The One-Minute Organizer Plain & Simple: 500 Tips for Getting Your Life in Order [Paperback]

Donna Smallin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2004

Every day, in every way, you can get just a little more organized in just a few minutes.

For instance, when you take your clothes off, hang them up or put them in the laundry. Throw out that pile of mail-order catalogs you still haven't flipped through. Limit yourself to saving one tote-bag-full of housecleaning rags.

The One-Minute Organizer Plain & Simple is the perfect handbook for busy people who don't have time for a top-to-bottom purge or a complete organizational overhaul. Instead Donna Smallin provides 500 fast and innovative ways anybody can become a bit more organized . . . right now. Each tip delivers instant gratification, makes your world a little less cluttered, and brings you one step closer to a more orderly life.

Smallin inspires readers by showing how much can be accomplished with an investment of no more than 15 minutes a day. Her quick solutions address such common troubles as paper clutter, household chores that never get done, bills that are always paid late, and schedules that never go quite as smoothly as planned. Every tip is accompanied by a time estimate of 1, 5, 10, or 15 minutes.

These days, when everybody is playing a game of catch-up, The One-Minute Organizer Plain & Simple offers busy people 500 quick organizational fixes that will reduce some of the chaos and bring a little calm into a frenetic world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“…how to free your space – and your mind!” –Shape

 

“[with] The One-Minute Organizer…you’ll have everything from your finances to your laundry to the kids under control in no time flat.:” –Home Magazine

 

“The One-Minute Organizer will compel even the most organizationally challenged to corral and banish clutter.” –Canadian House & Home

 

 “…a cute little reference that lives up to its title words ‘plain and simple.’” 

-St. Louis Post Dispatch

 

"...a compilation or organizing ideas that...are as easy to read and absorb as they are to accomplish." -Akron Beacon Journal

 

“…a quick fix for the organizationally challenged.” –Grand Rapids Press

 

“…hundreds of five- to 15-minute tasks to put you on the path to a tidier, more livable home.” –Kansas City Star

 

“This no-nonsense, reader-friendly book helps you get your life in order in record time…” –Tucson Home

 

“The One-Minute Organizer offers quick solutions to life’s littlest messes.” –At Home Memphis

 

About the Author

Donna Smallin is a nationally recognized organizing expert and best-selling author. She has been a repeat guest on HGTV’s Smart Solutions and on numerous radio programs, including the nationally syndicated Gary Null Show. Her tips have appeared in Reader’s Digest, Woman’s Day, Real Simple, Better Homes & Gardens, Woman’s World, The Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, Washington Post, Bottom Line Personal, and other national publications. Donna is a member of The National Association of Professional Organizers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC (September 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580175848
• ISBN-13: 978-1580175845
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #415,705 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Donna Smallin is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers and the author of 7 Simple Steps to Unclutter Your Life and Unclutter Your Home. She lives in Lake Placid, New York.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

103 of 104 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars what a great help!, November 7, 2004

By 

sandy (Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The One-Minute Organizer Plain & Simple: 500 Tips for Getting Your Life in Order (Paperback)

I picked this up at a school book fair, needing to find something to buy, figuring it would not make a real difference for me. Boy, I was wrong! I found her approach of taking small amounts of time to incorporate little ideas very useful in my hectic life. I don't have days to set aside for an all-at-once overhaul, being a mom dealing with an out-of-house job, kids' sports on weekends, etc., but I can find a little time each day to incorporate one or two of the 500 ideas into my system. I read through with sticky note tabs in hand to mark ideas I wanted to incorporate, and one by one they are making a real difference.

44 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Organizing made easy!, November 25, 2005

By 

Blaine Greenfield "eclectic reader" (Belle Meade, NJ) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The One-Minute Organizer Plain & Simple: 500 Tips for Getting Your Life in Order (Paperback)

Organizing doesn't have to be all that difficult or
time-consuming . . . in fact, Donna Smallin in her
excellent THE ONE-MINUTE ORGANIZER PLAIN &
SIMPLE contends that by doing it in small chunks
of time, your life will be made both easier and simpler.

Smallin, a nationally-recognized speaker on
uncluttering, had previously written ORGANIZING
PLAIN & SIMPLE . . . although I haven't yet read that book,
I will do so in the hopes that it is as helpful as her
latest effort.

You can read THE ONE-MINUTE ORGANIZER straight
through in less than two hours . . . that's what I did
the first time . . . now, I'm going back and rereading
certain parts from such various chapters as Getting
Started, Clearing Clutter, Paper Stuff, and Everyday
Strategies . . . I will probably continue to do so
in this valuable little book that I'll keep, as well as
cherish.

There are so many useful tips presented that it makes
it difficult to present just a few in this review . . . however,
I'll try by sharing the following that caught my attention:

Start with the most visible clutter first. Seeing clear and
obvious results will give you a boost of confidence.

Sort knives, spoons and forks as you put them into the
dishwasher to make it easier to put them away when
they're clean.

Keep the same calendar for business and personal use. Use
different-colored pencils or highlighters to distinguish between
work and personal commitments.

When you write appointments in your planner, also write in a phone
number to call in case you're running late, want to confirm or
need to reschedule.

And here's a final one that I REALLY need to consider implementing:
Check e-mail messages and return telephone calls once or twice
a day, instead of all day long.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Some Good Organizing Tips, Some Real Drawbacks, June 23, 2010

By 

John M. Ford "johnDC" (near DC, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The One-Minute Organizer Plain & Simple: 500 Tips for Getting Your Life in Order (Paperback)

Donna Smallin offers 500 tips on how to be organized. She advises us to find one or two tips we can use right away instead of learning some unwieldy, life-dominating strategy that changes the way we do everything. Her first section, Getting Organized, contains tips for Getting Started, Clearing Clutter, dealing with Paper Stuff, and managing Spaces & Things. The second section, Staying Organized, groups tips into Everyday Strategies, Clutter Control, Home Management, and Schedules & To-Do's. Throughout the chapters, Donna provides some low-key cognitive therapy to encourage revision of our defeatist beliefs about how hard it is to stay organized.

The top ten tips I found personally useful were:

1. Organize in two passes: First gather, then file.
2. Get rid of everything you haven't used in, say, six months.
3. Pretend you are moving--what would you be willing to pack and carry?
4. Join a clutter support group through Messies Anonymous, Clutterers Anonymous, or Clutterless Recovery Groups. (Web sites included.)
5. Take pictures of your kids holding their art projects. Keep the pics, toss the art.
6. On your desk keep only what you use daily.
7. Fasten related papers with staples, not paper clips.
8. Labeled paper grocery bags cut down to 6" are great sorting bins.
9. Plan a buffer around each activity in your daily schedule.
10. Finish your work day by writing a to-do list for the next day.

Useful as these nuggets are, there are also some significant weaknesses. Many of the tips are minor variations of other tips, giving a repetitive feel to the book. There is limited appreciation of computer, PDA, or cell phone tools, excepting a few general suggestions to "use your PDA." Although the book claims to cover home, family and office settings, the first two categories receive more of the author's attention. And some of the tips seem impractical. Would a person struggling to find time to organize really keep an organizing journal or create a complex hanging folder system for new ideas and index the ideas on their computer?

I got enough value from this book to make it worth the price and the time to read through it once. But I think the author could help future readers save time by eliminating near-duplicate tips to produce a shorter and better-organized second edition.