Listen free for 30 days
-
The Art of Discarding
- How to get rid of clutter and find joy
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 3 hrs and 37 mins
- Categories: Health & Wellness, Psychology & Mental Health
People who bought this also bought...
-
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying
- A Simple, Effective Way to Banish Clutter Forever
- By: Marie Kondo
- Narrated by: Lucy Scott
- Length: 4 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Transform your home into a permanently clear and clutter-free space with the incredible KonMari Method. Japan's expert declutterer and professional cleaner Marie Kondo will help you tidy your rooms once and for all with her inspirational step-by-step method. The key to successful tidying is to tackle your home in the correct order, to keep only the things you really love and to do it all at once - and quickly. After that for the rest of your life, you need only to choose what to keep and what to discard.
-
-
Bland, sterile and utterly joyless. The book equivalent of boil in the bag rice.
- By j3n on 20-02-20
-
How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind
- Dealing with Your House's Dirty Little Secrets
- By: Dana K. White
- Narrated by: Dana K. White
- Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"The dirty little secret about most organizing advice is that it's written by organized people," says blogger, speaker, and decluttering expert Dana K. White. "But that's not how my brain works. I'm lost on page three." Dana blogs at A Slob Comes Clean, chronicling her successes and failures with her self-described "deslobification process". In the beginning she used the name Nony (short for aNONYmous), because she was sharing her deep, dark slob secret. Now she has truly come clean - with not only her real name but the strategies she has developed.
-
-
Great to get going with
- By beliveitbeit on 02-06-17
-
Decluttering at the Speed of Life
- Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff
- By: Dana K. White
- Narrated by: Dana K. White
- Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While the world seems to be in love with the idea of tiny houses and minimalism, real women with real families who are constantly growing and changing simply can't purge it all and start from nothing. Yet a home with too much stuff is a home that is difficult to maintain, so where do we begin? Add in paralyzing emotional attachments and constant life challenges, and it can feel almost impossible to make real decluttering progress.
-
-
Real help for the messies of this world
- By Ms. L. J. Branch on 09-03-18
-
The No Spend Year
- How I spent less and lived more
- By: Michelle McGagh
- Narrated by: Lucy Brownhill
- Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Michelle McGagh has been writing about money for over a decade. You'd think that would make her a whiz with her own cash, right? Wrong! Spending with abandon and ignoring bank statements were her modus operandi. Just because she wasn't in serious debt apart from her massive London mortgage, she thought she was in control. She wasn't. Something needed to be done ,but rather than cut back here and there, Michelle's approach was more radical.
-
-
Nothing new and London centric
- By Miss on 19-04-17
-
Project 333
- The Minimalist Fashion Challenge That Proves Less Really Is So Much More
- By: Courtney Carver
- Narrated by: Courtney Carver
- Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Project 333, minimalist expert and author of Soulful Simplicity Courtney Carver takes a new approach to living simply - starting with your wardrobe. Project 333 promises that not only can you survive with just 33 items in your closet for three months, but you'll thrive just like the thousands of woman who have taken on the challenge and never looked back. Let the decluttering begin!
-
-
Great kick starter
- By Charlotte Elizabeth Williams on 24-03-20
-
The Bullet Journal Method
- Track Your Past, Order Your Present, Plan Your Future
- By: Ryder Carroll
- Narrated by: Ryder Carroll
- Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Like many of us, Ryder Carroll tried everything to get organised - countless apps, systems, planners, you name it. Nothing really worked. Then he invented his own simple system that required only pen and paper, which he found both effective and calming. He shared his method with a few friends, and before long he had a worldwide viral movement. Hundreds of thousands of Bullet Journal fans now spread the word and read Ryder's blog and newsletter.
-
-
Over egging the pudding
- By Mr X Stitch on 13-05-19
-
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying
- A Simple, Effective Way to Banish Clutter Forever
- By: Marie Kondo
- Narrated by: Lucy Scott
- Length: 4 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Transform your home into a permanently clear and clutter-free space with the incredible KonMari Method. Japan's expert declutterer and professional cleaner Marie Kondo will help you tidy your rooms once and for all with her inspirational step-by-step method. The key to successful tidying is to tackle your home in the correct order, to keep only the things you really love and to do it all at once - and quickly. After that for the rest of your life, you need only to choose what to keep and what to discard.
-
-
Bland, sterile and utterly joyless. The book equivalent of boil in the bag rice.
- By j3n on 20-02-20
-
How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind
- Dealing with Your House's Dirty Little Secrets
- By: Dana K. White
- Narrated by: Dana K. White
- Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"The dirty little secret about most organizing advice is that it's written by organized people," says blogger, speaker, and decluttering expert Dana K. White. "But that's not how my brain works. I'm lost on page three." Dana blogs at A Slob Comes Clean, chronicling her successes and failures with her self-described "deslobification process". In the beginning she used the name Nony (short for aNONYmous), because she was sharing her deep, dark slob secret. Now she has truly come clean - with not only her real name but the strategies she has developed.
-
-
Great to get going with
- By beliveitbeit on 02-06-17
-
Decluttering at the Speed of Life
- Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff
- By: Dana K. White
- Narrated by: Dana K. White
- Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While the world seems to be in love with the idea of tiny houses and minimalism, real women with real families who are constantly growing and changing simply can't purge it all and start from nothing. Yet a home with too much stuff is a home that is difficult to maintain, so where do we begin? Add in paralyzing emotional attachments and constant life challenges, and it can feel almost impossible to make real decluttering progress.
-
-
Real help for the messies of this world
- By Ms. L. J. Branch on 09-03-18
-
The No Spend Year
- How I spent less and lived more
- By: Michelle McGagh
- Narrated by: Lucy Brownhill
- Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Michelle McGagh has been writing about money for over a decade. You'd think that would make her a whiz with her own cash, right? Wrong! Spending with abandon and ignoring bank statements were her modus operandi. Just because she wasn't in serious debt apart from her massive London mortgage, she thought she was in control. She wasn't. Something needed to be done ,but rather than cut back here and there, Michelle's approach was more radical.
-
-
Nothing new and London centric
- By Miss on 19-04-17
-
Project 333
- The Minimalist Fashion Challenge That Proves Less Really Is So Much More
- By: Courtney Carver
- Narrated by: Courtney Carver
- Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Project 333, minimalist expert and author of Soulful Simplicity Courtney Carver takes a new approach to living simply - starting with your wardrobe. Project 333 promises that not only can you survive with just 33 items in your closet for three months, but you'll thrive just like the thousands of woman who have taken on the challenge and never looked back. Let the decluttering begin!
-
-
Great kick starter
- By Charlotte Elizabeth Williams on 24-03-20
-
The Bullet Journal Method
- Track Your Past, Order Your Present, Plan Your Future
- By: Ryder Carroll
- Narrated by: Ryder Carroll
- Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Like many of us, Ryder Carroll tried everything to get organised - countless apps, systems, planners, you name it. Nothing really worked. Then he invented his own simple system that required only pen and paper, which he found both effective and calming. He shared his method with a few friends, and before long he had a worldwide viral movement. Hundreds of thousands of Bullet Journal fans now spread the word and read Ryder's blog and newsletter.
-
-
Over egging the pudding
- By Mr X Stitch on 13-05-19
-
The Minimalist Home
- A Room-by-Room Guide to a Decluttered, Refocused Life
- By: Joshua Becker
- Narrated by: Joshua Becker
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A popular minimalist blogger and author of The More of Less shows you how to methodically turn your home into a place of peace, contentment, and purposeful living.
-
-
Brilliant, and very easy to understand, amazing
- By savana on 28-02-19
-
The Minimalist Way
- Minimalism Strategies to Declutter Your Life and Make Room for Joy
- By: Erica Layne
- Narrated by: Suehyla El-Attar
- Length: 4 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Discover how to apply the minimalist mindset to every aspect of your life by changing the way you think about your home, career, relationships, family, and money. The Minimalist Way will help you take it one step at a time with simple exercises and activities. Ease into minimalism at your own pace and learn how to let go.
-
-
Awesome and easy to listen to
- By Kindle Customer on 17-10-19
-
The Organised Mum Method
- Transform Your Home in 30 Minutes a Day
- By: Gemma Bray
- Narrated by: Gemma Bray
- Length: 4 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Organised Mum Method is the housekeeping bible that will completely revolutionise your home. Say goodbye to mess, clutter and weekends spent tidying and cleaning! Gemma Bray (aka The Organised Mum) is a firm believer that there is more to life than housework, and over the last decade she has perfected The Organised Mum Method (TOMM).
-
-
Fantastic advice but...
- By BcaM on 02-01-20
-
Start with Your Sock Drawer
- The Simple Guide to Living a Less Cluttered Life
- By: Vicky Silverthorn
- Narrated by: Vicky Silverthorn, Zara Ramm
- Length: 4 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Spring clean your life with this practical, achievable guide to decluttering from the British Marie Kondo. Wardrobes bursting with unworn clothes. Boxes full of obsolete chargers and neglected children's toys. A dresser jammed full of mismatched socks... Sound familiar? Many of us feel increasingly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff packed into our homes. Being organised at home doesn't just mean always knowing where you left the remote; it means being able to face the world with a clear mind and increased energy. It all starts at home.
-
Simply Clean
- The Proven Method for Keeping Your Home Organized, Clean, and Beautiful in Just 10 Minutes a Day
- By: Becky Rapinchuk
- Narrated by: Madeleine Maby
- Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the cleaning and home-keeping expert and creator of the wildly popular Clean Mama blog comes a simple and accessible cleaning guide with a proven step-by-step schedule for tidying a home in just 10 minutes a day.
-
-
Content is better read than listened
- By lazylinchen on 20-04-17
-
Essentialism
- The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
- By: Greg McKeown
- Narrated by: Greg McKeown
- Length: 6 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Have you ever found yourself struggling with information overload? Have you ever felt both overworked and underutilised? Do you ever feel busy but not productive? If you answered yes to any of these, the way out is to become an essentialist. In Essentialism, Greg McKeown, CEO of a leadership and strategy agency in Silicon Valley who has run courses at Apple, Google and Facebook, shows you how to achieve what he calls the disciplined pursuit of less.
-
-
I don't usually write reviews.
- By Wayne Hutton on 03-01-16
-
The War of Art
- By: Steven Pressfield
- Narrated by: Steven Pressfield
- Length: 2 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Think of The War of Art as tough love...for yourself. Since 2002, The War of Art has inspired people around the world to defeat "resistance"; to recognize and knock down dream-blocking barriers and to silence the naysayers within us. Resistance kicks everyone's butt, and the desire to defeat it is equally as universal. The War of Art identifies the enemy that every one of us must face, outlines a battle plan to conquer this internal foe, then pinpoints just how to achieve the greatest success.
-
-
.
- By Anonymous User on 25-04-20
-
I Will Teach You to Be Rich
- No Guilt. No Excuses. No B.S. Just a 6-Week Program That Works (Second Edition)
- By: Ramit Sethi
- Narrated by: Ramit Sethi
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Buy as many lattes as you want. Spend extravagantly on the things you love. Live your rich life instead of tracking every last expense with Ramit Sethi’s simple, powerful, and effective six-week program for gaining control over your finances. This isn’t typical advice from a money expert. In this completely updated second edition, Ramit teaches you how to choose long-term investments and the right bank accounts. With his characteristic no-BS perspective, he shows how to squeeze every hidden benefit out of your credit cards.
-
-
Useless to anyone outside the US
- By K-Pat on 30-06-19
-
The Infinite Game
- How Great Businesses Achieve Long-lasting Success
- By: Simon Sinek
- Narrated by: Simon Sinek
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Infinite Game, Sinek applies game theory to explore how great businesses achieve long-lasting success. He finds that building long-term value and healthy, enduring growth - that playing the infinite game - is the only thing that matters to your business.
-
-
Back on form
- By jc on 05-03-20
-
Clean My Space
- The Secret to Cleaning Better, Faster, and Loving Your Home Every Day
- By: Melissa Maker
- Narrated by: Melissa Maker
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Melissa Maker is beloved by fans all over the world for her completely reengineered approach to cleaning. As the dynamic new authority on home and living, Melissa knows that to invest any of our precious time in cleaning, we need to see big, long-lasting results. So, she developed her method to help us get the most out of our effort and keep our homes fresh and welcoming every day.
-
-
For absolute beginners only
- By Anonymous User on 28-01-19
-
It's All Too Much
- An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff
- By: Peter Walsh
- Narrated by: Peter Walsh
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When you think of what it will take to clean your house, are you so overwhelmed you throw up your hands and cry, "It's all too much"? If somewhere along the way you've simply lost the ability to keep your home organized and clutter-free, then It's All Too Much has the solution you've been searching for.
-
-
Makes sense to me...
- By Cath Ellison on 18-03-17
-
Happier at Home
- By: Gretchen Rubin
- Narrated by: Gretchen Rubin
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin worked out general theories of happiness. Here she goes deeper on factors that matter for home, such as possessions, marriage, time and parenthood. How can she control the cubicle in her pocket? How might she spotlight her family's treasured possessions? And it really was time to replace that dud toaster. And what does she want from her home? A place that calms her and energises her. A place that, by making her feel safe, will free her to take risks. Also, while Rubin wants to be happier at home, she wants to appreciate how much happiness is there already.
Summary
A combination of tiny homes and a love of stylish homeware has left Japanese people hungry for advice on organization, decluttering and tidying up. Indeed, in this era of mass consumption, we are all drowning in 'stuff', despite our best efforts to keep on top of the clutter that collects in our homes, our office spaces and even our cars. All this clutter causes us mental anguish. However, as we all know, throwing things away can be difficult - it clashes with the values instilled in us from an early age of not wasting things, reusing items, and keeping things 'for a rainy day'. Simply put, we feel guilty about getting rid of things.
Enter Nagisa Tatsumi and her bold suggestion - that it's okay to throw stuff away. Tatsumi's book Suteru Gijyutsu, or The Art of Discarding, was a sensation when it was published in Japan, selling one million copies in the first six months after publication in 2000. In it, she argues that we need to learn to let go and tackles head-on the psychological issues that people have with getting rid of things, in particular a reluctance to discard things 'just in case', the desire to hoard things and guilt about getting rid of things that were given as gifts.
The book offers practical advice and techniques to help listeners learn to let go of stuff that is holding them back as well as advice on acquiring less in the first place; if we buy less, there's less to get rid of. She takes readers through a step-by-step process of getting rid of household items, clothes and books - and promises a clutter-free, calmer life where we are free from 'accumulation syndrome' and where, ultimately, less is more.
More from the same
What listeners say about The Art of Discarding
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Katherine Ratcliffe
- 01-12-17
Waste of time
Anti- environmental and a waste of time. I bought this because Marie Kondo- who’s book the ‘life changing magic of tidying up’ references it. I think it must have been an entirely new concept when it came out- but having read Marie Condo’s books and books on minimalism, this is a tedious listen. It is basically just lists of scenarios. I could barely finish it.
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sparklett
- 16-11-17
Nothing New
I was excited to get started listening to this book. Sadly I found that it offered nothing new & I felt that the option of giving to charity or a friend was not given as bigger stage as I personally would of liked. In all honestly, I did find that the tone of the book was a bit condescending, this could be just the loss of its intended tone via translation or the narrator’s voice. I realised after listening that it may also be tainted by what are my own first thoughts on hearing or reading the word discarding, which is throwing in the bin.This book is not for me.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jo
- 22-04-17
Started well then bored me to tears
Starts really well but you get the idea after the first few chapters - by chapter 17 I'd lost the will to live with it, so boring & basic & common sense
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dan
- 26-09-19
Not that useful for me
I listened to this book all the way through but found that the value was quite limited compared to other books on tidying and organisation such as Kondo's work. The bulk of the text focuses on listing household items, situations in which we may avoid discarding them, and the consequences of not discarding in that scenario. If you are someone with the habit of holding onto things "just in case" it may come in useful "someday", or you are someone who avoids discarding due to fear of waste, then I could see that some of these scenarios could hit home. But I think this book didn't adequately address the emotional impact of tidying and discarding or give much help on how to manage it.
There is a small amount of material on methods for choosing what to discard and ways to get rid of things without going to landfill. However, this didn't go much deeper than the suggestion to set time/quantity limits on items and sell things on eBay. I didn't think there was much additional insight. The author also doesn't address the danger of relapse and seems quite happy to endorse a cycle of buying and discarding frequently as a habit.
Overall, I think the message of the book could be summed up as "You don't need it. Just throw it out". If you are someone who needs that message drilled home then this definitely does the trick. But to this end, I feel the book becomes repetitive with this same message being repeated over and over in slightly different ways.
I don't think this book is without merit (hence 3 stars). I just think that its usefulness is quite limited both in scope and in terms of who it would be useful to. I would recommend this book if avoiding discarding things is by far your biggest problem (as opposed to the actual process tidying and organising).
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- lindsey
- 17-07-19
Rather funny
I really enjoyed this book. It is full of useful information and rather funny in parts.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- sharon
- 04-09-18
Brilliant
This is what I should have read years ago, what a revelation. This book surely has helped thousands and will help thousands more. Thank you
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mrs A
- 10-01-18
Perfect spring cleaning inspiration!
Easy to listen to, basic concept repeated in different ways but interesting none the less
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Shashi
- 05-10-17
Good perspective & manual to straighten them up..
Though written from a Japanese point of view, I found this book quite relevant for all humans and birds across the globe. It gives a good perspective & can be a manual to straighten the compulsive hoarders. The various examples shared help relate to the actual problem of accumulating everything and motivate to start discarding with or without discernment. Overall I liked the book and recommend it to my fellow hoarders.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Vivian
- 21-03-17
good advice, perhaps better read than heard
I had a difficult time actually listening and would frequently be drifting away and having to re-listen to the same chapter. The way the book is written is better suited to actual reading, and the narration felt cold and distant. Nagisa Tatsumi provides many examples to illustrate her concepts and help you understand your own path based on your situation. These were the hardest to listen to and is where I often drifted away in other thoughts.
The ideas and prescriptive methods put forth by Nagisa Tatsumi are good and convincing otherwise.
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- RBBard
- 07-11-19
The Art of Discarding
So much info to digest, but I'm sure ready to begin decluttering. Start Small: wise! Thank you, Ruth
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- Linda
- 17-08-18
An eye opener
Very good advice. I intend to begin right away. don't agree with everything but definitely great ideas.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- BC
- 27-12-20
Not what I expected
But good. This is more a look at consumerism and using minimalism as a means to deal with it. I enjoyed the thoughtfulness and explanations.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 17-09-20
Changed my discarding mindset
An eye-opening book even after reading two books about the Konmari method. Very enjoyable too.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- NY
- 10-01-19
oh my gosh useless and boring and annoying!
oh my gosh useless and boring and annoying!
don't bother it hurts your ears
returned this book!