I finally got this book through my library last week (though I didn't have to wait nearly as long as some of y'all!). Absolutely loving it. I'd already been in hardcore decluttering mode for a few weeks, so it's been really helpful in doing the stuff that's harder (mementos, "I might need this") vs. the easy stuff I don't need outside motivation for.
It never fails to blow my mind just how quickly stuff can accumulate. I've always been a pretty staunch declutterer, and yet EVERY spring I'm throwing out bags and bags of broken/stained/useless stuff, and donating bags and bags of good-but-not-for-me stuff. I only moved into this apartment two years ago; how is it even possible that I've gathered this much crap?
Hopefully, taking this clean-out really seriously might lead to a more permanent fix. I love her concepts of getting RID of storage instead of getting more creative storage--that's exactly what I'm interested in.
Did anyone else really feel a lightbulb turn on when she started talking about how silly the "organizational flow" concept is, because it doesn't matter whether something's easy to access, it matters whether it's easy to put away? I would never have thought of it like that, but she's completely right.
If I need something, I don't think twice about the effort involved in retrieving it. For instance, if I need a particular ball of yarn, my current system requires opening a door, pulling out a storage bin, bringing it into the next room, sorting through for the yarn, pulling it out, putting the lid back on, putting the box back, closing the door--but I've never once thought "hmm, this is a hassle," because all I'm thinking about is "yay, yarn!" or "yay, new project!" The same goes for pretty much anything I need to retrieve: I'm thinking about the thing, not the process.
So the getting-it-out effort is irrelevant; I don't need my things to be instantly to hand except in the kitchen and washroom (where they already are/would be). But if it's an extra step to figure out where something goes, or to shove it into space, or to move a box so it can go behind, or whatever--forget it, it's not getting put away.
She describes that much better in the book than I've done just here, of course ;)