Checklists for Life: 104 Lists to Help You Get Organized, Save Time, and Unclutter Your Life [Paperback]

Kirsten Lagatree (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 1999

A Handbook For An Organized Life

If you've ever wished for a class in Coping 101, or a guide to living more efficiently and with less stress, this book is for you!  Over 100 sensible checklists offer quick tips and expert advice to make your life easier at work, at home, and through all of life's ups and downs.

Arranged by subject, from Personal Safety to Home Maintenance to Social Life, these lists will help you know what to ask, what to do, and what to have on hand in any situation.

  What to do when your wallet is stolen
  How to stock a bar
  Questions to ask when hiring a contractor
  What to keep in your medicine cabinet
  Frequently overlooked tax deductions
  How to be friends with your computer
  The best and worse places to hide valuables
  What to keep in a safe deposit box
  Six steps of bare minimum housework
  How to organize your file cabinet
  How to cure your dying houseplants
  Tips for writing an effective complaint letter
  Tipping: who and how much
  A countdown to moving day

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

At some point in our lives, we all wish life had come with an instruction manual; a little something to help us navigate the labyrinth of this complex world with a touch of grace and dignity. Is it so much to ask? Luckily for us, Kirsten M. Lagatree has risen to the challenge. Checklists for Life offers 104 lists that can help you with all those nagging little uncertainties, from organizing your closet to choosing a lawyer. "Show me a successful person," asserts Lagatree, "and I'll show you a list-maker.... Lists ensure that the job gets done correctly and completely--and with the added finesse that springs from an uncluttered mind."

Categorized into personal safety, getting organized, stocking up, home maintenance, housework, flowers and plants, social life, correspondence, death, children, moving, travel, health, the law, your money, professional life, your computer, and your car, many of the lists in this book consist, as she points out, of commonsense advice. Others, though, are less obvious. For instance, her advice on extras to pack when you go abroad (electricity converters, adapters, pre-addressed envelopes and Benadryl, just to name a few) and choosing realtors (Do they insist on a buyer/broker contract? Do they use a computer to help find homes?) are clearly the product of experience. While all the lists are highly helpful--the checklist for organizing your workspace alone is worth the price of the book--the best seem to be those for less common events, such as buying and moving to a new home or preparing for court. Lagatree has clearly done her research on these topics and her advice will save you time, money, and a great deal of stress. --Laszlo Simonyi

From the Inside Flap

A Handbook For An Organized Life

If you've ever wished for a class in Coping 101, or a guide to living more efficiently and with less stress, this book is for you!  Over 100 sensible checklists offer quick tips and expert advice to make your life easier at work, at home, and through all of life's ups and downs.

Arranged by subject, from Personal Safety to Home Maintenance to Social Life, these lists will help you know what to ask, what to do, and what to have on hand in any situation.

  What to do when your wallet is stolen
  How to stock a bar
  Questions to ask when hiring a contractor
  What to keep in your medicine cabinet
  Frequently overlooked tax deductions
  How to be friends with your computer
  The best and worse places to hide valuables
  What to keep in a safe deposit box
  Six steps of bare minimum housework
  How to organize your file cabinet
  How to cure your dying houseplants
  Tips for writing an effective complaint letter
  Tipping: who and how much
  A countdown to moving day

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Random House Reference; 1 edition (November 30, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375707336
• ISBN-13: 978-0375707339
• Product Dimensions: 4.9 x 0.6 x 8.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #809,195 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful household organizer, April 2, 2000

By 

Richard Koonce (Arlington, Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Checklists for Life: 104 Lists to Help You Get Organized, Save Time, and Unclutter Your Life (Paperback)

Kirsten Lagatree is a wonderful writer, and in this handy little book she has put her writing talents to work again, compiling a highly useful household resource that can help anyone who's a pack rat like me get better organized around the house. I found her lists on getting organized around home, how to guarantee hassle-free travel, and on how to organize your social life to be particularly useful. This is also a fun book to read, nicely formatted, written in an easy, conversational style. Nice job!

Rick Koonce Arlington Virginia

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Helpful Little Handbook!, January 24, 2001

By 

"klagatree" (montclair, new jersey USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Checklists for Life: 104 Lists to Help You Get Organized, Save Time, and Unclutter Your Life (Paperback)

I really appreciate the wide variety of lists here. Sure there are some no-brainers like how to clean up quickly or how do laundry (I wish my husband would read these!), but there are many much less obvious choices. How to shop for a funeral -- a real eye opener! -- is my favorite. The ones I've found particularly useful: 1) Which kinds of stationery to buy so I'll always be prepared to dash off a "correct" note. 2) How to choose a charity to donate to; 3) How to write various kinds of letters -- I recently had to write a condolence note to a friend and leaned gratefully on that "how-to" list.

58 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for List-o-phobes, March 15, 2000

By 

Elizabeth (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Checklists for Life: 104 Lists to Help You Get Organized, Save Time, and Unclutter Your Life (Paperback)

Although I am a somewhat compulsive list-maker (inherited from a military family), my husband is completely anti-list. He somehow believes that making a list is giving in and admitting that he can't remember everything (which he can't, but why be logical?). I bought this for him as a starter, so he could see that someone besides his wife believes in lists, enough to publish a whole book about them! He is now warming up to the idea of lists, thanks to this book, and I am also thrilled because it had some lists that even I had never thought of.

I think this is a great gift for anyone starting out (in life, or just in getting organized) -- I've already given two copies away.