Absolutely Organized: A Mom's Guide to a No-Stress Schedule and Clutter-Free Home [Paperback]

Debbie Lillard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 2007

Do you run non-stop but never feel like you accomplish anything? Feel stressed out at home? Dream about doing things that you never get around to doing? Wish you had extra hours in your day? Well, here's something even better!

Absolutely Organized is a book full of tips and hope" for overworked, time-crunched, clutter-crushed moms. It's brimming with practical, proven and, in many cases, very simple solutions for keeping order in every corner of your life, from your refrigerator to your file drawers, from keeping a newborn on a set schedule to getting kids to willingly pitch in on household chores.

Debbie Lillard, professional organizer and mother of three, shares her easy-to-use "Absolutes of Organizing" tips to help you gain and maintain order in the three key areas of your family's life:

• YOUR TIME: Learn the tricks for streamlining cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping and other everyday duties. Get more done and have more time left over to spend on your kids, your spouse, projects around the house, and even yourself!
• YOUR BELONGINGS: Use Debbie's simple but effective C.P.R. method (Categorize, Purge and Rearrange) to organize paperwork, photos, collections, toys, clothes, children's artwork and more.
• YOUR HOME: Take it room by room—home office, kitchen, bathroom, family room and even (gulp!) the kids' rooms. Rid your house of clutter, make the most of your space, and make home feel more comfortable, functional and relaxing.

Follow Absolutely Organized from start to finish for a complete, full-life makeover. Or dip in here and there for help on one problem area at a time, such as that ever-growing mountain of paperwork, your collection of children's memorabilia, or that disaster area called a closet. Tried-and-true advice for every mom, Absolutely Organized will help you simplify your life so you can enjoy more and stress less.

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Debbie Lillard is a Professional Organizer and the mother of three young children. After starting her own organizing business in 2003, Debbie appeared on four episodes of HGTV's Mission: Organization. She has been referenced as an organizational expert in articles for the Philadelphia Inquirer and on HGTV's Web site. Debbie has a BA in Communications from Marymount University and worked as a technical writer in sales training for a major telecommunications company before becoming a stay at home" mom."

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: North Light Books (November 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581809557
• ISBN-13: 978-1581809558
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #118,232 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Debbie Lillard is a Professional Organizer in the Philadelphia area. She has been doing business since 2003 and is an active member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO). You may have seen her on episodes of HGTV's Mission Organization, Hoarders or heard her on several national talk radio shows. Her organizing tips have also appeared in such magazines as Better Homes & Gardens, Woman's Day, Family Fun and All You. She is one of six children and the mother of three. She writes about what she knows: trying to keep order and sanity in a home full of active children!

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

202 of 235 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Organized January 4, 2008

By Mrs. Anthrope

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I bought this book based on the high product rating in hopes that it would offer me practical solutions for my hectic life with a 3 year old, 2 year old, and 5 month old.

I have to say, while reasonably well written, and easy to read, it is not at all helpful to two sorts of parents:

1. Those working with a limited budget (the author brags about her 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, vacations to Paris, etc)

2. Those who believe in attachment parenting (she offers a rigid schedule for babies. Sleeping through the night at 6 weeks? Really?)

Her cleaning schedule is impractical for those with a smaller home. Cleaning the bathroom once a week might be practical in a home with four bathrooms. It is not in a home where 5 people share one bathroom. Her laundry advice of one time a week is also impractical with three little kids and small house where laundry makes a big mess if not washed and put away daily!

She assumes that if you have a small child in the house, only one child is quite young and the others are older. While this is true of some people, it's certainly not my demographic!

Her scheduling advice for young babies is alarming, dangerous, and unhealthy. She recommends spacing nursing sessions every 4 hours, which anyone with an ounce of common sense knows is very unsafe especially for little babies, and will lead to failure to thrive, malnourishment, and eating issues. She recommends a rigid nap schedule and I strongly suspect she used the brutal and anti-attachment "Crying-it-out" technique at an obscenely young age to achieve it.

Bottom line: if you are wealthy, have a large home, have only one (or no!) young children, and practice detached parenting, this book will probably assist you in your organizational goals.

If you're on a small budget, with a modest home, have more than 1 young child, and believe in treating babies and children with the respect they are due (and, um, not starving them in their formative months) keep looking, because this is not the book for you.

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Do yourself a favor, get this book! November 27, 2007

By LR Troiano

Format:Paperback

A really good book. This book offers practical, actionable, easily implemented everyday things that make your life run smoother. After reading the first chapter, I started using some of the suggestions. They are practical and on the mark. The first thing I did was buy a daily day planner. I was working with a monthly planner for school activities and appointments. With the new planner, as suggested in the book, I planned my week by the hour and included meal ideas. ( When I plan a week's worth of meals, it also gives me a clear shopping list!) It's like a new world opened up to me.

While scheduling my days by the hour, I realized that I'm much busier than I thought, but still found slower sections of the day. (As a mom, you know you're busy, but once you write it down it becomes impressively busy.) Prior to writing it down, I would go through time periods where I would sort of float along, attending to household needs when they arose and then get hit with with work that needed to be done at once. (Like everyone is out of clean clothes and I have 6 loads to do or I'm asked to do a freelance job or worse ... unexpected company!) Now I'm scheduling everything (as suggested in the book), which helps to create balance and provides time management. I also schedule down time! When I was working in an office, I would schedule every minute to maximize output, but when I'm at home, I just didn't think it was needed. I was wrong.

The end result: I'm accomplishing so much more but feeling like I'm doing less... and I feel more accomplished. For example, after planning my day today, I was able to start a wall covering home improvement project, shred 2 yrs worth of paperwork, complete Christmas gift purchases online for my kids. I've also started the organization/clearing out my office ( using the CPR method described in the book). I've also completed the usual stuff that's required: drop offs, pick ups, lunches, dinner, playtime with kids, a work appointment, many phone calls, and four hours of "work". And I'm only half way through the book! Do yourself a favor, get this book!

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Waste Another Day-Read this Book Today November 16, 2007

By Mary Glynn Fisher

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I can just see Oprah visiting Debbie Lillard's home to see her in action!(Does she really practice what she preaches, we all wonder)
Thank you for writing this book! As a new Mom and business owner who works out of my home, my time is more valuable (and scarce) then ever before. Debbie Lillard's great new book is a mandatory read, like Jeff Olson's The Slight Edge or Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad or Napolean Hill's Think and Grow Rich.
Why? It has some of the most practical, useful tips in having a successful life, which of course, all starts at HOME! I wish my Mom of six had this back in the 70s! It would have made her life much easier.
You might imagine a book on organizing to be, well, dry, boring or condescending...but Debbie Lillard's words are compassionate and inspiring - part instructor, part therapist, part cheerleader and ALL MOM. She's pulled great quotes from some of the world's great thinkers which set a strong context for the "why" behind being "absolutely organized."
The book rests next to my combination diaper bag/backpack purse on my desk, next to the baby carriage...This will be a great reference tool for time to come. Not everyone can hire a personal organizer. This is the next best thing! I second Jeanne - already bought 6 copies for family stocking stuffers and will buy many more. Congratulations Debbie. This book will make a profound difference for anyone - not just Moms!