The Clutter Connection by Cassandra Aarssen

I’ve always struggled with mess and keeping things tidy. I try to clean up but things just seem to get away on me and look messy again so quickly that it seems almost pointless to tidy up. Then I noticed a book on Libby called The Clutter Connection by Cassandra Aarssen. I borrowed it with a bit of scepticism as I had already tried Marie Kondo’s methods with minimal success.

I read The Clutter Connection in two sittings (an unheard of phenomenon for a non-fiction book). The author explains that many people struggle to keep things tidy by conventional means because it is not their natural system. Still sceptical but getting very hopeful I continued to read. Cassandra explained that people who try to keep things tidy in a style that is not theirs are prone to fail and can believe that they are just messy people. She has a test you can take (it's in her book and her blog clutterbug.me) to determine what type of clutterbug you are.

Once she described the different types I knew I was a butterfly and the test confirmed it. Butterflies like to see all their belongings for Fear of Out of Sight Out of Mind. Butterflies like Visual Abundance and need Organisational Simple systems. I also have a touch of Bee (Bees like to finish something before tidying it up. I made my husband take the test also – anticipating he would be a Cricket or Ladybug as those looked to be the super-organized ones. But no he is a Bee and looking at the way he arranges the kitchen I can now see it.

This book was very helpful and although I suffer from no magic delusions that I am going to be tidy all the time, I found it an encouraging and motivational read. Some of her tips include making sure everything has a home (I’m really bad at that one). Also when you need to get started and are lacking motivation, take a rubbish bin or bag and throw away rubbish. I recently did the rubbish one and got rid of the containers on my desk. Now I need to work on finding good homes for everything, a bit of downsizing and displaying the right items not everything.

I have now subscribed to Cassandra's Youtube channel and bought Kindle copies of two of her other books – Cluttered Mess to Organized Success Workbook and Real Life Organizing: Clean and Clutter Free in 15 Minutes a Day. I highly recommend Cassandra and her books, blog and Youtube channel.

Posted by Andrea

Catalogue link: The Clutter Connection