Very helpful and easy to listen to (audio book read by the author)! I enjoyed it. ( )

There were some good ideas and thoughts in this book about how we can clear clutter from other aspects of our lives, similar to how we would clear physical clutter. However, I found the book was cluttered (yes, cluttered) with a lot of worksheets and activity sheets -- some were helpful, but most were not. Also, I felt that many times the author was treading into territory he did not have much knowledge or expertise about and should have consulted or referenced other sources in those areas to make his statements more credible. When he talks about clearing physical clutter, which is his area of expertise, he does provide some good and practical information. However, if you really want to read a good book about clearing physical clutter, I recommend his earlier book "It's All Too Much." I thought that book was much better. ( )

I read a few reviews, and some people complained that this book didn't go into as much detail they would have liked, but to be fair, Walsh mentions in this book that he wrote about organization and decluttering and body issues in his previous books, "It's All Too Much!," "The It's All Too Much Workbook" and "Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat?" I haven't read the last one, but after reading this book, I might add it to the TBR pile. You might want to read those three books first, if you aren't familiar with Walsh's work.

The book follows a basic format, focusing on six aspects of life, covered in six chapters of the book: relationships, work, family, money, health and well-being. Walsh talks about how all six aspects of life are impacted by clutter: environmental clutter, mental clutter, financial clutter, relationship clutter, physical clutter in the form of fat and poor health, and spiritual cluttter. Then he goes on to address the issues posed by these different aspects of life and the clutter associated with them. After that, he breaks down each segment or chapter into "Imagine the (aspect of life) you want," "clear the clutter of unreal expectations," "watch out for obstacles," and "declutter your (fill in aspect of life here), ending with "And then there's the stuff." There were some chapters that were hard for me to relate to, including the "Family" chapter, because it focused mostly on the nuclear family, with parents and children. I'm in my 50's, single and my parents are no longer living and I don't have that much physical interaction with my siblings, since we don't live near each other. I have a roommate, but we get along very well and communicate well with each other, so thankfully, no problems there. Also I couldn't relate to work, because it focused mostly on people with careers. I'm retired on disability, and while I do volunteer work, my life is relatively low-stress. I couldn't relate to the relationship segment at all, since it seemed to focus mostly on couples living together, which I've never done. So, as you can see, the book mostly addresses the needs of couples with children or parents, neither of which I have. That said, I found the chapters on money, health and well-being to be very helpful. On the other hand, now I'm worried about what's going to happen when I turn 65. The chapter on health gave me a lot to think about, because I have some health problems. The chapter on well-being was inspiring for me, because as it turns out, that's one aspect of my life where I'm generally content and satisfied.

In summary, if you're looking to take a deeper look into Peter Walsh's methods, I would suggest reading the first three books mentioned above before reading this one. Also, be prepared to do the exercises included to get the full impact of the Peter Walsh decluttering experience. ( )

There were some good ideas and thoughts in this book about how we can clear clutter from other aspects of our lives, similar to how we would clear physical clutter. However, I found the book was cluttered (yes, cluttered) with a lot of worksheets and activity sheets -- some were helpful, but most were not. Also, I felt that many times the author was treading into territory he did not have much knowledge or expertise about and should have consulted or referenced other sources in those areas to make his statements more credible. When he talks about clearing physical clutter, which is his area of expertise, he does provide some good and practical information. However, if you really want to read a good book about clearing physical clutter, I recommend his earlier book "It's All Too Much." I thought that book was much better. ( )