I tend to read a lot of organization books because I’m always on a mission to make my house minimal/functional. What I did really appreciate about this is the emphasis on how different people organize spaces so differently and how important it is to adjust your systems if you live with others so that it creates the most harmonious home and what that looks like in practice. I also felt that her description of the need for visual and organizational abundance/simplicity was very insightful, and I am glad I read this if not for any other reason than being mindful of the differences in nature when teaching my children how to tidy and organizing their things. I think it would be really easy to miss that, push cleaning/tidying the way I like to do it, and fail to equip them to create strong systems for success in adulthood.

That being said, the book wasn’t really that well written. It was unnecessarily long, and the author’s self proclaimed “distractability” due to ADHD was abundantly clear and kind of hard to deal with. This should have been heavily edited and/or reduced to an article. It didn’t have enough value to be a book, and dragging it on and on with filler stories made it a chore to read.

Two stars for 2 very original ideas (simplicity/abundance and categorizing the most common types of people and what works for them) and zero stars for execution. The idea that everyone can be sorted into one (and only one) Hogwarts house personality type is a bit reductive, as these things usually are, but the axes of her personality matrix (visual organisation vs hidden, sorting things into micro vs macro categories) are a genuine insight that I've found really valuable. (IMO there's a third axis which largely but not entirely maps on to micro vs macro categories: speed/ease of putting stuff away vs speed/ease of getting it out.) This was ahmazing.

Unlike other declutter queens who simply tell you where to put your stuff, Cass shares her insights into four different kinds of people and the challenges they face in terms of being messy and tells you the best style recommended to help you learn how to keep your space clean. Don't believe me?

I grew up with a Cricket the super organized person whose garden shed is organized so neatly, there's an itemized spreadsheet hanging on the wall to inform you of which labeled drawer something is in. You need never search for anything again. In the home office, if you borrow a pair of scissors, she wants you to put them back in their spot on the labeled shelf. Her favorite gift one Christmas was a label machine.

My brother, however, is a Blutterfly. If he cannot see what he has, he forgets he has it, so he leaves everything out where he can find it in piles. She has for years been pulling out her hair trying to figure out how to teach him to keep his little apartment clean. Now, she knows. Cass suggests clear plastic bins with the lids off, left where he can just toss something into one instead of having a super organized space for it. I have a friend with the same "clutter bug" habit. I suspect now that she's a Butterfly and can't wait to introduce her to the concept, because it will change her life.

Just reading the intro, I suspected I might be either a Cricket or a Ladybug. Reading through the Cricket, I kept thinking about the stuff that winds up on my kitchen counter and how often, I have to phone mom for ideas in decluttering. Then I started into the Ladybug chapter and Cass gets me. She is a fellow Ladybug. The accumulation of clutter, followed by annoyance at it, followed by attempts to keep every visible surface clean, followed by chaos in the closet. Ladybugs don't want to see their stuff, so they need pretty containers. But they aren't as organized as Crickets (which I found out a couple of weeks back when putting all my media discs into plastic sleeves for storage in beautiful bins when it got to the alphabetizing, I called it quits; it's just enough that I don't have a wall of movies cluttering up my space and impacting my brain). A messy room drives me nuts.

The last one is the Bee, and they are super detailoriented, busy keeping their house decluttered, but often they gt caught up in trying to be perfect and so they accumulate little honey piles all over the house of things that don't have an "away" space yet.

Since this is an introductory book, it's about helping you figure out the process that works for you and think about you space than it is telling you exactly what to do which means I need to figure out what winds up being left out in the open and why. But that's kinda fun, because I'm a decluttering bug who maybe after reading this book will have the kitchen cabinets she wants. I suspect some plastic containers are in my future Cas does a brilliant job breaking down various organizational mentalities so that everyone can be organized. Her insight really opened my eyes and inspired me to take a fresh look at my home. Her fun and insightful book doesn't tell you how to organize anything but rather, empowers you to find the best solution for your life. If I could give this book than 5 stars, I would! 'The Clutter Connection' is right on point in explaining why people organize the way they do and why 'one size fits all' organizing doesn't work for everyone. The author goes through four different styles of organizing and helps you figure out which 'clutterbug' you are, how to get the most out of each organizing style and work with and live with people of varying organizing styles.

It's quite simple, really. You're either a ladybug: someone who craves visual simplicity in the form of not having a lot of stuff out on display and organizing style that's simple and noncomplex. Crickets crave visual simplicity but would like organizational abundance in life. Bees like to see their stuff out in the open and are extremely organized. Butterflies love the visual abundance but prefer to keep their organizing simple.

It's a fairly quick read, filled with lots of great examples and images to illustrate each ClutterBug organizing style perfectly. There's also plenty of easy breakdown lists to refer to easily after you've read the book. There's a short quiz to find out your ClutterBug organizing style (it's also available on the ClutterBug website). This will truly change the way I think for the rest of my life! This has helped me so much, and subsequently my family, who have very different ideas of organization. I was overwhelmed and frustrated by the countless hours I would spend organizing only to very shortly have that area looking even worse by my family. If something isn't working, I study it to figure out ways to improve. This showed me my husband and I have completely different ideas of what organization is and we were both frustrated with each other, which can harbor underlying resentment and drive a wedge in any relationship. By utilizing this resource we were able to clearly identify our contrasting styles and brainstorm for how to appease us both. I think this is not only a superb resource for any homemaker, but for anyone living together, whether families or roommates, to learn each others organizational styles and better create harmony within the home. 2.5 stars

A decent read which detailed some interesting psychological concepts around how our brain processes mess/clutter.

Overall a bit too reductionist for my taste and repetitive. I also found it ironic that the author’s premise was trying to tell us there’s nothing wrong with us if we’re messy, we just have organisational ADHD… whatever the heck that means. She has ADHD herself but it felt like a really weird, baseless comparison especially when she doesn’t even explain what she means by that. I don’t think it was a waste of time but the book left a lot to desire too. Overall some good concepts ideas for organizing. But, it's repetitive rambles a bit. I think the book would have been better served to delete the repetitive parts digressions , instead, present some additional, concrete organizing ideas.

Or, just make it a shorter book overall. I feel like the crux of the info could be presented in a short booklet. ⇬ The Clutter Connection: How Your Personality Type Determines Why You Organize the Way You Do ↵ Fans of The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo and The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin will love The Clutter Connection by organization expert Cassandra Aarssen. An organization book for diverse habits You're not messy, you just organize differently. The Clutter Connection examines and explains the correlation between brain types and how they directly relate to organization and clutter. Cassandra Aarssen smashes the stereotype that some people are naturally messy and offers listeners insight and real-life solutions based on their unique personal organizing style. The Clutter Connection will help you get organized, be more productive, and finally understand the why behind your clutter. Individualized real-life organizing Organizing isn't one size fits all. Let go of the preconceived and conventional notions of what organization looks like and finally discover what Clutterbug you are. With self-awareness comes happiness, personal growth, and lasting change. The Clutter Connection examines the four different organizing styles and how they relate to each other;how motivation and happiness can be directly affected by our space;the 3P's-productivity, procrastination, and perfectionism-and how they are connected to your unique organizing style; andhow you can finally become clutter-free simply by knowing yourself better. The Gaza Kitchen you just organize differently. The Clutter Connection examines and explains the correlation between brain types and how they directly relate to organization and clutter. Cassandra Aarssen smashes the stereotype that some people are naturally messy and offers listeners insight and real-life solutions based on their unique personal organizing style. The Clutter Connection will help you get organized Pill Sovereign Reborn: Action Adventure Novel ( Wuxia Cultivation Time Travel Fantasy Book 4 ) be more productive Rage of the Phoenix and finally understand the why behind your clutter. Individualized real-life organizing Organizing isn't one size fits all. Let go of the preconceived and conventional notions of what organization looks like and finally discover what Clutterbug you are. With self-awareness comes happiness The Baron Goes Fast personal growth Lea Vol and lasting change. The Clutter Connection examines the four different organizing styles and how they relate to each other;how motivation and happiness can be directly affected by our space;the 3P's-productivity Blind Spot procrastination Equine Cultures in Transition and perfectionism-and how they are connected to your unique organizing style; andhow you can finally become clutter-free simply by knowing yourself better.