Organizing for Life: Declutter Your Mind to Declutter Your World [Paperback]

Sandra Felton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2007

Say good-bye to the stress of mess - for good!  You can find the order, beauty, and peace you desire - and deserve - in your home. Organizing for Life reveals the secrets of keeping your house neat, clean, and organized without spending every minute of your life working on it.  Finally an audio book that goes beyond the how-tos of cleaning and looks right at the heart of messiness so permanent change can take place.  You'll learn why things are out of control so you can get them back in order and keep them that way.  You'll uncover the mental and emotional roots of clutter - guilt, fear, rebellion, habit - so you can get rid of it.  Even the best cleaning methods are useless if you can't keep up and soon slip back into old habits.  Stop struggling.  You can overcome that old, unsuccessful mind-set and discover a new way of thinking that makes messiness a thing of the past.

--This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Say good-bye to the stress of mess--for good!

You can find the order, beauty, and peace you desire--and deserve--in your home. Organizing for Life reveals the secrets of keeping your house neat, clean, and organized without spending every minute of your life working on it.

Finally a book that goes beyond the how-tos of cleaning and looks right at the heart of messiness so permanent change can take place. You'll learn why things are out of control so you can get them back in order and keep them that way. You'll uncover the mental and emotional roots of clutter--guilt, fear, rebellion, habit--so you can get rid of it.

Even the best cleaning methods are useless if you can't keep up and soon slip back into old habits. Stop struggling. You can overcome that old, unsuccessful mind-set and discover a new way of thinking that makes messiness a thing of the past.

Sandra Felton, The Organizer Lady™, is the founder of Messies Anonymous, a group established to help women organize their households. She is the bestselling author of several books, including Organizing Magic.

About the Author

Sandra Felton, The Organizer Lady™, is the founder of Messies Anonymous, a group established to help women organize their households. She is the bestselling author of several books, including Organizing Magic. She lives in Miami, Florida.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Revell; Reprinted edition (March 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0800731859
• ISBN-13: 978-0800731854
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #147,559 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

In 1982 Sandra Felton was a disorganized wife and mom with three kids
and a full time job. Plus a chronically messy house. Desperately seeking
relief from clutter, she sought help from information in books and from friends.
She found the "secrets" that finally worked for her. Sandra's first book, The
Messies Manual unlocked how naturally disorganized people could apply those
secrets successfully to their lives. More books followed. With humor and good
will, sandra reaches out to those she calls Messies with words of hope and with
practical techniques that really work

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars True Help Indeed, September 19, 2007

By 

Rebecca Miltenberger (Elyria, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Organizing for Life: Declutter Your Mind to Declutter Your World (Paperback)

I thought I was getting a "how to" clean and organize your home.
I WAS DEAD WRONG!

I ordered this book, on CD, because my house and life were spinning out of control - and I didn't have time to read a book! I live surrounded by clutter in a home where finding the floor is like striking gold! I was working non-stop cleaning and trying to keep up - and achieving NOTHING!

Sandra Felton is a "former messy", and from that vantage point she explores why "messies", that's me, are messy. How they think, how hard they work while accomplishing nothing, and what habits/thought patterns keep them in this constant state of disarray. I could identify with nearly every point in the book.

This has been my inspiration to decluttering and cleaning my house room by room, which I have done many times in the past, but now I have the knowledge of how to keep it that way! I have also joined her online support group, "messies anonymous", and have ordered many of her "how to" books to help me in this process.

I will recover from my "messy" lifestyle, and I will live in a peaceful, harmonious home, thanks to this wonderful author's past struggles, current success, and her willingness to share with anyone in need.

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hope for Those of Us Who are Chronically Disorganized, May 5, 2007

By 

Dorothy A. Oneil "Mom of 9 or More" (Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Organizing for Life: Declutter Your Mind to Declutter Your World (Paperback)

I am a Sandra Felton fan. I have been for years. What sets her books apart from the other organizing books is the education you receive.

Sandra is a teacher, a researcher, a writer and a messie. She doesn't give you the proverbial fish so you can eat for the day, she instructs you and gives you insight into the heart and mind of a person who is struggling with clutter and disorganization. Her work is based on research from many areas of life so you can grow, change and live a full and healthy life!
This title has 2 parts. The first part deals with why we are messy. We can look at possible social, emotional, spiritual and physical reasons for the clutter and disorganization. After each chapter Sandra has questions to help us further evaluate our lives and what might need to be changed.
The 2nd part deals with ways we can over-come the problems we identified in the first half of the book. There are more questions to get us thinking and keep us motivated to change.

This book is really more than a book, it is a workbook too. Sandra's goal is not to just sell a book but to help people grow and change, to be the best they can be,in my mind the book should be listed under self improvement! ;-)

Another great feature of this book is that throughout the book and in the back she lists resources and support groups for getting further help or better understanding a problem.

As with most of Sandra's books, this is not a how to book or a follow me exactly and do exactly as I say and you will have a neat home book;there are no tips and tricks on how to store ketchup or toilet paper neatly.

These books are written to help you become you, to order you life your own way. And afterall who wants to do something just like everyone else? Especially if you are a creative messie like ME!

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring, June 10, 2007

By 

Jennifer Donovan "5minutesforbooks" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Organizing for Life: Declutter Your Mind to Declutter Your World (Paperback)

Sandra Felton spends the first part of her book defining the three types of messies and listing specific obstacles that hinder each type. They are the saver, the clutterer, and the time-waster. These three chapters helped me to identify why I can't ever get my home completely under control. This book does not give the hows as much as it gives the whys regarding the housekeeper's personality and preferences. Several chapters are devoted to detailing more serious causes of disorder such as depression, an alcoholic family background, adult ADD. Being on the lower end of the messie scale, many of these issues did not apply to me, and it sometimes felt as if she were insinuating that there is a serious reason behind why all messies have a disorganized home.

I have always known my problem-I'm lazy! Actually, she helped me define some of the causes of "laziness" or actually a lack of motivation, while giving steps to overcome them. While reading, I was inspired to go ahead and tackle some of the clutter in my home. I find that reading a book such as this one (or Don Aslett's Clutter's Last Stand: It's Time To De-junk Your Life!) helps to give me that additional motivation that I need to tackle a room or a closet that is in great need of being purged.