Allie Casazza

Skimmed at Kate's house. Main points:
--All of the STUFF in your home takes up your space (think what you pay per square foot, and how you want to use that space) and time
--Less clutter means less time spent picking up, tidying, cleaning, etc. and more quality time with family or to spend however you want
--Start in the bathroom! Most people don't have a lot of sentimental attachment to half-used bottles of old lotion
--Research shows a link between amount of stuff and amount of stress
--Make three piles: keep, donate, trash

See also: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo… (meer)

Be the Boss of Your Stuff is fabulous! It is packed full of great helpful hits and ideas written in words that kids will easily understand. My two kids found it very useful in taking back control of their messy rooms and transforming the rooms into a useable, non-cluttered living space and have learned techniques into keeping their newly organized rooms clean for months to come. This book should be in all households with kids. Quite frankly, I found it useful for my own clutter! Highly recommend!… (meer)

Minimalistic living swings down to a middle grade level to spark ideas, possibilities, and inspiration to get rid of unnecessary clutter and such.

This book gets down to business and explains not only how to transform a messy room into a decluttered bedroom but presents the reasons why it's worth giving it a go. It's clear that the author does have kids of their own as the writing, while rolling through with a clear purpose, doesn't talk down to the reader or hold a preachy tone. It explains things clearly and addresses the areas which are important to the age group, and never makes their belongings seem childish or ridiculous. The tips are, for the most part, do-able and never come across as forceful.

For each chapter, which leads down the path of de-clutterisation, there aren't only reasons and hints, but plenty of questions readers can answer or images they can create to help them along the way (such as sketching their own dream room). There are quite a few of these to fill in, and while fun for some readers, I can see it getting to be a bit much for others. But decluttering isn't everyone's thing. This book also gives hints to parents to help them guide the reader in the right direction without taking over. There are bright illustrations included right along with photographs, which are supposed to inspire. Unfortunately, the photos are not realistic and fit more of the type of room found in a magazine than one many middle graders would enjoy living in. Also, the messy end would have been nice to see as well so readers could see a transformation.

This is a pretty well-done guide to help edge middle graders toward a more orderly room. There is quite a bit of text and explanation, but this can also be skimmed across and used a little more as a pick and choose. The ideas are good, the writing well done, and readers will leave with, at least, a few ideas of how they can approach their own rooms.… (meer)