Today I want to tell you about the first book to ever get me excited about house-cleaning. (Not that it particularly took, but it got me motivated…) Don Aslett’s Clutter’s Last Stand came along long before Marie Kondo put pen to paper to create The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying-Up, but it affected me just as profoundly. As you can tell from the photo above, I have gone back to this book again and again.

For one thing, it is very engaging. It is written in a light, humorous style that brings a smile along with the sting of the advice. (And de-cluttering advice CAN sting a bit…)

It is illustrated with lovely cartoon characters in situations you can relate to, and it’s full of handy lists:

It includes checklists to help you pinpoint areas that might be harder for you to deal with:

As you can see, I’ve been through the list several times over the years…

Despite the light tone, the advice is sound and useful. I am probably about to read it again as we are embarking on this new round of de-cluttering. I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who wants to get a handle on your housecleaning. I love the book so much that I got a new copy:

(And I even just ordered the second edition. I will update this RieView if there are significant changes.)

There are dozens of copies for sale used on Amazon of this 1984 edition, and almost as many of the 2005 edition if you want to check it out without a lot of out-of-pocket expense. And, remember, I will be updating if there are significant changes between the editions.