101 Ways to Clean Out the Clutter

by Emilie Barnes

Home management expert and bestselling author Emilie Barnes comes to the aid of every clutter keeper with 101 simple ideas to rid rooms of piles, stacks, and disarray. Readers will rediscover space and peace in their home as they Better than a how-to show, this compact resource can go anywhere a reader needs a little encouragement and lots of tips to transform clutter to cleaner at home, a friend's house, church, or the office.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Reference

128 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 2008

About the author

Emilie Barnes was the bestselling author of more than 80 books, including 101 Ways to Clean Out the Clutter, Five Minutes in the Bible for Women, and 15 Minutes Alone with God. Sales of her books have surpassed 6 million copies worldwide. She and her husband, Bob, founded the More Hours in My Day time-management seminars.

Emilie’s heart was always to help others in practical ways as they managed their busy homes and lives, but even more, her beautiful spirit made a connection with readers that was both lovely and timeless. Her words remain as inspiring today as when they were first published.

Reviews

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an easy book to read. It offers lots of suggestions for cleaning out clutter, both organizational ideas and psychological tips. It includes how to include your family in the project!

[Sara ♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book for a book challenge... It was really little, so that was nice... Just some nice quick tips on keeping your house organized by doing things like:

* making sure everything has a spot where it goes
* getting rid of stuff you never wear or use (BE HONEST!)
* being creative with storage ideas—using cute baskets that can double as storage, etc.
* finding methods that work for YOU (otherwise, you won't keep it up)
* doing a little bit at a time... not BINGE cleaning/organizing

Things like that. It was helpful, though not terribly detailed, so it's more of a book to motivate you, rather than to tell you exactly how to organize your entire house. There weren't even pictures! ;)

[SB · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was okay. It offers some helpful tips and tricks, rather than actual ways, to clean up the clutter. It was quick to read and provides some motivation and inspiration for tidying up, and can be accomplished by everyone. I picked up a couple of tips, but unfortunately there was a large amount of repetition. This book might have been more successful if it narrowed down the number by a half, and focused on developing each point, rather than making multiple points which are effectively branches from the same underling tip. However, a decent, quick read for anyone wanting to live a more clutter-free life.

[Casey D Wilder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, simple, sweet read. Not a very deep or overly involved book, it does serve its purpose in presenting some decluttering ideas, but most importantly, it is a great motivator for actually getting started decluttering. My problem has always been there's a slight fear of releasing things, but after a quick read through this, it makes me start to think that happiness is more potent when there are LESS things around, not more.

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is dated and written from the perspective of an older, white Christian female clearly intended for women of the same perspective. The book is a collection of tips, with mixed messaging about freeing yourself from physical things yet encouraging the reader to repurpose items one might otherwise part with. I much prefer Marie Kondo’s approach, which more effectively encourages reduction of actual physical possessions without guilt.

[Robert Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It got me off my butt and made me clear out a whole bunch of stuff that I didn't need and was never going to use again. There is a lot in here but it mostly sells the same points over and over but in different ways.

I'll more or less be using these points from here on out as they make a lot of sense and are relatively easy to do. Fingers crossed.

[Misha Mayhem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great ideas to unclutter and organize your home.

[marise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice, little, motivational book.
Hands you some useful ideas to declutter your home.
The overall writing is very pleasant and 'you can do it'.

[Gregory Roberts · Rating 1 out of 5]

Strangely sexist and religious (Christian). Tips on getting your husband involved, chirstian proverbs about a woman's duty.

Extremely repetitive tips that are just reworded throughout. Can really be boiled down to just a few tips:
1. Start small or break large tasks into small tasks.
2. Everything is either keep/repurpose it, donate/sell it, or trash it.
3. Anything important enough to keep is important enough to have a home location.
4. Get storage containers and label them.
5. Recycle unneeded paper (takeout menus, old bills, etc)

Without actually going back to count, I feel like those 4 tips make up 80 or so of the tips. And then the other 20 are things like Hydrogen peroxide makes a good cleaner, use the good China if you're keeping it, ask for gift cards for experiences over physical things, etc.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book Inspired me to get my clutter under control about twelve years ago and it has inspired me again here in 2021.
I believe even though it is at times God based and repetitive in some areas or tips it helped me quite a lot back then and still even today re-reading it.
I believe this book inspired and helped me more than many other organizing clutter books out there, I’m not sure exactly why my best guess the simplicity of it.
Either way re-reading it has inspired me once again and I love using it in my home decor.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

In my opinion, even though it had some good ideas, this book was way too surface-skimming and repetitive to actually do justice to its title.

I would have preferred a more eloquent and pared down “30 Ways to Clean Out the Clutter” to this.

[Rick Fifield · Rating 3 out of 5]

This tiny book as many, exactly 101, ways to clear the clutter in your house. Most of them are obvious, some are simple enough to do. If you need to start this is a quick read to give you good place to start.

[Richard Isaacs · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of Jennifer's books she had read. She wanted to declutter before she died, but never felt up to it. I am trying now.

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to read, inspiring, and light- helps one ready themselves for an organized new year.

[Sunshine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this years ago and pull it out from time to time to refresh my commitment to decluttering. Super small, but contains great ideas and encouragement.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick, easy, and practical read

[Angela Rueger · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is a bit dated, but Emilie still has a good many powerful suggestions of how to remove the clutter from our homes. I had originally thought I'd take the book one page at a time and try to implement her suggestions---until I read it all the way through and realized that such a plan will not work. For on one page she'll tell you to get rid of all the trash, then on another page she'll give you ideas for how to recycle and repurpose the same trash. I'm not diminishing the value of one idea or the other, for each has its own merit. My point is that you can't do everything in the book, but you may pick and choose the methods that work best for you. I also think it's a bit humorous to rid ourselves of clutter by having a yard sale (enabling someone else to add to their own clutter)!

One tip that has helped me the most over the years (This isn't the first time I've read this book.) is that of making lists of chores on index cards and filing them under the following categories: daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, and annually. This helps me keep the many household tasks in perspective and form a plan to get them done. It can be daunting to get started on such a plan, but once in motion, it does make the house run more smoothly, especially when you have others to whom you can delegate tasks. And for me, the best thing is freedom from guilt over tasks not completed. Instead of adding new tasks to the ever growing unfinished list, I move unfinished tasks back into the file box when they "expire" and move on to the next thing. After all, the task will come around again in due time, and the next time (with proper planning) it will get done.

[Joyanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I put this book on my frugal-living-schemes book shelf because if I follow some of the basic tenets, we will ultimately save money and change our lifestyle. There were some very easy practical ideas and plans set out in this book. I read it as an e-book so I couldn't "save" my pages like I normally would have. About halfway through the book I started thinking I should have been taking notes. All in all, the chapters were short and dealt with one concept at a time...great for me and others like me who get overwhelmed by the task of getting organized and decluttering my house. I will borrow this book again and take notes.

[Artep · Rating 1 out of 5]

More like "101 ways to say the same thing over and over again". Like another reviewer mentioned, an actual system would have been much preferable to dozens of variants on what are basically a few common-sense tips such "deal with your paper clutter", "you can get a lot done in a little time" and "prepare stuff for the next day in the evening".

When the information isn't repetitive, it's conflicting. "Start with a small project first" vs. "start with the biggest challenge first"? "Think about whether or not you really need this" vs. "REPURPOSE ALL THE THINGS!"? It's a good thing "be consistent" never showed up as advice.

[Rebekah]

There are a lot of interesting tips in 101 Ways To Clean Out The Clutter (it's not 101 ways, it's 101 bits of advice), and some of it feels a bit confusing and contradictory, but as long as you don't take each page as absolute instruction, then it may help you become a bit better at managing clutter.

[Book Magic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good basic tips....

It has some good basic tips, but a lot of it is common knowledge. There are parts that seemed to contradict each other in the book, which really bothered me. How am I supposed to listen to u and learn from u, if u yourself are changing n contradicting your words.

[Tracie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seems like there were maybe 30 tips that were stretched to make a catchy number. would have preferred concrete strategies over aphorisms.

[Alexandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could've been 50 pages shorter if she didn't keep repeating the same advice with different wording.