Outer Order Inner Calm cover art

Outer Order Inner Calm

Declutter and Organise to Make More Room for Happiness

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Outer Order Inner Calm

By: Gretchen Rubin
Narrated by: Gretchen Rubin
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About this listen

A guide to decluttering from the international best-selling author and happiness guru Gretchen Rubin.

Gretchen Rubin explores one of her key secrets to happiness: that for most of us, outer order leads to inner calm. A messy desk or a cluttered cupboard might seem like a trivial matter, yet Rubin has found that by simply organising our stuff, we free up space for what we truly value (in our lives and in our homes).

Do I need it? Do I love it? Do I use it?

This new volume, with over 150 concrete ideas, approaches the problem of how to best organise our possessions with Gretchen Rubin's characteristic clarity and humour, explaining how best to:

  • Make choices
  • Create order
  • Know yourself - and others
  • Cultivate helpful habits
  • Add beauty

Leading on from both Happiness at Home and The Four Tendencies, the audiobook is filled with practical insights, clear strategies and sometimes surprising tips to help listeners find what works best for them to regain control and lead happier, healthier, more productive and more creative lives.

©2019 Gretchen Rubin (P)2019 Penguin Random House Audio Education Personal Development Personal Success Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Happiness Decluttering

Critic Reviews

Praise for The Four Tendencies: "There's something rather profound going on here: an advancing of self-knowledge, and mutual human understanding, which could surely be harnessed as a recipe for world peace." (Daily Telegraph)

"A genius." (The Guardian)

"If you want to change anything in your life, you need Gretchen Rubin." (Viv Groskop, journalist and rebel)
All stars
Most relevant  
I’m unfamiliar with Gretchen’s other books, but this is a fabulously succinct and motivating book. Have already recommended it to several people.

Great for quick motivation

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There are some excellent insights here that I know I will take with me into daily living. Lots of lightbulb moments and I had to stop and bookmark lots of pages! Loved it!

Perfect listening while I was packing my house for a move!

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In my opinion, this book is for slightly messy or disorganised people who haven’t given much thought to the stuff in their life before now.

Some of the tips might be useful but the majority definitely don’t fit this ADHD brain!

These aren’t quotes but they capture how this book comes across to me.

- Have you considered getting rid of clutter so you can use that space?

- If something is not put away, try putting it away.

- Throw away rubbish.

I like her other stuff but probably wouldn’t have read it if this was my introduction.

Light on detail, not for advanced chaos

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although the reading held my interest, it would probably be better to have a printed version of this book because much of it read like a long list of ideas.

excellent book of ideas

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This felt like a rehash of Rubin's previous books. A lot of the analogies have been told before.

Too similar to previous books

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This book is a good collation of topics the author has written about in her other books (down to using the same phrasing and stories). As such, I didn't find if useful as I had heard it all before.
It would be good for someone who either hadn't read the other books; someone who just loves the author's work no matter what; and/or someone who wanted a topic-specific revision.

OK but a repeat of author's other books

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I read Marie Kondo's book after reading this book and Kondo's book was much better. Expected more research references of which there were very few

Disappointing

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