Staff Picks: Spring Clean Your Life

Fri, 03/10/2023 - 12:42pm by lucroe

Spring will be here soon, even though with snow on the ground it seems so distant. Along with flowers blooming and sunnier days, Spring brings thoughts of renewal. With this sometimes comes thoughts of cleaning house and organizing one’s life. Here are some books that can provide tips and suggestions in this time of Spring rejuvenation.

Make Space for Happiness : How to Stop Attracting Clutter and Start Magnetizing the Life You Want by Tracy McCubbin | Request Now

Founder of the L.A. company, dClutterfly (the site also has resources for decluttering), has come out with this book to help everyone deal with the emotional attachment of objects in one’s life that may lead to material excess. She provides tips in how to motivate the disorganized or stressed in order to make more meaningful purchase choices as well as letting go of those things that she considers clutter magnets.

 

 

 

 

 

Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff : Declutter, Downsize, and Move Forward With Your Life by: Matt Paxton | Request Now

Decluttering expert, Paxton (from the Emmy award nominated PBS show, Legacy List), takes the reader step by step through the process of analyzing your stuff and sorting what/why stuff should stay or go (does it still hold your interest or give you happiness). This is a great guide for those downsizing for various reasons: moving into a smaller home, wanting to live simpler, or just needing the space. Overall, the advice he gives and the stories of others he helped in the process are both entertaining and well worth hearing.

 

 

 

The Gentle art of Swedish Death Cleaning : how to Free Yourself and Your Family From a Lifetime of Clutter by Margareta Magnusson | Request Now

Magnusson brings the Swedish act of decluttering called döstädning, dö meaning "death" and städning meaning "cleaning, to an American audience. Although meant for those nearing the end of life, her advice can be for anyone looking to organize by sorting what is meaningful from what can be let go of. She tells her own story of paring down her big house to live in an apartment after her husband dies. Practical and simple methods for organizing one’s life.

 

 

 

 

 

How to Keep House While Drowning : : a Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing by KC Davis | Request Now

Tiktok star Davis uses a compassionate approach to provide the overwhelmed organizer with meaningful and straightforward ideas. She uses her own story of struggling with both depression and ADHD like when she didn’t touch the laundry for seven months after her second child was born. She knows what it is to be exhausted with little motivation to clean let alone organize. But she found time to write this slim self-help book packed with real life issues (leaving the dishes in the sink for a couple of days is not the end of the world) that seem simple but hearing her say it is ok with tips to get motivated to do the day to day is especially needed for parents (rest is a right not a reward!) and those struggling with mental health issues (like how to brush your teeth when you don’t feel up to it). Respectful and enlightening throughout.

 

 

Laundry Love : : Finding joy in a Common Chore by Patric Richardson | Request Now

This is the guide to all things laundry. Richardson (host of HGTV's the Laundry Guy, see his site Laundry Evangelist) provides an eco-friendly approach to clean clothes by ditching the commercial laundry detergents and dry cleaning. He provides tips on simple stain removal, proper way to dry clothes, what the different wash cycles are and how to (or not) use them, a list of cleaning essentials, and much, much more! Who would think doing the laundry or reading about it could be entertaining and so informative? Well here is one book that may change your mind about this somewhat simple task.