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Gail Blanke has written a book that has me on a clutter control roll. Fueling the urge to purge is the essence of her most recent book, “Throw Out Fifty Things: Clear the Clutter, Find Your Life.”
Blanke writes a humorous and highly inspirational guide to clearing physical and emotional clutter from your life. In fact, this book has inspired me to plan my next vacation around bringing order to my very own life.
Blanke doesn’t think we pay enough attention to the lighter, prouder feeling that comes from cleaning stuff out of our lives. She writes, “This is your life we’re talking about, and we’re going to let go of anything that clutters it up.”
She has been known to ask various hapless members of her family, “Hey, you want to see my closet?” Although I hope to unleash my energy, I don’t think I’ll invite you to see my closet after my cleaning vacation.
Throughout the book and especially in the second half of the book, after you have gotten your house and office uncluttered, Blanke spells out the clear message that once you start throwing out a lot of physical clutter, once you get on a roll, a new urge kicks in. This is when you get to the really good stuff, all the clutter in your mind. Blanke’s book has led me to believe that it is the physical stuff that keeps us from realizing our potentials. I will feel calm and liberated when clutter is gone from my life.
Included in the back of the book is a scorecard to copy (or better yet, go to
www.throwoutfiftythings.com to print it) so you can celebrate your accomplishments.
This book encourages you to make the decisions easy, move forward, and to spend your time, energy and space on stepping forward with confidence.
The aim is not to create a merely tidy or organized life. Blanke says “Our aim is to clarify who we are now, to decide what’s important to us now and to answer the question, ‘What the heck am I doing here?’” A person should look forward to their vacation, and with book and scorecard in hand, I am.
Start now. “Throw Out Fifty Things” can be requested in book or audio format at any La Crosse County Library with branches in Bangor, Campbell, Holmen, Onalaska, and West Salem.
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