By Leo Babauta

Sometimes, getting rid of all the clutter in your home can be a daunting task, especially if you’ve let the stuff pile up over the years. Who wants to tackle a mountain of junk?

What I do when faced with an overwhelming task is … read about it. Getting more information helps me conquer any task, and getting inspiration from experts and regular people who’ve accomplished the task always helps motivate me.

So today, prompted by a reader email, I’m going to share some of the very best books and websites for inspiration and information on decluttering your home. I hope you enjoy them!

Reader George recently asked:

I have a chronic problem with clutter in my house and life. I would like to transform my relationship with it. I am slowing trying to put my house back in order. I am in need of some inspiration and support. Can you recommend a good site or book?

That’s an excellent question! I often use books and website to inspire myself to declutter. Here’s a list of my 10 favorites:

1. Simplify Your Life . My favorite all-time author on simplicity is Elaine St. James. Actually, all of her books on simplifying are good. Also check out Living the Simple Life . See my review on these two books here.

2. Unclutterer.com. I’m a big fan of this blog, which is written by a small group of decluttering fanatics like me. If you don’t read them regularly, look through their archives … or better yet, subscribe!



3. Flylady.net. One of the best sites on the Internet for those who want to take control of their clutter, Flylady inspired me before I started Zen Habits. A couple of my favorites: How to Declutter and Declutter 15 Minutes a Day. Don’t let the look of the site or the focus on stay-at-home parents fool you … there’s great stuff here for anyone looking to declutter or create routines.

4. 30 Days to a Simpler Life . A book by Connie Cox and Cris Evatt, it takes various ways to simplify your life, including decluttering, and puts them into a 30-day program.

5. Your Life. Organized. An excellent blog by Monica Ricci, who is a professional organizer. You can’t get better than this professional. You might also be interested in her book, Organize Your Office In No Time .

6. Real Simple: The Organized Home . Real Simple is one of my favorite magazines. I don’t subscribe, but often read the website, RealSimple.com. This book (“The Organized Home“) takes a lot of their best advice on home organizing, including decluttering, and puts it into one volume.

7. Flickr groups. I don’t do it a lot, but it can be very inspiring to look at other people’s photos of clutter and simplicity. There are a whole bunch of groups that talk about clutter, but here are a couple to start with: My Cluttered Desk and Unclutterer Workspaces.

8. Oprah. I’m not a regular Oprah watcher, but she did an excellent show about conquering clutter, and this page has useful video and articles featuring clutter expert Peter Walsh.

9. Other articles. There are plenty of good articles on clutter online. Start with these: Declutter 101: Where Do I Start?, How to Declutter Your Life, and Organizing 101: Resolve to declutter.

10. Zen Habits. OK, it’s shamelessly self-promotional to put myself on my own Top 10 list, but I thought I’d include some decluttering articles for those who haven’t looked through the archives. Start with these: How to Declutter, A Guide to Creating a Minimalist Home, Develop Clean House Habits, Keeping a Stress-Free, Clean House, Edit Your Rooms, Edit Your Closets & Drawers, 15 Great Decluttering Tips.