Rate this book

Living With Less: How To Downsize To 100 Personal Possessions (2013)

by Mary Lambert(Favorite Author)

2.16 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1908170980 (ISBN13: 9781908170989)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Cico

review 1: This book clearly had big aspirations and, sadly, feel very short. In an attempt to make the book's mission accessible, the directions for living with less and downsizing to just 100 personal possessions takes some major short cuts that undermine the whole spirit of the text. Lambert advises pairing like items--all of your shoes, all of your nail polishes, etc--and not counting shared items or décor--pictures on the wall, lamps, end tables, plates, pots and pans, Tupperware. This renders the advice within ineffective. On top of that, the personal narrative within, as copied from Mary's blog, are few and far between, simply acting as filler rather than bringing a supportive voice that makes this all seem possible. The examples used are stale and repetitive, as are the mini... more quizzes and the how-to steps. For each category of belongings, Mary could have saved herself a lot of work and simply put an asterisk that says **see previous page, as it's all the same: get two trash bags/boxes/piles, label one trash, one charity, and one keep, divide stuff accordingly.
review 2: This book would be fine for someone who is new to the idea of uncluttering. It has time estimates for each room.However, the criteria for what counts as a personal item seemed arbitrary. Wedding rings, toothbrushes, and clocks count, but books and DVDs don't? An entire category like purses can count as one item?The other funny thing is that the photos are of minimalist rooms, but the drawings seem to celebrate having piles of stuff. The cover drawing has something like 68 items! less

Download links for: Living with Less: How to Downsize to 100 Personal Possessions

Advertising