Blanke (Between Trapezes), a motivational speaker and former columnist for Real Simple, shovels aside detritus to make space for cleaner rooms and clearer minds. She challenges readers to follow her example in discarding 50 things; tossed items range from old clothes to the need to be right. The authors suggestions range from the humble (Have a swap party for your outgrown clothes) to the ambitious (Clarify who you are), and her scope and environmentally conscious mind-set make the book a rousing call to total transformation—one mismatched sock at a time.

According to Blanke, "Our lives are so filled with junk from the past-from dried up tubes of crazy glue to old grudges-that it's a wonder we can get up in the morning, never mind to work, care for our children, our parents and just put one foot in front of the other." Blanke wants to start a movement of people across America throwing out fifty things (magazines count as only one!) that will help liberate us from the stuff-both physical and mental-that clutters our lives. It is the physical stuff that keeps us from being happy and calm in our house - not to mention keeps us from finding our keys in the morning! And it is the clutter in our mind that drags us down and holds us back from living the life we want to live. Blanke will take the reader through each room in the house and help her figure out what to throw out that will help them move forward. She'll show us how to find and throw out "toxic" possessions that remind us of failed relationships, bad jobs, etc, and she'll help us figure out what to keep to help us find out who we really are. Blanke's motivational advice in this book will inspire thousands of readers to take action as do her popular columns in Real Simple.