Book Review: "5 Days to a Cluter-Free House" by Sandra Felton and Marsha Sims

It's time for another Revell blog tour book review.  This time it is for a book about tackling clutter in your home entitled "5 Days to a Clutter-Free House:  Quick, Easy Ways to Clear Up Your Space" by Sandra Felton and Marsha Sims.

As someone who struggles with clutter, I was very interested in reading this book.  Here is a little bit about the authors:

Sandra Felton, The Organizer Lady, is a pioneer in the field of organizing. She is the founder and president of Messies Anonymous and the author of many books including Organizing Magic. Sandra lives in Florida. Marsha Sims is a national speaker who has taught seminars on time management and organization, managing the front desk, and projects and priorities. She has been a professional organizer for fifteen years as the founder and president of her Miami-based company, Sort-It-Out, Inc. The book is separated into two sections.  The first section is entitled "Getting It Under Control."  The second section is entitled "Keep the Good Life Going."
In "Getting It Under Control," the authors describe the term coined in describing their unique organizing method.  This term is "Mount Rushmore."  "Mount Rushmore" is designed to get a home in order in dive days.  "The 'rush' part means the job gets done quickly.  The 'more' part means you don't try to do the job alone; you get help."

I had never really thought about a team approach to decluttering my home until just recently and, it was actually before I read this book.  As a parent of special needs children, it seems like there is never enough energy at the end of the day to deal with papers and laundry and dishes and clutter.  Our small group came over and helped us clean our kitchen and living room, as well as fix some holes in the wall that Cassidy had made with her foot prior to her admittance to the residential treatment center.  I have to admit, the team approach was very helpful -- and FUN!!!!

In the introduction section of the book there is a "Maintenance Quiz" where you can "rate your ability to maintain organization in your house."

One thing that I liked about this book is that the authors admitted that they too struggled with disorganization and that too had to learn "what it takes to step out of the enforced confusion we used to live in."  That statement alone gave me hope that I too can overcome this issue that I have!

They also used a lot of real life stories showing how people implemented the "Mount Rushmore" system and finished with a clutter-free home at the end of the time period they were implementing "Mount Rushmore."

The "Mount Rushmore" process is explained in detail.  Each day a different section of your home is focused on.  The first three days, the sections are based on your body.  You're probably thinking, what?  So was I when I first read it!  Well, let me explain.  The first day you only focus on items from the floor to your knees.  The next day you focus on items from your knees to your shoulders.  Then the third day you focus on shoulders to ceiling.  Then that leaves you two more days.  One of those days is focused on the inside of cabinets and the other day is focused on storage rooms and/or the garage.

They go into detail about sorting items into boxes based on their function and the room that they will go into, but so that you will actually have to read the book, I am not going to explain all of that here!!!

They provide a lot of do's and don'ts, as well as things to think about prior to getting started.  If you are going to have a "team" help you, there is a sample "Game Plan" that you can use for your team meeting that your team can reference during the day.  There are also ideas on how to pick your team

They even explain how to do "Mount Rushmore" as a team of one!

Once you have completed your "Mount Rushmore," and are ready to move into section two, "Keep the Good Life Going," the authors give a lot of tips about how to keep your clutter under control.   They provide you with "House Clutter-Busters," "Family Clutter-Busters," and "Time Clutter-Busters" that can help keep you on track from going back to the clutter home that you have worked so hard via with the "Mount Rushmore" method to declutter and keep moving forward!

If you are interested in learning more about "Mount Rushmore" method to clear the clutter from your home, you can get the book, "5 Days to a Clutter-Free House," at your local bookstore or at any online retailer.

I was provided with a copy of this book from Revell Books as part of their book blogger tour in exchange for a truthful review of the book.  In no way has my thoughts in this review been influenced by the receipt of this book.