I’ve gotten a little declutter happy lately. I’m trying to stream line. Make house upkeep take less time, so I have more time for the things that matter (yoga, my novel). Which brings me to another declutter/organizational book, Secrets of an Organized Mom by Barbara Reich.

She has four basic premises. Purge – get rid of what you don’t need. Design – buy more stuff to hold your stuff. Organize – put it away nicely. Maintain – keep it up. She says this over and over in the book, for every area. Having just finished a book that gets into the nitty gritty for each and every item, this was less informative. Purge is what a lot of people have issues with I think and just telling people to get rid of stuff isn’t going to help them do so.

My next nit pick is this. She says store things where you use them and then in every chapter makes suggestions about where to store things that aren’t where you use them. Examples: putting your standing mixer on a closet shelf or storing hair dye in the linen closet. Um, no.

And finally, the deal breaker for me, she is HEAVILY against stocking up in any form. No frozen meats. No TP from Costco. “Buy only what you will use in one week or before it goes bad. It’s not like you’re going to get snowed in and not be able to get out for things.” That’s so not happening. My vacuum packed frozen grass fed grass finished beef I buy once a year and then use from the freezer, still tastes better than any “fresh” meat I can buy locally. And I do live in a place where we get snowed in (every year) and can’t get out to the store. Plus, Costco is a FAT time saver for me. Because my closet store is 45 minute drive (without traffic), having all those cans in my garage saves dinner, frequently.

℘℘℘ – Three Pages. It was well written, the repetitive nature made it a fast read. But even on the premise of take what you like and leave the rest, I found very little to take away from this book.