Don Aslett (1935–2024)

My "light" reading often seems to consist of reading decluttering books, lol. I guess the thought of cleaning house, taming clutter, & tossing things makes me feel refreshed & light. (And it often motivates me to trash or donate plenty of things from my home, just as it has done in this case.)

I think Aslett was among the forefront of writers talking about decluttering (which is now popular today in the minimalism & simplicity living trends). He makes a good case for starting now, this show more weekend, on your decluttering. His premise is that you'll never find free time to do it & that someday will never emerge. Just dig in & start & the momentum will keep you going.

There is one sure thing about clutter. It is not just going to go away by itself. It has never been known to evaporate or dissolve, and very few robbers are likely to take it. And the good fairy with the magic wand is probably at Wal-Mart buying more clutter herself. So what is yours is yours and will remain yours until you take command of it.

He ranges from the whys of clutter, to why decluttering is good for you (& others), as well as some detailed lists of items to consider/look for when decluttering.

A worthwhile read in the realm of decluttering books. show less

This one was a DNF for me. I didn't get very far into it, so I won't leave a rating. I found much of the content to be repetitive, or in page-long spurts that weren't very interesting. It felt as if I was reading some never-ending prologue, forever out of reach from content worthy of just comfortably reading.

I will say that I liked the author's perspective on the amount of time we have lessening as we age. Though we might have loved all our things when we were younger and had more time for show more them, now we have to pick and choose. All those things we don't have time to use but still keep because we, theoretically, never stopped liking them- they're burying the things we want to invest our time and attention in today.

That logic helped me let go. I decided to finally give away the ocarina I'll never have time to learn to play, and all my fishkeeping supplies. Fish are gorgeous to look at, sure. But they dont add enough to my life that I want to be burdened with the cost and time of upkeeping my own tanks. I get more pleasure from cross-stitching while I watch a movie, getting lost in the pages of a sprawling fantasy, or gaming at midnight with friends.

Part of this new adventure in respecting my time has been knowing when to put a book down. If it doesn't capture my attention, there are dozens of soon-to-be favorites just waiting on the shelf.

Thanks to Don Aslett for the fresh perspective. show less

This one was a DNF for me. I didn't get very far into it, so I won't leave a rating. I found much of the content to be repetitive, or in page-long spurts that weren't very interesting. It felt as if I was reading some never-ending prologue, forever out of reach from content worthy of just comfortably reading.

I will say that I liked the author's perspective on the amount of time we have lessening as we age. Though we might have loved all our things when we were younger and had more time for show more them, now we have to pick and choose. All those things we don't have time to use but still keep because we, theoretically, never stopped liking them- they're burying the things we want to invest our time and attention in today.

That logic helped me let go. I decided to finally give away the ocarina I'll never have time to learn to play, and all my fishkeeping supplies. Fish are gorgeous to look at, sure. But they dont add enough to my life that I want to be burdened with the cost and time of upkeeping my own tanks. I get more pleasure from cross-stitching while I watch a movie, getting lost in the pages of a sprawling fantasy, or gaming at midnight with friends.

Part of this new adventure in respecting my time has been knowing when to put a book down. If it doesn't capture my attention, there are dozens of soon-to-be favorites just waiting on the shelf.

Thanks to Don Aslett for the fresh perspective. show less

In Who says it's a woman's job to clean? Don Aslett tackles the controversial subject of the mistaken idea that man is genetically engineered to not want to clean and care for himself. He covers some of the same material as in his complete guide to cleaning, Is there life after housework?, but goes further and explains how to pick up after yourself and how to do laundry. Then he notes that a man will find a better way to do anything - Aslett did and revolutionized the way we clean. But he show more realized that he wasn't doing this at home and vowed to change. If you need to give someone in your life a nudge, this book will do it. It's funny, with wonderful illustrations, but serious at the same time. And it is time for everyone to help out at home. We all live there! show less