One Year to an Organized Life [Kindle Edition]

Regina Leeds (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

From professional organizer and author Leeds (The Zen of Organizing) comes the perfect book for anyone wanting to find important papers instantly or have a navigable closet. The author divides getting organized into 12 monthly sections with four weekly tasks. The first week of every month is devoted to journaling and understanding the psychology of disorganization. The remaining three weeks of every month are for tasks like creating a bedroom sanctuary, packing wisely for trips, and creating a festive holiday atmosphere. Full of useful information for everyone, from the person who needs simply to clean a messy desk to the person requiring a whole new approach to life; highly recommended for all libraries. -- Deborah Bigelow, Library Journal

Product Description

The organized way to get organized: a week-by-week plan to forever streamline all aspects of your life. Who would you be if you felt at peace and had more time and money? An organized life enables you to have more freedom, less aggravation, better health, and to get more done. For nearly twenty years, Regina Leeds--named Best Organizer by Los Angeles magazine--has helped even the messiest turn their lives around. Anyone can get organized--she'll prove it to you! One Year to an Organized Life is a unique week-by-week approach that you can begin at any time of year. Regina helps you break down tasks and build routines over time so that life becomes simple, not overwhelming
* Master time management * Make your kitchen efficient * Permanently organize closets and drawers * Deal with your finances * Reclaim "dumping grounds" like the guest room, garage and basement * Declutter the kids' rooms * Organize your travel plans--and the vacation photos and souvenirs * Entertain with joy

Regina reveals her magic formula for organizing anything, plus her method to stop the chronic cycles of clutter, misplaced items, and lateness. Whether you're living in chaos or just looking for new ways to simplify, this essential book will help you get the whole household organized--and stay that way.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 424 KB
• Publisher: DaCapo (February 4, 2008)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0013HZMRK
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Brooklyn, New York is my hometown. I live most of the year now in Los Angeles, California. There are positive and negative things about both cities but my heart is always in New York City. I've been traveling the world since I was 17. I have my maternal grandmother's wanderlust. I've been to China twice and hope to return in 3 years. I want to take the train from Beijing to Tibet. How's that for an adventure? My favorite country to visit has to be Morocco. It's exotic and timeless. And of course I collect camels so I felt right at home!

When I was five years old, I knew two things for sure: I could write and I wanted to be an actress. I have always loved medicine, however, and had expressed an interest in surgery. Imagine my parents surprise when I announced that acting was more important than surgery to me. I don't think they ever recovered! When my fifth book "One Year to an Organized Life" became a New York Times best seller, I was so sorry my parents weren't alive. At last an accomplishment they would have understood! It wasn't easy having an only child as unconventional as I.

I was a professional actress for many years. I had the time of my life. One day i realized that I wanted to do something that would more fully be my own. As an actor you perform the words that someone else has written. And someone else directs...and someone else produces...it's a collaboration. Organizing was my gift to my clients. When I conducted seminars, I was the producer, writer, director and actor all rolled into one. In a unique way, it was a more fulfilling experience.

In all of my books I tell stories about myself as teaching tools. I hope you'll take some time to learn more about me and the art of getting organized. I call my system 'Zen Organizing.' You don't have to do anything foreign to be Zen Organized. You just have to have a deep desire to fulfill yourself...because that's what an organized environment does for you.

I invite you to read one of my books and learn more about me and Zen Organizing. Write to me...I promise to respond!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

96 of 127 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get Those Ducks In a Row!, January 1, 2009

By 

hresources34 - See all my reviews

This review is from: One Year to an Organized Life: From Your Closets to Your Finances, the Week-by-Week Guide to Getting Completely Organized for Good (Paperback)

There's books to help you get organized, and then there's books to help you get organized- and this book is great! I think what makes it so different than your typical book on organization is that is leads you through the organizational steps and process so well....EVERY WEEK FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR!! And this, I feel, is its main strength. So how does it accomplish the lofty goal of getting one organized? According to the book, the magic formula is as follows:

1) eliminate
2) categorize
and 3) organize!

If it sounds simple, it is- or rather should I say that this book makes it about as simple as it can get. Three steps, eliminate, categorize, and organize- and that's about what you can expect to do for each month of the year for a specific disorganized area, easily broken into down steps, week-by-week. Here's some of the areas of your life the book tackles:

-the kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, attic, the home office and living room
-additionally, the book covers getting organized while traveling, while moving, while entertaining, as well as the busy school time and holiday seasons.

As you can tell, the book is really complete and will guide you to a more organized life, week-by-week for an ENTIRE year. Get it if you're lazy like me and need to be led by the hand. If you can't get past just reading the steps, try The Sixty-Second Motivator. Good luck!

221 of 302 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Need help organizing - this makes it doable, January 9, 2008

By 

Candy Anderson "Sunflower" (Alpharetta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: One Year to an Organized Life: From Your Closets to Your Finances, the Week-by-Week Guide to Getting Completely Organized for Good (Paperback)

I own over 30 Get Organized books and by far this is the 1 that has made it finally happen for me. The author is witty and straight forward. Organization Tasks are broken down into categories (i.e. kitchen, bedroom, etc.)and are assigned to you to do during a specific month of the year. However, where this book made a difference for me is each month is broken down into weeks, and each week we are given assignments to be completed that are not overwhelming ... just baby steps that are part of the huge overwhelming mess we have created by being unorganized. I highly recommend this book as it holds your hand and never allows you to have to decide "what am I going to do next". It takes the guess work out of organizing, and where my hiccups come in, is trying to decide where to start - well this book removes that by braking everything down for you. Very simple organizing education, it is like having your own personal organizer with you every step of the way, every day.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Helpful, September 23, 2008

By 

D. Schepp (Texas Panhandle) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: One Year to an Organized Life: From Your Closets to Your Finances, the Week-by-Week Guide to Getting Completely Organized for Good (Paperback)

A picked up one helpful "jewel" from this book. That you need to understatnd what, in your past, makes you behave the way you do in order to change your behavior. This tidbit made it worth the cost of the book and the time to read it. You can staighten things up, but if you don't change your behavior, then it won't last. Other than that, the "Just Do It" attitude and the importance of taking things a step at a time are well presented in this book.