Top 10 Decluttering Books to Downsize to a Clutter-Free Home & Life

This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience. That means that if you make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Read more here.

Minimalism is gaining popularity at a rapid pace, but you don’t have to become a minimalist to appreciate the benefits of a good declutter! As it just so happens, there are a ton of decluttering books that have hit the market in recent years, each offering different takes on decluttering no matter where you fall on the minimalism spectrum. 

There are so many different methods and means to declutter your home; it’s all about finding the one that works for you! So I have rounded up a list of ten of the very best decluttering books to help you on your journey to a clutter-free home and life.

If you’re new to the idea of decluttering, these books can help you get started on making decluttering a priority, find ways to declutter faster, and explore strategies that best fit into your life!

And if you’re a veteran minimalist, I hope you use these decluttering books as a tool to expand the way you view minimalism. There is always more for us to learn! These books may help breathe new life into your decluttering and could even redefine what clutter-free means to you.

10 of the Best Decluttering Books 

I hope you enjoy this list of the top declutter books of all time. If you want more ideas to simplify further, you might also enjoy reading this list of the best minimalism books to motivate and inspire you.

Want free tips to start decluttering right now?

Read these posts!

• How to Declutter Your ENTIRE Home in 5-Steps
• 10-Page Declutter Checklist + Things to Get Rid of [Free Printable PDF]

1. Decluttering at the Speed of Life

Dana K White, the blogger and YouTuber behind A Slob Comes Clean, is an expert on making decluttering fit into your busy schedule. Are you constantly on the go? Do you struggle to find time to tackle the clutter in your home? If so, this book is for you. 

The methods in this book can act as both an excellent starting point and a way to seamlessly keep up with decluttering. They are built to fit within a tight time constraint, and her “container concept” rule is an interesting new way to think about what you’re making room for in your home.

Best of all, you can tackle small bits at a time – area by area. This way, your entire space isn’t disrupted, and you won’t have to live in chaos if you need to stop halfway through!

This book is championed as “hope for the hopelessly messy.” Give it a try if you struggle to make progress due to time constraints, and allow Dana to guide you to declutter your home at the speed of life.

Here is a reader-favorite quote from Kindle:

“Accept the limitations of the space you have, and declutter enough that your stuff fits comfortably in that space.”

– Dana K. White

2. The Clutter Connection

Host of HGTV’s Hot Mess House, Cassandra Aarsen – better known to her adoring fans as Cas – perfectly describes how organization is not one-size-fits-all solution.

The Clutter Connection includes four distinct organizing styles that work based on your personality type. Whether you’re a macro or micro thinker, a visual organizer, or someone who prefers to keep things hidden and out of the way, Cassandra has a method that will suit you. 

Cassandra had a lifelong struggle with organization. The words she best described herself with were “messy, chaotic, and lazy.” Through her journey in decluttering, she discovered that this wasn’t true. She wasn’t bad at organization – she simply needed to organize differently!

This book speaks directly to your personality type and shows how knowing yourself better can help you be a better organizer. 

Here is a reader-favorite quote:

“The clutter connection is simply this: your clutter has nothing to do with your actual stuff. It really has everything to do with your personality type and how your brain works.”

Cassandra Aarssen

3. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Marie Kondo and her famous KonMari method are among the most buzzed-about decluttering methods. In fact, she is so well known that she helped bring the joy of decluttering into the limelight and on mainstream media through not one, but two Netflix shows!

This book and the boasted KonMari method are popular for good reason. KonMari is an extremely effective book on decluttering your home. In other words, it can provide major results. 

Plus, Marie’s writing is a delight. She treats objects with care, acknowledges and validates your emotional attachments, and gently guides you to declutter through it all. She urges readers to keep only the things in their lives that speak to their hearts. Anything that does not “spark joy” should be decluttered. 

I think this method would be very useful to someone dedicated to making a big change. Marie’s process takes a time commitment as she recommends working by category rather than by room and removing all items in that category at once. 

While I’m an huge fan of her methods, there are some things that I believe Marie Kondo got wrong from a minimalist perspective, so take her method with a grain of salt – just as you should with ANY declutter method!

Here is a reader-favorite quote from Kindle:

“To truly cherish the things that are important to you, you must first discard those that have outlived their purpose.“

– Marie Kondo

4. Declutter Like a Mother

For Allie Casazza, minimalism was the secret ingredient to finding joy in motherhood. Her decluttering book, Declutter Like a Mother, provides a guide to living a minimalist lifestyle that is also family-friendly. (Read more about the pros and cons of family minimalism here.)

This book describes how minimalism can benefit all members of the family. For Allie, it helped her relieve some of the extreme stress that comes from being a mother of four young children who homeschool. In exchange for this stress, she found more peace. 

She also talks about the benefits that minimalism can bring to children of any age.

Through setting positive minimalist values, children can thrive. She gives tips on how to teach children about minimalism in a way that they understand.

5. Declutter Your Mind

This book takes a psychological approach to decluttering; it delves into the world of mental clutter as opposed to the physical.

S.J. Scott writes for readers who feel overwhelmed, whether in their relationships, health, digital landscapes, or simply their own minds. 

He provides practical, easy-to-follow exercises to work with you throughout this mental declutter. He focuses on meditation and mindfulness in order to create more space and quiet in our minds. 

Readers find his writing precise and easy to follow, which is good for those who like to get straight to the point. He also includes additional references if you’d like to further explore mental decluttering. 

Here’s a reader-favorite quote from the book:

“Your constant inner dialog distracts you from what is happening around you, right here and now. It causes you to miss valuable experiences and sabotages the joy of the present moment.“

– S.J. Scott

6. Let It Go

This book came about after Peter Walsh downsized his childhood home and was forced to make decisions about his late parent’s heirlooms and mementos. Through this, he discovered how overwhelming this task can be. 

Peter provides advice on how to downsize your life for a happier existence. He recognizes and works you through the emotional challenges that come with downsizing. 

This process is meant to give you more freedom by freeing yourself of emotional attachments to physical items. By decluttering sentimental items from your past and items you may need in the future, you are free to focus on what matters most – the present. 

7. Spark Joy

This illustrated guide to decluttering is a great companion book to Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. 

This simple guide better illustrates the KonMari organizing system and is an excellent tool for visual learners. It gives visual representations of how to fold within your closet and maximize space all over your home. (You can also find complete step-by-step visual guides and videos on the KonMari folding technique here.)

As a sequel, this book also answers some frequently asked questions about Marie’s previous book on decluttering.

8. The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning

I have to be honest – I am not at all a fan of the book Swedish Death Cleaning. Still, this book resonates with many people and remains one of the most popular decluttering books of all time. It is even in the process of being adapted into a TV show starring Amy Pohler. 

At the tender age of somwhere between 80 and 120, author Margareta Magnusson shares an unsentimental approach to decluttering your life as you move towards the end of it.

Swedish death cleaning operates under the idea that once you pass on, someone will have to take care of the things you leave behind. Therefore, death cleaning should happen sooner rather than later so that your stuff doesn’t become a burden that falls upon another’s shoulders.

Fans of this book describe death cleaning as uplifting rather than overwhelming; it’s almost like a cleansing of one’s life. The goal is simple – to help you become more comfortable with letting go – a message that I can 100% agree upon with Magnusson!

Again, I find her approach surprisingly ungentle compared to the title, especially for those who struggle with emotional attatchment to clutter, but I still wanted to share it here because it seems to resonate with many others – including many of my friends and followers!

Here’s a reader-favorite quote from the book:

“A loved one wishes to inherit nice things from you. Not all things from you.“

– Margareta Magnusson

9. Reclaim Your Life from Hoarding

From clutter bugs to hoarders, this book can help. Hoarding is not a term that should be used lightly; it can be an absolutely debilitating disorder. 

Eileen Dacey advises on how to reclaim your life and stop the cycles of hoarding. She gives practical strategies to help make lasting changes and rebuild your confidence. 

This book includes stories from real people and their experiences in overcoming hoarding. 

Dacey also includes self-care strategies to help you on your path. She recognizes that this journey is not easy, and you need to take care of yourself along the way.

Lastly, Dacey includes simple, everyday steps towards your decluttering goals. She breaks things down enough that you can avoid feeling overwhelmed.

RELATED POST: 10 Signs You Might Be a Clothing Hoarder (and What to Do!)

10. The Sentimental Person’s Guide to Decluttering

It is hard not to grow attached to things. Items hold memories, and some of us can’t bear to part with some of them – as a recovering sentimental hoarder I experience this all too well when extreme decluttering my own home!

Claire Middleton writes to those of us who are sentimental in our decluttering. She gives step-by-step instructions on how to remove clutter without giving up the personality of a space.

This guide teaches how to reduce clutter, display your most precious items, and keep those important memories intact – even after the clutter is gone. 

Final Thoughts on the Best Decluttering Books

I consider myself a lifelong learner. And though I have been decluttering and practicing minimalism for over six years now, yet I’m always craving new minimalist content to reinspire me. 

I hope these books bring you similar inspiration or motivation and help you along your journey to create a decluttered, minimalist life that you love

Let me know which of these books is YOUR and which you may have a few gripes with. And if you have any new recommendations, leave them down below! I’m always on the hunt for new decluttering wisdom.  

Here are more decluttering ideas for you:

• 70+ Decluttering Quotes to Inspire and Motivate You
• 20 Reasons Decluttering is So Hard – and What to Do!
• 15 Decluttering Questions to Make Choices Easier [FREE Printable PDF]