Eliminate Chaos: The 10-Step Process to Organize Your Home and Life [Paperback]

Laura Leist (Author), Adam Weintraub (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 14, 2006

Eliminate Chaosis a user-friendly system for organizing each room of the house, including the kitchen and pantry, closet, garage, home office, and childrens' rooms. The author’s ten-step system is presented in an easy-to-use, workbook-style layout. Full-color photos demonstrate the various stages of the organizing process, illustrating not just "before and after," but the realistic, messy, all-important steps in between. Leist’s method is based on the underlying principle that “it’s not about the stuff.” She touches on the psychological reasons behind clutter and not letting go — such as procrastination, denial, thrift, and family history — but her underlying premise is that being organized is an on-going process, not a one-day event. By learning to sort, prioritize, and make fast, rational decisions about their household goods, readers become more efficient and functional not just at home, but in other areas of life as well.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Laura Leist serves on the board of the National Association of Professional Organizers. Her makeovers have been featured on Northwest Afternoon, Evening Magazine, and Seattle Live. Adam L. Weintraub’s photographs have appeared in many publications, inclu

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Sasquatch Books (March 14, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570614679
• ISBN-13: 978-1570614675
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #134,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Laura Leist, CPO®, CRTS

Founder, President and Chief Organizing and Productivity Consultant

Since launching Eliminate Chaos in 2000, Laura Leist has walked her own talk about getting more done to allow "More Time for Life®." A poster child for getting much accomplished, this self-described overachiever and award-winning entrepreneur has grown what was once a one-woman show into a thriving business. She has also written eight books, including the newest release - Eliminate the Chaos at Work: 25 Techniques to Increase Productivity (Wiley 2011.) Today Eliminate Chaos operates five divisions - speaking, business, home offices, residential organizing, and relocations for residential/commercial clients.

Appreciative clients include CEOs of multi-billion dollar corporations, paper-and-systems-fatigued law offices, high-profile authors, speakers, athletes and media personalities, solopreneurs, and divas of domesticity. Though they come from all walks of life and work, they all share a universal need to invest in professional help to escape the clutter, disorganization and lack of productivity that slows them down, steals valuable time from their lives, and puts a crimp on their upside earning potential.

Eliminate Chaos employs productivity and organization specialists who are united in their belief that everyone can enjoy life more if they just get organized first. Laura sets the example for the team. She has the rare ability to serve as a strategic, big-picture thinker AND handle the most complicated, detailed projects without letting anything slip through the cracks.

Laura's IT Experience Eliminates Chaos at Work

Laura's education, training, and dynamic background in information technology bring welcome calm to the technology storm. Her proven ability to streamline processes was rewarded early in her career when she was recognized as the employee of the year for SAFECO Surety. For over a decade Laura designed computer systems to manage work processes and information to help employees store and retrieve information quickly. What makes her contribution to client success so valuable is the combination of her prior career experience and her gift for explaining how to make the most of technology in a non-geek-speak way.

Creating Order Out of Chaos So Clients Find What They Need Fast

Clients come to Laura overwhelmed by technology tools and the steep learning curves associated with making the most of them. Laura consults with clients about their business processes and creates custom productivity systems. As a result, clients gain control and mastery over mobile devices, customer relationship management tools, and file sharing systems that save them valuable time and make life a whole lot easier. For those for whom technology tools were once a challenge, this is cause for celebration.

Clients Rave

Client's rave about how the company delivers on its promises. Laura and the entire Eliminate Chaos team listen compassionately and deliver systems, professional advice and customized organization and productivity solutions that really work. Best of all, they can be easily and seamlessly maintained. Clients breathe a sigh of relief as they put into practice systems created just for them that deliver practical, priceless, and life changing benefits.

Success by the Numbers

After a decade of dramatic growth that spans the dot-com bubble burst of 2001 and the Great Recession of 2008, Laura has built a company that is proud to have served thousands of clients. They sing the praises about how the power of organization, systems, processes, and logical work flow has changed their lives, advanced their careers, and saved hours of frustration. Laura's Organizing Genius Took Root Early and by Necessity

Laura came by her organizing genius out of necessity. From a very early age, Laura made sure her Mom - a visually impaired, music teacher -- could find what she needed when she needed it. These early acts of service and love built a strong appreciation for form, function and order. Today she and her team orchestrate beautiful and elegant organizing systems, processes, and work flows to create symphonies of order, productivity, and more.

What many would be surprised to learn is that while Laura's home in Snohomish, WA is lovely and well organized, it is also a welcome haven for treasured pets past and present - including her beloved Saint Bernard named Mozart, Teddy the Persian, and Bear the Malamute.

Mozart joined Laura at the same time she launched her company. With Laura's training and focus on desired end results, Mozart quickly learned to stop at the door to have his paws wiped off. He also learned to stay out of the living and dining room. Setting up systems, boundaries and expectations paved the way for many happy, joyful moments with Mozart through the years, much like business systems and processes do for clients. She'll quickly tell you that it is treasured moments in life that matter most and not the stuff.

Laura's favorite place to travel is Hawaii. Lounging on a beach chair while holding a fruity drink adorned by a paper umbrella, Laura loves to read and do a lot of nothing while pondering beautiful sunsets with her fiancé Rob by her side. They plan to marry on the well ordered date of 9-10-11.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

79 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great steps on the reality of how to get organized, February 23, 2007

By 

Make it Funny (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Eliminate Chaos: The 10-Step Process to Organize Your Home and Life (Paperback)

This is a great book, one of the better ones that outlines the CONCISE steps of organizing each part of the house. Because the book is short,you don't get bored. The STEPS she explain are critical because you'll see that most of your time should be spent weeding out things, figuring out what belongs in the room, and little time is spent BUYING organizational tools. Most people just immediately run out to BUY organizational tools thinking that'll do the magic, but this book really shows you that this is the last step, not the first. Also, her stories about her clients are fun to read.

Now, when I watch talk shows on 'closet makeovers', I laugh when I see them look at someone's closet and immediately install a customized system BEFORE they do the weeding out and counting of items!!! What's the point of customizing before you know what you really will be keeping?

I wish there were MORE before and after photos. The photos in the book were tiny and hard to see, and very few.

I also wish she would show pics of more org. tools.

118 of 123 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best organizing books around, January 20, 2007

By 

Dr Cathy Goodwin (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Eliminate Chaos: The 10-Step Process to Organize Your Home and Life (Paperback)

I'm famous for my clutter and every so often I pick up a book on organizing...and give up, frustrated.

Leist's book is different because she offers totally practical solutions that even organizing-challenged people like me can appreciate. She foregoes the simplistic solutions in favor of getting into the big reasons why we have so much clutter. Inspired by this book, I've actually taken a few steps already: I keepp noticing things I'll probably never use again and I've put together a collection for donation.

Highly recommended.

68 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't pass this by !!, September 19, 2007

By 

C. Davidson "a seeker" (Pa United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Eliminate Chaos: The 10-Step Process to Organize Your Home and Life (Paperback)

Very practical ideas to organize every room in your home. The before and after pictures were ideal. The author also addresses the need to have so much "stuff" and how to conquer it. An inspiring book!