Customer Reviews

One Year to an Organized Life

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

For a book that is about organizing, this one was ironically pretty unorganized. After so many five and four star reviews, I had really high hopes for this book. However, I was really disappointed.

In my opinion, there are two big problems with this book. First of all, it really, really needs some editing. The sentence structures are awful and over 70 % of the words could be left out.

The second problem is related to the other one. The author tries to explain everything with text. So much of the ideas would be better described with pictures and illustrations. For example, wouldn't it be so much easier to show an illustration of an organized closet or an illustration of an organized kitchen of parts of them than trying to explain them using text?

The author clearly knows what she is talking about but this book doesn't do justice to it.

I happened upon this book in a store just before the new year. I browsed it and was already inspired. Well, after starting it for the new year I thought of so many friends I would want to share it with. I actually did pick two of my friends to purchase the book for, via Amazon, as a New Year's celebration gift (just to have a reason). Well, like I told those two friends; it's easy reading, great tips and advice and no rush to run through it. It's set up weekly and for a whole year so the pressure is limited. This book is laid out January through December and it is best to start in the actual month that you are in for tracking purposes, and because it addresses holidays and seasons. Yet, the great thing is that you don't have to start like I did in January, you can even skip around if you have too. Start in March and work your year around that way if you want! If you are like me and feel overwhelmed with chores and hopes to organize you will love this set up. It asks good questions to help get to the core of your problems which is organizational therapy :) and teaches accentials to being organized. Some may already know these things, but I for one already in the first month have made a big change thanks to my new information. My kitchen looks great and works more efficiently! One of my friends just sent me an email thanking me again for the book and saying that she has felt some confirmation with it, things she has tried or thought to try. She is inspired too! To share that feels great!

I'm an organizing book "junkie." This is the best I've found. That could be personal/timing-related. Leeds approach is to go through your house in a year, one area/month. That month is divided into four weeks of reading. Usually the first two weeks of reading is motivation, planning, and her past experiences/clients, etc. The meat is in the last two weeks of each month with specifics for doing the work. I've used the book as a bit of workbook, adding notes, lists, plans. I did my worst room (along with real life) in about two weeks. She has a zero condemnation approach which entails setting up the environment which is absolutely essential to succeed in organization. There is no "clean your sink" advice.

Her approach is a basic three-fold: eliminate, categorize, organize (like things contained.) With this focus firmly in place, the projects are less over-whelming. But do take breaks!

There is a lot of New Age in the book. For example,(from memory) burning incense in a hotel room releases the spirits of previous occupants. Surrendering belongings from deceased relatives, releases their spirits. Huh? But if you can ignore that "clutter", the book is valuable. While Leeds seems to be a single, city-dweller, she is sensitive to the organizational needs of families, even large families. She does have the ability to guide the reader to plan and "zoom-out" in order to consider your space with fresh perspective.

I do not share her New Age views and found that content to be surprising, unnecessary clutter, and a bit offensive. I came to this book for organizational help, not spiritual indoctrination. Four stars for unnecessary, distracting New Age clutter in book. Otherwise I'd give it five stars for the help I've found.

This was an interesting book. It takes organizing your life and your home and breaks it down into 12 one month programs for you to work with. I haven't been able to do some of the suggested things yet because of life complications, but I am still referencing it to help me get organized and be organized. When we are organized, we have more time to do the things we enjoy, instead of spending 2 hours looking for car keys we lost, or library books that are overdue and missing in action. I would rather spend that 2 hours reading those books than looking for them. :) I liked the format and the information. I found it very helpful.

I got this book from the local library, so I didn't actually spend money and regret it, thankfully. I would recommend that you do the same, or buy it used if you must. The author takes the reader through an imagined year of activities and situations that you may find useful, but did not apply to me. Really, nothing new was introduced, and the few practical ideas aren't worth the price. The "personal" organization tips are a joke. Don't expect this to overhaul your life.

This book has a great premise, breaking down a specific organizational task over the course of a month, and has you writing a journal while you do this. So why only 2 stars?

Too much info about the author. We continually hear about her own experiences, her high-end clients, etc.

Too much focusing on the past in the journal exercises. The more you dwell on the past, the harder it is to make the future better.

She calls herself the Zen Organizer, but there is a lot of New Age content in the book also. Would rather have had more organizational tips.

She has an entire month dealing just with Thanksgiving. Really. If she'd combined it with Christmas and New Year's, as "holiday planning", it would have been plenty.

The chapter on moving was pretty good, but should have been written with lists instead of all the good information being buried in paragraphs (and this was also a problem in other chapters).

Overall, I would rate the book 2.5 stars. Good premise, and several good organizing tips, but it gets bogged down in places. Check it out from your library first--you might prefer her approach to that of FlyLady.

This is the first book by Regina Leeds for me.
So far, so good!
At first I was worried that I bought it in May and not in January - "oh no!! I'm already behind!!"
But after reading the forward (and you must) my fears were put to rest. You don't have to DO the month IN the month.
What has worked for me so far is this: I did January first because it deals with alot of why, etc. Now I've moved on to managing paper.
I enjoy hearing the personal side from the author. I, too, have a golden retriever. Enough said!
I even emailed her with a question, never expecting a personal or quick response. I got both the former and the latter!!
I say: Enjoy the ride, it is definitely worth the price of admission!