Customer Reviews

Organizing Your Home Office for Success: Expert Strategies That Can Work For You (Plume)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Most organizing books give you only one way to do something but not this book. It gave me options for organizing my papers, home office, my day and other parts of my life. I found out that I don't have to file all of my papers in cabinets (Kanarek offered several options), I can toss my useless planning system and use one of the many described in her book and I learned new ways to make technology shave time off each day. This book is exactly what I needed!

For those who have made the switch to working at home this book is directed to organizing your home office so it actually functions as a business. "Organizing Your Home Business" addresses a lot of the little things that may make or break your business if you don't do them right. At a minimum they help to make the business run more as a business and less as a hobby. First she addresses the creation of a useful workspace including what you should consider before deciding where to work and how to organize it for efficiency.

One of the problems that most people don't think much about is the problem of office supplies. How much do you purchase? Where do you store them until needed? What supplies need a monitoring system so you know when you are running low and which ones don't need to be watched as closely? One of the biggest problems that I have seen in this area is printer ink. There's nothing like having to stop what you are doing, run out to a store, and get another printer cartridge so you can finish getting something out today. If you let your supplies determine your schedule you will find yourself frantically trying to get everything done.

The rest of the book deals primarily with organizing paperwork, creating a daily planner, home filing systems, how to handle incoming information so it is addressed efficiently, organizing receipts, time management, and even ways to turn your car into a home office if that is what you need. If you have minimal experience with office management then "Organizing Your Home Business" is a good place to start gaining an understanding of the details of organizing a home business.

Good book. Of course it has stuff we all know about - 'a place for everything, and everything in it's place', but how many of us actually practise what we know? When i finished this book, the organization demon took over and I finished organizing my office in one sitting. I liked the idea of having everything you need in a circle around you and questioning whether you really need something, else tossing it out - essential for a pack-rat like me.

Whether you telecommute or have a home business, this book is a must read. Full of how to's for office planning, set-up, and maintainenance, this is a guide you will refer to time and time again.

Lisa Kanarek has provided effective and practical tips for creating an office at home. Her general organizing revelations are right on target:

* being a neatnik is not the same thing as being organized, * don't label any of your files "miscellaneous" or you'll spend wasted time trying to find lost documents * you don't have to be born organized to become organized - Learn how by using Kanarek's "4 Keys to Organization".

It's like having a professional organizer right by your side, every step of the way throughout the home office organizing process. With Kanrek's basic "toss or keep" questions for getting organized, storage and space-saving tips, and formulas for increased performance, Organizing Your Home Office for Success is a staple to add to any home office supply list.

Organizing Your Home Business: Arrange Your Home Office For Maximum Productivity by home office expert, business consultant and public speaker Lisa Kanarek, is a solid written, "user friendly" guide to managing time and space in a home office for maximum efficiency. Step-by-step instructions and guidelines for setting one's own hours, tricks for saving space, troubleshooting, learning computerized record keeping, dealing with the IRS, staying organized, balancing work life and home life, creating a "car office kit", and much, much more fill this extremely practical and useful guide. Organizing Your Home Business is very highly recommended for novice home workers, and has a great deal of value for even the more experienced home office based entrepreneur.

As an adult with ADD, I am so thankful I found this book in 1999! That was pre-diagnosis and it made life in my home office so much easier! It is still on the shelf right above my file cabinet and is referred to when needed to refresh my memory. Lisa Kanarek puts forth a readable, practical book that is easy to follow. Her basic home office supplies on p. 56 was especially helpful as were her sample categories for filing receipts on p. 162.
The book is a must have!

From the beginning of the book to the end it is full of information written in a logical format to organize your home office space, I was amazed how quickly I was able to get my office under control and it has stayed that way!! Easy to read and understand.

I originally borrowed the first edition of this book from the library and was so inspired i got online and ordered the new edition from amazon.com. The author offers numerous solutions to problems rather than saying there's only one right way to do things. This was insightful since different people work in different ways. This is the kind of book you MUST buy so you can dog-ear pages and highlight important reference areas. I have always had a messy, disorganized office but with the help of this book I am striving to change that.

Good practical suggestions, but the writer didn't seem to even want to make it interesting.

Many useful, if obvious, ideas here but more often than not it's "my way or the highway." The author has little tolerance for those of us who prefer a certain amount of "chaos" at work. Look elsewhere before making yourself guilty about your office habits. "Ergonomic Living" offers a much more realistic and thoughtful approach to the "real world" modern office.