We have a new clutter control book that came in June 2011! It is called "1001 Timely Tips for Clutter Control: Knowing What to Keep, When to Toss and How to Store Your Stuff." It is by the editors of FC&A Publishing, "a family-owned and family-friendly company that strives to provide information and products that improve your life." The company is based in Georgia and the book is copyrighted 2007 but it was just added to our collection. It looks to be a fairly comprehensive book but I think that much of the info is tips we have already discussed.

The information, like other books, is organized by location: Kitchen, Family Room, Dining Room, Home Office, Bedroom, etc. The final chapters go outside the house to the Attic or Basement, Garage and the Car and then to Shopping, Time Management, Relocating (which is differet than other books), Holidays and Entertaining and Traveling. Each chapter has a small introduction and then arranges the information into 4 steps that you can take to: 1) Cut the Clutter 2) Increase Storage, 3) Get Organized and 4) Keep it Clean. Each of these steps are followed by a section called Super Tips, which must be where they get the title claim of 1001 tips. There is also the obligatory first chapter called "Before you begin" that tells you how to get started. One of the nice features of this book is for each section they give you a "permission list" called "Toss Without a Thought." This comes as straight advice - no explanation or excuse necessary - just toss. These lists include things like: in the kitchen - old food which is a no brainer; but also chipped or damaged dishes, glasses or mugs; broken appliances; burnt, rusty or damaged pots, pans and bakeware amd broken utensils and gadgets and in the Home Office - articles or brochures you haven't needed in years; old grocery receipts; junk mail and advertisments; expired insurance policies or related papers; expired coupons; and warranties for items you no longer own.

Every chapter has graphics of sticky-notes to remind you of basic de-clutter rules. There is one that says, "Remember...make a wish list, be realistic, set priorities, identify your clutter problems, label your zones, and set a timeline. There is another "sticky" that says, "Keep in Mind...make a decision to keep, toss, donate, sell or pass on and to follow purging rules to decide quickly, handle items once, set limits, pass the "keep" test and recognize garbage. These are the activites that are described in the first chapter and are added to each chapter as a reminder...maybe making actual sticky notes to put up nearby would be a useful activity but make sure you throw them away and don't let them become clutter.

I will give you some of the tips in my next post which I hope to get up in the next week or so - the back cover gives a teaser for what sounds like a bunch of really useful tips. Stay tuned...