderful book.

I love organizing and cleaning out, but I don’t typically love organizing books or shows. Sure, just skimming them will motivate me to start cleaning, but I always feel there’s nothing in there that most people don’t already know. The Clutter Fix is the exception! I was truly impressed by the tips and step-by-step instructions. This book is incredibly detailed! There were so many suggestions and I took away so much from Shannon that I wouldn’t have thought on my own. I already ordered some organizers from Amazon halfway through reading and I can’t wait to get started. This is a book you can definitely read at your own pace and go back to year after year.