Saira Priest

Okay, confession time, I tend to be a bit of a hoarder. Oh, I won't be appearing on THAT SHOW any time soon but I do have a tendency to hold on to things because, well, you never know when you'll need to see how much your phone bill was, say, five years ago and you can never have too many (insert anything you will never use again but ya never know, am I right?).

Anyway, so this book seemed the perfect remedy to the problem and much cheaper than buying a new home to store all my great yard sale finds until I can put them into my own yard sale to make room for more stuff.

I found the book interesting and helpful. Has it solved all my problems. Well, no but I am much more aware of my tendency to hoard useless stuff and much more importantly why I hoard useless stuff. It has also made me realize how much of my time and energy is wasted moving stuff around that I will never use while the space it takes up could be better occupied with stuff I do use and how much this impacts my emotional well-being. So, after finishing this book, I cleaned out my drawers, threw away a bunch of old papers (and found a few I had been hunting for), packed up a bunch of boxes of books I have read and will not read again, some old CDs and VHF tapes which I haven't watched in, oh, a decade or so, some old clothes which I was holding onto because there was always a possibility I could lose that extra few pounds and surely neon will come back into style someday, and I donated them to my favourite charity store.

So can I say this book helped? And will I always stay on the proper path to my zen? I don't know, but at least for now I can see that there really are floors to my closets and donating stuff felt a whole lot better than hoarding it. So if you are a bit of a hoarder or looking to buy something for your favourite hoarder (hint: not your daughter-in-law), this might just be the perfect gift.… (mer)

Remember the Serenity Prayer:

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Such is the message of this book. Without negativity and no “you’ve got to”, Saira digs into the deep emotions behind hoarding. In fact the word “hoarding and hoarder” is used very little in this book.
Instead what you will find is how to deal with the underlying causes of hoarding. Emotions and habits are identified and how to free yourself of their hold is explained, putting you back in control of your life.
I was really surprised with the contents of this book as it is full of positives. Many ask why – well this book explains why and how to turn the negative into positive and take back your life.

I did receive a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.… (mer)