Do you spend much of your time struggling against the growing ranks of papers, books, clothes, housewares, mementos, and other possessions that seem to multiply when you're not looking? Do these inanimate objects, the hallmarks of busy modern life, conspire to fill up every inch of your space, no matter how hard you try to get rid of some of them and organize the rest? Do you feel frustrated, thwarted, and powerless in the face of this ever-renewing mountain of stuff?

Help is on the way. Cindy Glovinsky, practicing psychotherapist and personal organizer, is uniquely qualified to explain this nagging, even debilitating problem -- and to provide solutions that really work. Writing in a supportive, nonjudmental tone, Glovinsky uses humorous examples, questionnaires, and exercises to shed light on the real reasons why we feel so overwhelmed by papers and possessions and offers individualized suggestions tailored to specific organizing problems.

Whether you're drowning in clutter or just looking for a new way to deal with the perennial challenge of organizing and managing material things, this fresh and reassuring approach is sure to help.

Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction

Part I - Rethinking Things
Chapter 1. People and Things
Chapter 2. How You Look at Things

Part II - You and Your Things: Taking Inventory
Chapter 3. Where Your Things Come From
Chapter 4. What You Do With Things While You Have Them
Chapter 5. How Your Things Leave You-or Don't Leave You
Chapter 6. Things and Feelings

Part III - Why Things Keep Overwhelming You
Chapter 7. Things and Your Situation
Chapter 8. Things and the Brain
Chapter 9. The Four Brain-Based Troubles with Things
Chapter 10. Your Thing and Their Things

Part IV - What To Do About Things
Chapter 11. Taking a Look at Things
Chapter 12. Getting Started with Things
Chapter 13. Moving Thigns Along
Chapter 14. When Things Get Stuck
Chapter 15. Peace With Your Things

Notes
Appendix
Sources
Further Reading