Create Space: Declutter your home to clear your mind

by Dilly Carter

Cut the clutter, live better with less, give yourself headspace, and enjoy life more.

Create Space shows you how taking steps to clear and simplify your living space can also clear your mind, improve your relationships, and enhance your well-being. This room-by-room guide to organizing and decluttering your home is packed with ideas, advice, tips, and techniques that are practical and functional as well as beautiful. Turn chaos into calm with step-by-step methods that you can adapt and sustain for your own needs.

When you stop allowing your life to revolve around things that don't matter, you instantly gain energy to focus on the things that do. Reclaim your space, your time, and your mind right now, to reorganize your living space into a place of sanctuary.

Genres: Nonfiction, Audiobook

192 pages, Hardcover

Published March 9, 2021

Reviews

[Melissa Borsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an enjoyable look into organizing every room with good advice and tips on sorting and storing everything and cutting out the clutter. I thank Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

[tisasday · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good basic principles that are commonplace. Nothing particularly illuminating. Some of it was rather self-indulgent with lots of tiny adverts throughout for her own business.

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author seems very sweet and likeable, but there was really nothing new for me in this book. If you have not read other decluttering books then this will be very helpful, I'm sure. There's a tinge of Marie Kondo and lots of basic stuff. Her basic how-to is to take everything out of the space, clean it, and then put it back in. Get rid of stuff that doesn't make you happy. Put things where you use them and group them together. Stuff like that. There are a lot of testimonials for her business, which is odd because it just made me want to hire her instead of doing it myself (and she lives in England, so that's not happening). I would have loved to have photos and illustrations, since I'm a very visual person. It's got good commonsense advice, but I can't think of a single bit that has stuck with me a week after reading it, unfortunately.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

[Janine · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars This is my 3rd or 4th declutter book in the last few months. I found the author’s picture annoying but I must admit this book has made me question for the first time why I have so many of everything. My parents grew up in the Great Depression, so I have inherited their need to keep everything. This author directs specific questions to all categories of belongings that make sense. This may help me let go of so many things I am holding on to “just in case”. I also like her very detailed organization suggestions. She gives you diagrams of how to fold things and lay them in drawers so you may see everything. I also liked her suggestions on how to let go of things that have sentimental value. I think this is the best declutter and organize book I have read so far.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great book if you are struggling with over-spending, bulk buying and general ‘messy’ chaos in your home. But there wasn’t really anything new to me in this book, which I was actually pleased about. Being a neat freak, I already subscribe to most of Dilly’s methods to ensure that I have an organised home. The one thing that I did take away from this book is Dilly’s views on over-buying clothes. I am the first to put my hand up and admit that I over spend on clothing but since watching Dilly on tv and reading this book, I am pleased that my purchases of clothing has vastly decreased!

[Jem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good advice. I just wish the mini adverts for her business didn’t punctuate the book as it got on my nerves.

[Panda Incognito · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a fun design, clear organization, and lots of ideas for how to declutter and keep spaces tidy. The author seems like a very nice person, and she offers advice without ever seeming judgmental or elitist. Even though there wasn't anything new for me in this book, I enjoyed skimming through it, and I would recommend it to people who are just starting out with decluttering, especially if they think that emotional or mental health issues will make the process difficult for them.

Carter addresses some dynamics related to mental health in this book, and she also writes for a general audience without making assumptions about her readers' income bracket or personal style. Many women who write books like this make silly presumptions about others' lifestyles based on their own background or narrow clientele, but this book is far more general and appropriate for a broad audience.

[Mary Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

One tip I took away from this book is to keep the bedroom free of task items like paperwork and laundry. That way it's less likely to trigger "to-do" thoughts when you're trying to sleep or cause stress right as you wake up.

[Abbie Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many helpful tips and tricks of the trade to declutter

[Ravinder Matharu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent.....very effective information.... a must read....

[Chrissie Heasman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Completely inspiring book. Made the thought of sorting out areas of the house totally manageable and having finished it, I immediately sorted my fridge, making it logical and easier to find things. Small,easy changes. Now for the rest of the house. Worth reading!

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing thanks Dilly

[Hanneke Wildschut · Rating 3 out of 5]

Natuurlijk weet je dat je moet opruimen, ontspullen en dat je het dan moet bijhouden, maar met Dilly in je achterhoofd gaat het net iets makkelijker.
Gestructureerd met ideeën, oplossingen en een ideaalbeeld vóór je begint, helpt ze je het huis door.
Vlot geschreven, vrolijk gekleurd; ook je humeur wordt er opgeruimd van.

[Ceri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been interested in decluttering and organising for a long time. I've watched lots of TV series on the subject and read lots of books, so I wouldn't say I learnt anything new from this latest book. However I think having reviewed so much on this topic, I'm qualified to say that this book does contain all the main points, laid out in a logical, methodical practical way. If you are just looking into decluttering and organising, this is a good book to buy. You can tell Dilly knows her stuff, she is speaking from experience, not theorising and she is very personable and down to earth. She appeared in the pilot of "Sort your life out" with Stacey Solomon and is probably going to become better known.

[Amy Dendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this Covid era of Kondoizing the home while in quarantine or working from home you will love these suggestions for minimizing clutter and maximizing space and comfort. Create Space has tips and diagrams to help in many organizing rituals such as folding and more.. This is a book that all home organizers will greatly enjoy implementing the suggestions and rituals from into daily life.

[Mrs Kislingbury's Bookcase · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this book, it's not just a book of hints and tips but a whole decultered way of life. Whether you are a neat freak or not, if you want a tidier life, mind or space I would recommend this book.

[Lois · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not sure whom this book is addressed to. The author grew up in a home that was totally unorganized with no place to eat or sit to watch tv. Not quite a hoarder situation, but close. The parents worked at home and had a lot of paper. So she became the opposite - her room was totally neat and organized.

So it sounds like she wants to deal with the worst of the messies. Yet none of the solutions she offers would ever begin to work for them eg. Take an 8 hour day to do your kitchen, clean the floor well then empty ALL of the cupboards sorting by type as you go. Then reimagine the kitchen and put only what you love back in the cupboards - like with like. Then throw away, recycle, give away, sell the rest. The truly disorganized would end up with a much worse mess! And it would take much longer than a day!

For me, I am trying to downsize. Nothing truly helpful here, just the constant reminder that I don’t need as much as I have. Because she apparently lives in England some of the suggestions are unique to England and some of the words are different enough that I don’t know what they refer to.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an easy-to-use book to help people declutter their spaces in order to create a place that will calm the mind. The author grew up in a chaotic, cluttered house, and this is her solution.

The book is broken down by room or space, which is nice if you (like me) have areas that are especially cluttered and other rooms that fare quite well. There are also helpful tips that appear as bulletted lists in a different colored section of each chapter. After a few chapters, you get the main ideas and can probably take it from there.

The author even has an appendix with suggested places to donate or sell used items, but because this is a UK publication, most of these are not accessible to readers outside the UK. Nothing prevents one from doing the research and finding similar resources in their home countries.

[Diah · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you haven't read any of organization books there are on the market and this book is on sale, you can buy it. If not, don't bother.

The content is nothing new (to me) and it got repetitive as I read through the chapters. One thing I particularly dislike was how Dilly mentioned excessively that she hates her parents' way of organizing their home and how she compared her way vs her parents and how she adored her close neighbor's house which just so different than hers. It gave me 'the grass is greener on the other side' thingy. Yeah.

[Anita · Rating 2 out of 5]

“ Pretty”
The book is so pretty I wanted to keep it on the coffee table to clutter it up 🤪

It was a quick read, basically put your clutter in a storage box or get rid of it is the jest of the book.
Some chapters where no use to me, don’t have an office, no kids rooms and toys all over, no spare rooms, no utility room or entrance way.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the best book I have read in decluttering, and I’ve read nearly all of them. Dilly Carter writes clearly in flowing, enjoyable prose. She writes for people with small, ordinary homes and restricted budgets. She emphasises relationships, family dynamics and contemporary patterns of living. The book is well designed with illustrations, although it might have benefited from some photographs.

[Annburnett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty good short read. It helps you think about the different areas in your home to declutter. Many of which we don't even think about all the things that just get tossed there and forgotten about.

[Kerry Henderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive and colourful guide on decluttering your home.

This was such an interesting and useful read. It's full of tips and help for each room in your house. Moving soon so this has been invaluable in helping declutter for the move. A great easy read.

[🌶 peppersocks 🧦 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reflections and lessons learned/the content of this book made me feel…

…that time invested in these approaches may help. Sometimes obvious and indulgent in a world of much larger problems but bears repeating to help with home time

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is my dream job.

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some decent ideas and tips on how to create a space for different areas of your home to make it more easy to organize and be a home.

[Moonwish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very no-nonsense and practical solutions. Would be especially helpful for smaller spaces. Easy read with specific room overview and strategies for each space.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good practical tips and an easy read. Nothing much new or inspiring.

[Gillian Fox · Rating 1 out of 5]

A bit of a waste of time, to be honest. The author seems sweet but there’s nothing in here which isn’t already common knowledge - this book didn’t require writing.

[Alžběta · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick little book full of practical advice. Very enjoyable and helpful!