It's All Too Much

I went to the library to pick up my holds and was really excited to find It's All Too Much: An easy plan for living a richer life with less stuff by Peter Walsh. I put this book on hold about a month and a half ago when Rich read about it on Kelly's Cool Tools but I'm glad it came right now. It's rather serendipitous actually as summer is the perfect time to de-clutter my life.

This is not a book about "color-coded boxes and storage bins" as a strategy but instead revealed facts and ideas for why we keep what we do and how it can damage our lives. I began to see how I can let go of lots more and how I am "paying" too much to keep things and not effectively use them.

I am not a big self-help book reader and don't like "preachy" books much either. but I became a "preachy" person myself after reading and pondering this book. I can look at my home and my classroom with clearer eyes after reading this book and I have a real desire to own my things rather than the other way around.
As Walsh says:

"My job may be all about organization and decluttering, but I cannot say enough times that it is not about the "stuff." I have been in more cluttered homes than I can count, and the one factor I see in every single situation is people whose lives hinge on what they own instead of who they are. These people have lost their way. They no longer own their stuff - their stuff owns them. I am convinced that this is more the norm than the exception in this country. At some point, we started to believe that the more we own, the better off we are. In times past and in other cultures, people believe that the worst thing that can happen is for someone to be possessed, to have a demon exercise power over you. Isn't that what being inundated with possessions is - being possessed?" p. 219

4.0/5.0