“Nobody Wants Your Sh*t” by Messie Condo

Now, was that really necessary?

Despite the fact that the note at the beginning of Nobody Wants Your Sh*t assured me that it wouldn’t just rehash all the same info from the previous book… it turned out it pretty much does. Reading it was necessary for me (I had to know what it said, just in case it said something useful). But I didn’t really come away from it with any new information.

Okay, that’s not entirely true. NWYS takes the first book’s question “does this make me happy?” and adds “what happens to it when I’m gone?” The concept of "death cleaning" is introduced: getting rid of all the crap that you don't really want anyway, to avoid passing that responsibility on when you pass on. And it addresses the issue of future plans for all the crap that you really do want, taking a good hard look at whether it will immediately turn in to crap that no one wants after you're gone. 

I was on board with the idea of death cleaning long before I started reading the book, and I was looking for concrete ideas and instructions. (I definitely didn't need Chapter 1, which is the motivation to do death cleaning.) Here are a few tidbits I noted: 

• The author lists fifteen benefits of “death cleaning”, and suggests you focus on the benefit that “calls to you”. I’m going with “a deeper appreciation of what you have” and “a clutter-free space you can be proud of.”
• Fear is not the best motivator; pick a motivator that makes you feel good instead. 
• Make declutterring a priority.
• Start small: declutter for five minutes a day, or get rid of one thing at a time. 

Guess what? This book was the first thing I decluttered when I finished reading it.