Customer Reviews

Organize Yourself!

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book was quite helpful. It covered a variety of topics and the filing system was most helpful. Although this book is a bit dry and does make u thing the author is a bit anal retentive-nevertheless her techniques work and are worth trying. Especially if u are disorganized this book can truly make the difference.

This book will truly motivate people who are disorganized and always looking for things. The author offers a lot of helpful advice. The sections on Getting Control of Your Time; Paperwork and Household Matters were extremely helpful. It even has advice on how to organize someone else.

I wanted to give this book 2 stars, but that seemed mean. It's okay. Nothing earth-shattering, not much I hadn't either thought of doing or had done. Much of it seems common sense, such as if you don't bake often, store bakeware on the bottom of other pans or up on high shelves where you don't need to get to it often. This book might serve as a nice primer to the uniniatiated, but I imagine that most seasonsed wives and mothers have thought of this stuff. Of course sometimes we get so busy, we forget what we know. :) Finding time to do it now that's another story. (Look at Proscrastination: Why you do it and what to do about it.) I wasn't blown away by this book. Perhaps because so much comes down to common sense. At least to my obsessive compulsive little self. Had I seen this in the bookstore, I would have seen that I didn't need it. However, it sounded good online and I was looking for help and trying to find it in a book. This might make a great fun shower gift or for recent grad. A nice book to have as reference, I guess. Stuff you could figure out for yourself, but all in a concise place. Then, of course, I guess there are "real [slobs]" out there to whom this stuff really isn't second nature. Yep, I just thought of one, and I am going to send this as a gift. Bet you know one, too. So buy it and if you don't end up needing it, send it to them, with a note explaining that it is helping you organize, including your books, and you're passing on the ones you're finished with. :)

I was very interested in the campanion website for this book advertised on Amazon. However, it does not list the cost of the website service. It asks for your credit card, but doesn't tell you how much. I consider that unethical business practices and therefore cannot recommend this book or service to anyone. Be cautious, be very cautious of authors engaging in that type of service practices.

UPDATE - I need to update my comments above to let you know that I have received good coorespondance from the company regarding my concerns. They tell me the cost for the service is on the payment page and that it is approximately $15 per month.

I've been an on-again off-again organized person to complete slob, depending on my life at the moment! Sometimes I just need a guide for getting back on track & purging messes until the house is running smoothly again. This book is made for already organized people to get ultra-organized. It has no heart or soul, just a dull, dry list of reminders. There's also little in the way of staying organized, unless you go back to each list on a daily basis. As much as I think Flylady is the opposite end of the spectrum (made for someone who needs reminding to get dressed in the morning), at least she offers the heart & soul that this book lacks.

This book is chock full of really good ideas. It didn't "change my life" but I did learn a thing or two. It mostly served as a good reminder to me of some good habits.

I would read other books by these authors.

This is a wonderful way to organize yourself, and tips on organizing others. There are many usful lists, such as packing lists, staying overnight, and even grocery. Ronnie has many useful ideas on helping you help yourself. I was thouroughly delighted when reading Organize Yourself. She includes many entertaining stories about her customers to raise your self esstime. (one customer was an a trip and failed to pack her skirts!) Please buy this book and whip yourself into shape!

Organize Yourself! is perhaps more inspirational than down-to-tacks informative. It addresses clutter and disorganization across the household. It perceives the problem as procrastination and a lack of awareness of resources and what some of us would simply call common sense.

I am reviewing the 3rd edition, which someone gave me. I turned to this book in hopes of getting definitive answers to questions like exactly how far back should we keep federal, state and/or local tax records? Do I keep all of the annual statements for my retirement account, even those going back 25, 30 years? Or do I only keep the last five? How many years do we keep the health insurance statements? How much house coverage is prudent? What do insurance appraisers typically ask for when assessing damage and loss? Although hiring household help is not on my to-do list for the foreseeable future, I would have hoped for information about when it is necessary to pay Social Security and taxes on a household employee and how to track that information. That chapter emphasizes interview questions and where to recruit applicants for the job. When it comes to legalities and industry standards, the answers are vague to none.

The bulk of the book emphasizes paper records and generating even more paper records (if we ran a concordance on the text, I bet the phrase "start a list" would appear most often). I'd like to know time-cutting measures for managing all this paper. That's my issue--it's not that I don't know what to do, it's that I wish I could find the time to do it. An answer to household clutter? A tag sale! Do you know how many hours of preparation are required? The authors do not tell you, but I know and that is why the attic is backing up.

If you are looking for tips to get your desk organized, or reminders on every day problems, than this book is for you. But if u want a more global method on how to handle the mess you will be disappointed.

This is a terrific introduction to an important topic that affects everyone.

How do you best make decisions about spending your time and planning your life?

The implications are important and require more than a quick read to absorb.