In my opinion, this is THE book on this topic. It enabled me to de-clutter two homes; my own and that of my Dad, who had dementia and passed away, and move into Dad's house in an organized way.

I literally could not have accomplished what I did without this book. It covers every room in your home, in a practical, step-by-step way. But first, it does something I think is really smart, and perhaps unique: it examines the emotional, psychological ways in which we "saddle" ourselves with things that do us more harm than good.

I found it pleasant reading. I felt the author really understood my situation and was calmly and reassuringly leading me toward the solution to my problem. I felt encouraged. I found myself more and more excited about de-cluttering, as I saw more and more empty space (!) in my home. It gave me a great feeling of freedom.

That is why I give this book my highest recommendation with no reservation. After I read this book, I had some credit on my Amazon account, and a friend asked me to help her de-clutter. I had heard of Marie Kondo's book, so I bought it, thinking something in it might help me to help my friend better. Bad idea. There was not one useful idea in her book that wasn't covered better in Mellen's.

There was, however, a lot of what I consider a waste of time: how to fold your socks, thanking your clothes for protecting your body (I'm not joking, here), and the terrible time Kondo had in her life before she figured out the right way to tidy up. The relatively few people who gave this book a low rating appear to either not have read it, not liked the writing style, or refused to really TRY this guy's suggestions.