Organize Your Personal Finances In No Time [Paperback]

Debbie Stanley (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0789731797 | ISBN-13: 978-0789731791 | Publication Date: August 22, 2004 | Edition: 1

Drowning in a pile of bills, receipts and bank statements and don't know how to swim to the top? Organize Your Personal Finances In No Time will be your lifesaver. Written by a professional organizer and coach for the chronically disorganized, this do-it-yourself guide will show you how to create a fool-proof, easy-to-maintain financial system in a single day. Written in a unique step-by-step, to-do list approach, you will master skills such as tracking income and expenses, bill paying, creating a file system and shopping with efficiency. Then, learn to take all of your new skills and apply them to creating a savings plan, a budget and graphs to illustrate spending habits and debt details. When it comes to your finances, if the choice becomes sink or swim, let Organize Your Personal Finances In No Time help you swim.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Unclutter your pile of bills in a day!

Can you imagine your desk completely clear of stacks of bills and receipts? Would you like to know that your checking account balance is correct? Are you interested in avoiding $15, $25 and $35 late fees that are applied when you’re just one day late with payments?

Organize Your Personal Finances In No Time offers today’s time-crunched individuals easy, practical solutions to accomplish financial organization. Author Debbie Stanley, National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) member and conference speaker, makes a career of managing chronically disorganized clients, leading them into organizational bliss. The book takes a project-based approach to breaking apart the steps needed to achieve order in your personal finances and teaches you multiple options to managing finances including online, electronic, and paper-based systems.

With quick, easy projects, you’ll discover many ways to manage your personal finances including:

How to set up a foolproof system for collecting receipts and ATM slips.
How to set up a bill paying system and avoid late fees and overdrafts.
Learning the "ruthless rules" for managing mail.
Choosing your paper organization method - even going paperless.
Shopping smart.
Advanced number crunching techniques - measuring your net worth, P&L, savings and more.
No time to figure it all out? Let Organize Your Personal Finances In No Time be your first step to getting it all together.

About the Author

Debbie Stanley transitioned from a successful career in journalism and reference publishing to the highly rewarding role of professional organizer and coach for chronically disorganized clients. The owner of Red Letter Day Professional Organizers (http://www.RLDPO.com), Stanley's work is informed by a bachelor's degree in journalism and a master's in industrial/organizational psychology. Stanley contributes to the growth of her industry as a trainer to fellow organizers and as a speaker to groups, including Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD). She is the chair of the National Association of Professional Organizers' Publications Committee and president of NAPO's Southeast Michigan chapter. Stanley is also a past board member of and active participant in the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization (NSGCD) and has earned the NSGCD's Chronic Disorganization Specialist certificate.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: Que; 1 edition (August 22, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789731797
• ISBN-13: 978-0789731791
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #503,542 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Debbie Stanley, MA, MS, LLPC, NCC, CPO-CD, has worked with chronically disorganized and hoarding clients since 1997, originally as an industrial psychologist and professional organizer and now as a licensed mental health counselor.

As an author, Debbie has written for both clients and colleagues. _Organize Your Personal Finances in No Time_, _Organize Your Home in No Time_, and Debbie's latest book for in-home professionals, _"Let Me Show You the Basement": A Guide to Staying Safe in Clients' Homes_, are available here on Amazon.com. Her books for professional organizers, _Newbie Pitfalls: 50 Obstacles on the Road to Success as a Professional Organizer_ and _Ethical Pitfalls for Professional Organizers_, are currently available at www.thoughtsinorder.com and will be added here soon.

Before starting her organizing and counseling practices, Debbie worked in publishing as an author and editor. Some of the books she produced during this era are still in print and also appear here.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical and to the Point, September 18, 2004

By 

Shannon Seek (www.seeksolutions.com, Marin County, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Organize Your Personal Finances In No Time (Paperback)

If you need to simplify how you handle your finances and paperwork, this is
the book for you.

Even if you are organized in this area, this book will motivate you to
simplify even more. It did for me.

As a Professional Organizer, one of the biggest downfalls I see to any money
management system is making it overcomplicated--e.g., waiting to organize
your finances because first you need to learn the computer program you plan
to use.

Next, is the indecision most people face when they are trying to get
organized. This is commonly seen in how to name files and how to store files
(covered simply in the book!).

Stanley provides practical, to the point direction in how to decide what is
just right for you, so that your systems will actually support you and not
work against you by being overcomplicated.

This book takes you through the decision making processes involved in
setting up the systems you'll need.

This is the first book on organizing finances that I have seen that is as
interested in you the person, as a seasoned Professional Organizer would be.

She makes it so easy to decide what you need to do next, based on you. It
was as close to having a live Professional Organizer there with me while I
was reading.

Be sure to check out the cool icons that guide you to quick tips and hints,
such as "Clever Client" and "Organized Enough" (hooray that an organizing
book is finally addressing the concept of not over-organizing).

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is a helpful and organized resource...about organizing!, October 5, 2004

By 

Jennifer Burke (Allegheny Highlands, Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Organize Your Personal Finances In No Time (Paperback)

If you've ever felt like you were the only person in the world who is afraid to go near that giant pile of bills, receipts and other financial paperwork, this book can help you. Of course, even if you already have a plan in place, you might find this book helpful too. I thought I had a pretty good system, but a friend recommended that I give this book a look-see and I have to say I am pleasantly surprised.

Have you ever seen that show on TV where the organizer comes in and takes everything out of the room? He teaches the person how to examine and organize their stuff, then shows them their newly-organized space, all ready for them to maintain on their own. A place for everything, and everything in its place, as the old saying goes. Well, this book is exactly like that. It shakes up your thinking and helps you realize what you could be doing better and easier.

Even if you have files and never lose a receipt, it's not always easy to see where your money goes every month. This book covers, from beginning to end, all aspects of the process and does it in plain language and in a friendly way. It doesn't take long to read and is easy to flip through for guidance on different topics. I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who shops, saves, counts...well, you understand. I'm a convert and this book is a real helper.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, an easy to follow book to organize your finanaces!, October 11, 2004

By 

Allison V. (Washington, MI.) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Organize Your Personal Finances In No Time (Paperback)

This book is great! I would have never guessed that a book on organizing finances would be fun to read, but this one is! It is easy to follow and is presented in a way that makes it quite simple to customize your own systems. In addition to all the wonderful financial advice (some which I did not even realize that I needed to know!), there is plenty of advice on organizing other area's of your life. For example, dealing with non-financial paper and clutter like magazine articles and catalogs. My favorite is the "room-by-room" files. They work awesome!
Every young person or couple just starting out should have this book! I'll be giving it for bridal shower gifts from now on!