Better Than New: Lessons I've Learned from Saving Old Houses/ Nicole Curtis/ 239 pages

Better Than New: Lessons I've Learned from Saving Old Houses written by Nicole Curtis follows her life from a high school graduation to the present and how it led to rehabbing and her own television show. Nicole left Michigan for Tampa Florida with her then boyfriend.  Working double jobs, waitressing double shifts, she bought her first house.  Before the birth of her first child she relocated back home to Michigan.  After some time bartending, and cleaning apartments and selling real estate she used her saving to buy a run down home to restore.   She was discovered and offered a television show, Rehab Addict on HGTV.  While Nicole's houses are loving restored, her life is one of chaos, often brought on by her own decisions.  The reader will find that even a TV star can have the same problems that normal people encounter.  It was interesting read in which the author revealed what she wanted revealed.  If your looking for a book that follows the ins and outs of creating a TV show, this book only glosses over that aspect of Nicole's life.

Your Spacious Self: Clear Your Clutter and Discover Who You Are / Stephanie Bennett Vogt / 155 pgs.

“I’ve bought the books on clutter clearing; I’ve smudged my entire house with sage; I’ve practiced some of the suggestions on simplifying that I read in Real Simple; I’m hooked on TV’s “Clean Sweep” …but my clutter just creeps on back, like a nasty weed.” Pg. 12

Does this sound like you?  It certainty resonated with me, and that is why I ploughed through this quick read hoping to gleam some insight into my clutter addiction and why I cannot stop.  I was also looking for a straightforward plan on how to attack those menacing piles and banish them for good.

This book, however, is more about developing your life into a culture of letting go.  You spend three weeks just on exercises that have you focus/reflect on how the clutter makes you feel and reciting mantras that will help you let go of the idea that you “need” to keep things.  I think this book is helpful in showing you another way to think about your clutter and does have some good ideas on how to SLOWLY work on getting rid of things.

 I guess what I really wanted was a no nonsense book that just jumps in and helps me organize and throw stuff out (which this is not it).  If you know of a book like this, please let me know, I am still drowning in stuff. 

Homeowner's Manual / Tom Silva 224 p.

The experts from This Old House present how-to information on fixing and maintaining that big investment--the house/our home. Many photographs show just how to do the job. Tom Silva offers a sixty-minute inspection guide. As he says: "Maintenance problems don't heal themselves. You have to walk around your house and find them--before they turn ugly."