Halleluiah! There’s hope for the clutterbug! In fact, hope is knocking at your door right now. Introducing Kathryn Porter’s fabulous new book:
Too Much Stuff: De-cluttering Your Heart And Home
“In Too Much Stuff, Kathryn Porter challenges us to dig into the clutter of our homes and attack the attitudes and behaviors that allow this chaos to immobilize us. While giving practical steps on how to declutter our houses, she shows us how to declutter our hearts by realizing that God loves us through the messes we make and has a plan for us that doesn’t involve being confined to clutter.”
Kathryn Porter, a fourth generation clutterbug and recovering “stuffaholic” is also a full-time home manager. She’s passionate about creating beautiful homes for our families and understands what it means to suffer silently, drowning in our own clutter. Her new book is chock-full of wisdom and quick, practical steps to overcome immobilization. Kathryn shows us how to spot those sneaky sabboteurs of a clean home, how to put our house on a diet, and how to become an olympic de-clutterer. Count me in. I need all the help I can get.
So! Need room-by-room de-cluttering techniques? Kathryn’s got it! Need to tackle some heart issues? Kathryn can help with that, too. In Too Much Stuff, we learn that clutter doesn’t walk in the front door by itself, but our very own behaviors and attitudes have caused us to slip into a too-much-stuff lifestyle.
Kathryn helps us with areas that need to change:
* sentimental clutter (things kept because of emotional attachment)
* inherited clutter (keeping stuff just because it was handed down to you)
* vanity clutter (luxury items, things you buy to impress your friends, etc)
* samaritan clutter (things you keep to help somebody one day)
* “just-in-case” clutter (things you might need!)
* “OPP” clutter (other people’s property that we borrow or store)
* clearance clutter (items you bought JUST because it was a good deal)
* financial clutter (going into debt because you think you need ‘things’)
* activity clutter (overscheduled calendar, too many hobbies/activities)
* conversation clutter (gossip, profanity)
* intellectual clutter (addiction to news, facts, trivia)
January is a great time to relinquish our pack-rat status. I particularly needed the chapter on paper clutter and how to stop the flow of this “insidious enemy.” Kathryn says we need to plug holes. “Paper clutter is like a wave of water flooding a ship filled with holes. We are the captains of our ships—our homes—and we need to remove the ‘water’ so we don’t sink in a sea of paper.”
Sound good so far? There’s more! Each chapter includes homebuilding sections that remind us to seek God and His Word as our daily foundation. Without His enablement, we’re just spinning our wheels. I love each chapter’s scripture, prayer point, and reflection questions that guide us along as we focus our hearts on God.
I’m pleased to recommend this wonderful book to you! And I want to give someone out there a free copy. If you’d like to have a copy, just enter my book giveaway by leaving a comment under this post. That’s it. On February 14th, I’ll draw one name and announce the winner! Blessings to you all.
Resources:
Clutterwise.com
Top Ten Ways to Declutter
Workshops by Kathryn Porter
Contact Kathryn Porter
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on January 19, 2007 - 6:30 pm
How about giving away a professional organizer? I think that’s more what I need! But I’d settle for the book if picked.
Have a blessed weekend, friend!
~Kari
on January 19, 2007 - 8:17 pm
As an adult with ADD as well as a home engineer, anything that will help clear the clutter from my home will clear clutter from my brain as well! LOL Count me in!
on January 20, 2007 - 8:49 am
One of my sons just moved back into our home. I need to declutter. No room for all his clothes. I did get my outdoor shed clean when the temp was 74 last week. Need help to organize hobbies. Like what I read on your blog. thanks
on January 20, 2007 - 5:28 pm
Help! I need to win this book! Thirty-five years of marriage and five children later I am buried in stuff! love to read your blog. melody
on January 20, 2007 - 6:58 pm
The excerpts you have placed here Vicki, jumpo out of the pages and directly into my heart! Having Adult ADD is something that I struggle with constantly. Some days better than others. How wonderful to find this resource on your site! If I don’t win this from you
I plan to order it online (unavilable in the Philippines) and write about it for our national newspaper to help other clutterbugs like myself. Thanks, Vicki!
on January 21, 2007 - 9:57 am
I think this is just another great example to use “look, think, and throw”…
I recently commented about clutter to another blogger, and that sometimes by ridding yourself of all the clutter, you find treasures and memories that were hidden underneath…
Seek and you shall find.. Ask and you shall receive..
In the clutter of life, sometimes simplicity is looking at only one thing and seeing the beauty…
And this is just another reason to simplify your life, to realize the real treasure in your life…
on January 22, 2007 - 1:08 pm
Kari, you’re in! Thanks for visiting. I could use one of those myself:-)
Beth, yep, I hear you. This book is helping me quite a bit. I can sure relate to A.D.D. - thanks for coming by.
Morning Dove, this book would certainly help with that. There are only two of us in this house, yet the clutter accumulates fast. Thanks for visiting. Be sure to leave me contact info in case your name is drawn in February!
Melody Rose, we’ll have to pull you out of that rubble:-) The book would help! Thanks for reading here!
Cathy, glad to see you again. I’m a clutterbug, too. This book was an answer to prayer–I kid you not. I struggle with some ADD, too, and find that disorganization greatly hinders my flow of creativity. Trying to nip some things in the bud early this year:-) Thanks for visiting, Cathy!
Nicholas, that was excellent! Yes, if we’ll simplify, we’ll see the treasures. Doing that now. Thanks for some great thoughts.
on January 22, 2007 - 10:55 pm
I’ve been on a decluttering kick since mid-November. Sounds like a great book!
on January 23, 2007 - 12:56 am
This sounds like a really good book with a LOT of practical helps. My clutter problem is stuff that my Mom gives me, and then doesn’t want me to get rid of any of it - even if I have no use for it, or don’t even like it! She gets offended if I don’t take the items, so I get “stuck” with them. Help!
on January 23, 2007 - 8:55 am
I have determained that I need to rent one of those 20 yard roll off dumpsters and dig in. This book would be a great get started tool to help me fill that dumpster and get on with time for the important things in life- not the stuff that pulls us down. Be blessed.
on January 23, 2007 - 11:05 am
As an organized individual locked in an unorganized body married to a pack-rat, with two grown daughters and one on-in-law cluttering up the place, I think I could use some help. Sounds like a great book.
on January 23, 2007 - 11:22 am
This sounds wonderful. I can clean some things out and still feel overrun with stuff inside and out. This sounds like a must read for all of us!
on January 23, 2007 - 11:33 am
De-cluttering sounds wonderful!!!!! I could use the help.
on January 23, 2007 - 2:18 pm
Wow! This book sounds too good to be true!! Problem is, would I lose it in the clutter?? :o)
Love your blog, Vicki!
on January 23, 2007 - 6:13 pm
Vicki–OK, you’ve hit my hot button! (One of many, I admit….) I am on a constant and vigilent mission to control clutter, but even still, I need help. Count me in!!
on January 24, 2007 - 3:40 pm
This book sounds neat. It would be lovely to learn to control the clutter just a wee bit better. Better for the whole family I think.
on January 24, 2007 - 4:45 pm
LOL…sounds like most folks struggle with clutter! I’m throwing all your names in the big red hat for the book drawing, ya’ll! Thanks for leaving comments!!
on January 24, 2007 - 9:16 pm
If I’m too late to get my name in the big “red” hat…I’ll be sure to put this on my list for my spring reading….I am definitely a “sentimental” clutterbug
on January 25, 2007 - 11:13 pm
Will have to get our church library to add this one to the list. Looks like a great read.
on February 6, 2007 - 3:20 pm
[…] Just go to this post and leave a comment. That’s all! I’ll announce the winner here at Light for the Writer’s Soul on Valentine’s Day. February 6, 2007 - 3:20 pm […]
on February 6, 2007 - 9:24 pm
I just found your blog - how wonderful! A place of beauty. And then - treat of treats - you’re talking about the need to de-clutter, which means - you understand.
Today I read in the Word how the Lord would cause the Israelites to defeat their enemies “little by little,” and I found encouragement. Little by little - one new habit upon another - and I’m seeing the clutter and dealing with it. A good thing.
Thanks for a wonderful blog!
on February 9, 2007 - 2:34 pm
I came by way of Kari’s blog, and I’m linking to your contest via my blog.
on February 9, 2007 - 2:46 pm
Oh, and I have 6 children, a dog, and a tiny house. Often, I tell my husband that I don’t need a vacuum, I need a bulldozer.
What a beautiful blog you have. I look forward to browsing around.
on February 9, 2007 - 10:18 pm
This is my first time here, I look forward to looking around. I came by way of myderbe.
I would love to be entered into your drawing…decluttering is such a process.
Thanks,
Roberta
on February 9, 2007 - 11:07 pm
This book sounds fantastic. I found your site from My Derbe too. I feel like I am drowning in my home. We just had our third child and have a 2 bedroom house! There is so much stuff in our house. Thanks. Rachel
on February 13, 2007 - 9:09 pm
I followed a link of yours to “sign-up and win”
on February 13, 2007 - 9:40 pm
As a single mom of 3 boys, my house always seems to be unorganized. I not only need time, but I don’t even know how to get started…I would love to be organized! Great post!!!