New Order: A Decluttering Handbook for Creative Folks (and Everyone Else)

Admit it: you’ve read every organizing book that ever came out.  I know, I do it too.  This one is special.  First of all, it has cartoons.  Second, it has Fay Wolf, who is a working artist as well as an organizer.  She understands that creative people are usually better at inspiration than execution.  That’s why this book is only partly about how, and mostly about why and what next.

New Order condenses a lot of potent concepts into a concise space.  This 200-page book really will tell you everything you need to know, complete with diagrams.  There is a section on places to donate particular categories of items, many of which I had never considered, and it inspired me to finally donate my wedding dress.  (It’s going to a human trafficking prevention charity).  I also learned that FedEx and Office Depot stores offer bulk shredding services.  There are organizations that recycle everything from bras to art supplies.  I know many of us are reluctant to let anything go until we know it can go to PRECISELY THE RIGHT PLACE.  There’s bound to be at least one charity mentioned in this book that will inspire you to put a bag together for its sake.

The book also has a section on digital clutter, including email and photos.  This is an issue of reclaiming mental bandwidth.  Notifications and social media are other areas where modern living has gotten ahold of us and stolen our attention.  Did Leonardo da Vinci stop writing Moby-Dick because he had a bunch of chat requests?  No he did not.

Fay Wolf knows us.  She knows our first impulse is to go out and buy organizing supplies.  She knows how much we procrastinate and how much we let resistance hold us back.  She knows that once we get past the decluttering/getting organized stage, we will then be intimidated by the glorious magnetic force of our dream projects.  That’s why she talks about networking and collaboration in a decluttering book.  It’s really about moving forward and learning to make our creative ideas into reality.  That’s much easier to do in a cleared space that is dedicated to the purpose.

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