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Make Space explores the minimalist lifestyle exploring how it has changed Regina Wong (the author). The book explores a wide range of areas such as work and lifestyle with activities inside the book to evaluate your current standing. The book has a lot of quotes, though many are attributed to anonymous sources.

For me the book didn't teach me anything I didn't know, granted I have read a few of Marie Kondo's books prior. Though I did appreciate a different side where the author talked about work and our time being precious, as minimalism is not just looking at 'things'.

Sadly, I felt some parts were elitist such as when she spoke about being able to buy a house with cash, rather than take a mortgage and being able to buy a coffee shop because it’s been her dream job. I feel this is unreasonable for many people and could give the wrong impressions of who can achieve a more minimal lifestyle.

Georgina Wilson-Powell's book features colourful graphics and pages with a years worth of advice (one per day for 365 days). While the advice is not organised into categories, there is an index at the page of the book which is useful. Furthermore if the advice was grouped being advised to tackle similar areas day after day could feel repetitive, therefore the randomness is probably intentional.

Each day explains a piece of advice you could try and implement, explaining reason why, and the emissions you'd save if applicable. What it does not do is say "you should do this", which is great as not all swaps are relevant or achievable. Likewise the reasons why you could try the advice are a few short paragraphs at most, which makes for an easier read and reduces the sense of overwhelm.

At the back of the book are links to every statistic used offering transparency, promoting wider reading or a blogger like myself to the opportunity to cite the information.

Having read one of Marie Kondo's books previously and having watched her series on Netflix a lot of the content mentioned in this book was not new. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up focused on her history from a young child and how her passion has existed since a young age. What will be reassuring for many is the use of her own mistakes which can reassure you that an expert in the field of tiding makes mistakes and has since learnt from them. This could support people who may feel overwhelmed before, during or after the tiding process. The book is an easy listen and broken into 30 minute chapters at most making it easy to delve into. There are times during the book where I question her methods and I think that is perfectly fine. The overarching ideology is treating your belongings with respect and care. This is most likely why she suggests socks shouldn't be bundled (as it could stretch the elastic) or not leaving bags filled. Likewise our houses are often filled with items, but how many of them make us smile when we wear it or use it. This is where she refers to the 'does it spark joy' term. This helps us to appreciate what we have. As with any book there are elements you may wish to incorporate and disregard. What may reassure many is the fact that tiding up is not a daily chore but something that will become 'second nature' once a system has been organised. Finally I found it interesting that she mentioned how the health of her clients tended to improve after decluttering, sort of like a weight had been lifted. Perhaps once a declutter has started you look elsewhere on how to improve your lifestyle?