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136 of 136 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's more than techniques, August 27, 2006
This review is from: Organizing Magic: 40 Days to a Well-Ordered Home and Life (Paperback)
I find it hard to believe I read the same book these other folks did. Perhaps when they saw "Organizing Magic," they thought it meant "Instant, Easy Organizing." It doesn't.
But if, like me, you have read stacks and stacks of household hints books, and organizing books, and you are still fearful about letting others into your home, this book WILL make a difference, IF you actually follow the directions.
This book isn't meant to be read in an afternoon or two, even if the generous use of checklists, white space and text boxes makes it look like a quick read. It requires a daily commitment to reading, notetaking, and analyzing YOUR situation and YOUR attitudes. It doesn't assume that the same answers will work for everyone; maybe that's what frustrates some readers. Instead, working through the book a chapter at a time helps instill new attitudes and new habits in dealing with a cluttered home, with solutions tailored to YOU. New attitudes and habits are what people with a serious cleaning and organizing problem need -- not tips and tricks, although those have their place, and there are some in this book.
After you can open the door all the way when a friend comes by, THEN you can read all the Heloise, Martha Stewart, and Cheryl Mendelson you want to. Because THEN it will really stick.
This isn't a fast-food approach to making a better life; it's from scratch -- takes patience and time, but ultimately more nourishing, healing, and helpful.
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51 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Helpful ideas for those who struggle to organize, September 7, 2006
This review is from: Organizing Magic: 40 Days to a Well-Ordered Home and Life (Paperback)
The Organizer Lady, Sandra Felton, is back with Organizing Magic: 40 Days to a Well-Ordered Home and Life. Actually, Felton explains at the beginning that these are not forty consecutive days because some of the projects require a change of thinking, such as finally feeling that you can invite someone into your home. It's more accurately described as forty projects than forty days.
Felton offers ideas as varied as dealing with the paper crunch, saving time, e-mail, organizing closets, efficient movements, developing a visitor-friendly attitude, and upgrading your home. (No, she doesn't mean blowing it up and starting from scratch as my mom has suggested!) She gives the reader permission to reject whatever projects don't work for you while developing a new style of thinking.
Felton is an engaging writer with a practical, friendly style. She lets readers struggling with clutter not feel guilty. Angry yes, guilty no. Most chapters include several helpful pointers and boxed quotations to encourage you such as, "If you can't move the mountain, move a few stones. If there is a better solution...find it," by Thomas Edison. The book ends with a resource bibliography.
One of the good things about the book is that she provides options for you to consider and suggests you choose one that you feel comfortable with. For instance, in her chapter on making bold judgment calls, she gives you eleven project choices which range from dropping out of a club, giving up addressing Christmas cards by hand, throwing out all mail with a bulk postmark unopened, rotating your visible knickknack collections, using paper plates for quick clean up, and more.
Some of her suggestions sound familiar to me because I've read one or two of her books over the years, so those who have read some of her other books may want to look this one over before purchasing it. Those who are new to the struggle to organize their lives will find her ideas helpful and her writing engaging. - Debbie W. Wilson, Christian Book Previews.com
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64 of 66 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
She's right about putting things away, August 27, 2006
This review is from: Organizing Magic: 40 Days to a Well-Ordered Home and Life (Paperback)
For years I have found myself shifting things from pile to pile. And I can make a mess faster than most people's kids. Magic for me, is learning to put things away. I've been on Flylady's list for years, and although she's done some good things for me, it's Sandra Felton who has emphasized that putting things away NOW is the best way to avoid having a mess to deal with LATER. Until I learned this, I was deeply frustrated, for in my efforts to declutter and organize my house, I was spinning my wheels. I'd work hard, only to find a week later, I was back where I started.
This book really emphasizes putting things away ASAP, and getting into that mindset is changing my life.
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