Was it Organizing From the Inside Out, by Julie Morgenstern?

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Maybe "It's all too much" by Peter Walsh (from Clean Sweep). He was on Oprah and that was how I heard about his book. After watching him on Oprah, it really got me thinking about my clutter problems. It's weird because I always thought of being organized as being rigid, not fun, etc. because you had to stick to a schedule and sort of do things right away. Now, I am realizing it can be just the opposite and give me the freedom to do what I want spur of the moment during the weekends and be able to invite people to drop by if I want to.

I liked the It's All Too Much book. I've seen him on tv and thought he made sense as well as being understanding and compassionate, although firm in his ideas.

There's also this book I checked out from the library a couple of months ago: ItÂs Hard to Make a Difference When You CanÂt Find Your Keys by Marilyn Paul.

It's not as easy a read but it went into more psychological reasoning as to why people keep clutter.

Here are some of my notes from it (her example questions/answers, not mine):

"There is an exercise that I do in my workshops that I call Âchoosing a new habit. In it, you write down how you do things now, including your current habit, your current thinking, your current belief, and your current result. And you write down your desired result, the new habit that will get you the new result, and what you would need to be thinking and believing, in order to get a different result. Then you make a choice: Which do you really want? I encourage you to try this yourself, using the example that follows as a model. 1\. Choose one habit that you want to change and describe your current behavior in simple terms. When I eat a bag of popcorn and drink a bottle of water, I leave the empty containers in the car. 2\. Write down the thoughts that accompany this habit. IÂll come back later and get them. 3\. Identify the belief that underlies this behavior. It could be any thoughts you might have that support your current habit and sound true to you. Details are unimportant. 4\. What is the result that you get from this habit? Messy car. 5\. Now describe your desired result and the difference it will make to you. A clean interior and much more pleasant transportation. 6\. What new habit will help you get that result? I bring in everything from the car at the end of the day. 7\. What would you have to be thinking in order to carry out this new habit? I enjoy a clean car and itÂs easy enough to bring in everything right then. 8\. What belief (or beliefs) would support this new habit? (This new belief might be the opposite of the old belief, but not always.) Small details make a big difference. I am worthy of dignity. When you compare steps 1\-4 with steps 5\-8, you can see that you can make a choice. At this point, you will see that you will need to make this new choice over and over again until it is no longer a choice  it has become a new habit."

After copying/pasting that, I think I need to do that thinking exercise with some areas of my life - it sounds really good, actually.

Thanks, everyone --- Minet, your title rang a bell, and the example was phenomenal! Thanks again, all.

Jo

I'm going to look into the books mentioned above, they sound great.

One small book I've often mentioned here and it simply states the benefits of eliminating clutter, it's "Clear your clutter with Feng Shui" the feng shui is very basic and not accentuated, they emphasize the logic of eliminating clutter and what it can do to enhance your well being. I pick it up and read different chapters from time to time.

There are so many self-help books devoted to clutter. Any book is good. I liked Flylady's "Sink Reflections" and any books by Don Aslett. And all the monthly women's magazines, Womens Day, Ladies Home Journal, Family Circle, etc. have articles every month about clearing clutter and organizing. And ever notice there are storage warehouses popping up everywhere? It's a national plague!