Books can provide strategies and emotional support when we’re trying to organise our lives. Illustration / Monica Garwood, The New York Times
Books can provide strategies and emotional support when we’re trying to organise our lives. Illustration / Monica Garwood, The New York Times
Professional organisers share their favourite books that will help you get on top of household chaos.
Tyler Moore was two days into a mental health leave when inspiration struck. He and his wife, Emily, were crammed into a small apartment with two young children; the 38-year-old educator wascraving order.
He asked his wife if they could rearrange the apartment, swapping bedrooms with their children. Moore liked the idea but begged him to hold off. When she went out with the kids, however, he started “imploding” their home, he said.
She returned to a mess and told him they were going to need some help. They checked out two Marie Kondo books from the library: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and Spark Joy. This, Moore said, was the first step in organising their space.
Now a tidying expert himself, Moore runs a popular Instagram account called Tidy Dad and recently published his first book, Tidy Up Your Life: Rethinking How to Organise, Declutter, and Make Space for What Matters Most. But he still remembers the chaos in his New York City apartment, and how Kondo felt like “an impartial person who could step in” and guide them, he said.
Books can provide strategies and emotional support when we’re trying to organise our lives. So we asked professional organisers and other experts to recommend their favourites.
‘The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning’ by Margareta Magnusson
One day, we will be gone – but our things will still be here. This 2017 book, a favourite among all the experts we spoke to, is a call for people to declutter while they still can.
“No one wants to think about their own mortality,” said Patty Morrissey, the programme director of the KonMari Club, an organising community created by Marie Kondo. But this book helps present organisation in a positive way – as a “life review”, she said.
For example, Magnusson recommends designating a “Throw Away” box for personal items that have sentimental value – but may not for anyone else – and then labelling it so that your loved ones can discard it when you’re gone.
The Swedish concept of "death cleaning" encourages people to declutter before they die to ease the burden on loved ones. Photo / 123RF
‘Organising From the Inside Out’, by Julie Morgenstern
Morgenstern is known as “one of the OGs in organising,” Matt Paxton, author of Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff, explained.
In this 1998 book, Morgenstern presents an organising strategy called S.P.A.C.E., which stands for: Sort, or group items; purge, or get rid of unnecessary things; assign a home, or designate a specific place for every object; containerise, or organise items with the help of bins, boxes, and other containers; and equalise, or check in regularly to tweak the process when needed.
This framework, however, isn’t meant to be rigid. The book “helps us organise in a way that’s right for us,” said Gretchen Rubin, host of the Happier podcast. For example, Morgenstern encourages people who are chronically late to store essentials (like keys and wallets) near the door. This practical guide, full of insights, shows that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to organising, Rubin added.
‘How to Keep House While Drowning’, by KC Davis
Tidying up can be difficult for anyone, but it can be uniquely challenging for people living with ADHD and mental health conditions like anxiety and depression. For those in search of judgment-free guidance, this 2022 book offers a simple approach.
While Davis recommends breaking things into small, manageable tasks, she stresses the importance of not being too hard on yourself, by doing things like running the dishwasher before it’s completely full.
The book is also written so people can skip around, diving into the section that they need, which can be particularly useful for people who find focusing difficult. Morrissey recommends it to clients who aren’t “striving for aspirational levels of order” but are “just trying to get through the day”.
How to Keep House While Drowning was written specifically for those struggling with mental health challenges. Photo / 123RF
‘What We Keep’, by Bill Shapiro and Naomi Wax
This book, published in 2018, isn’t a decluttering how-to. Instead, the authors interviewed hundreds of people, including truckers and nuns, asking them whether important items symbolise pivotal moments or help them remember relationships and people who are no longer with them.
Each story invites readers to consider what their own objects mean. When you start to think about “what you’ve chosen to keep and interrogate the ‘why’ – whether for utility or sparking a memory – that is really beautiful,” Moore said.
‘ADD-Friendly Ways to Organise Your Life’, by Kathleen Nadeau and Judith Kolberg
This 2002 book offers people with ADHD flexible ways to approach organising. For example, many people experience the “out of sight, out of mind” phenomenon, where they might forget about items they don’t see regularly. The authors, however, suggest transparent storage containers or open shelving to keep important items visible.
It is “even written in ADHD-friendly language,” Morrissey said, adding that it includes helpful charts and illustrations, too. This book, she added, “is a great way to help people who struggle with the execution and completion of a task get their clutter under control”.
