The marketing spiel is, “Whether you have five minutes, five hours, or five days to spend decluttering, you can make real progress in your home. It took me a long time to get through this book, but it wasn’t due to the quality or lack of interest in the subject.

If you've tried other organizing methods with little success, or if you are tired of piles of things to work through in long, marathon sessions, or if nothing has worked before to get the chaos in your house under control (and all you have to show for it is a bunch of crammed-full storage boxes crazily stacked in the corner of wherever), then this is the book for you. The approach was a non-emotional method of coming to terms with the space you live in and living within that space.And her process of starting with trash and easy stuff, then moving on to the things that require decisions. The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning Method is also interesting for discussing how old people should handle their stuff near the end of life. White gently explains how to shift your thinking while acknowledging the emotional aspect of managing your stuff and home. The aim of just using the container and not having to be emotional about every single object as I go is a target I can see myself hiting. Then as you go about decluttering, she doesn't have you take everything off the shelf or out of the closet.

There is no stuff put aside in keep piles to deal with later so the house doesn’t become more messy in the process of decluttering. White also tells how to declutter during daily life without creating a bigger mess (often a huge stumbling block for those who are serious about decluttering).No more worrying about whether or not the item sparks joy, or has value, or if I might need it someday. If office suits were mixed in with yoga pants and college sweat-shirts, I would have no idea how much space is being given to office suits pg. But it means that if you get distracted or interrupted, things are ALREADY BETTER and you're already at a stopping place.