The Well-Ordered Home: Organizing Techniques for Inviting Serenity Into Your Life [Paperback]

Kathleen Kendall-Tackett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2003

Disorganization contributes significantly to stress, and leaves us feeling that instead of time for the important and fun things in life, there is just a never-ending pile of stuff. As an experienced housecleaner, organizer, and psychologist, Kathleen Kendall-Tackett has observed first-hand the therapeutic benefits of an organized home. She has witnessed a transformation in her clients' ability to manage time and stress once they learn simple techniques for creating a sense of order and serenity in their homes, and has distilled this knowledge into The Well-Ordered Home.

Product Details

• Paperback: 119 pages
• Publisher: New Harbinger Publications (March 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157224321X
• ISBN-13: 978-1572243217
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #733,245 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, Ph.D., IBCLC, FAPA is a health psychologist and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, and owner/editor-in-chief of Praeclarus Press, a small press specializing in women's health. She is a Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Texas Tech University School of Medicine in Amarillo, Texas, and Research Associate at the Crimes against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. Dr. Kendall-Tackett is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association in both the Divisions of Health and Trauma Psychology, Associate Editor of the journal Psychological Trauma, and Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Lactation. She is author of more than 310 journal articles, book chapters and other publications, and author or editor of 21 books in the fields of trauma, women's health, depression, and breastfeeding, including Depression in New Mothers, 2nd Edition (2010, Routledge), and Breastfeeding Made Simple, 2nd Edition (2010, New Harbinger, co-authored with Nancy Mohrbacher).

Dr. Kendall-Tackett received a Bachelor's and Master's degree in psychology from California State University, Chico, and a Ph.D. from Brandeis University in social and developmental psychology. She has won several awards including the Outstanding Research Study Award from the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, and Distinguished Alumna, College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, California State University, Chico. In 2011, she received the John Kennell & Marshall Klaus Award for Excellence in Research from DONA International (with co-recipient Thomas Hale),and the Community Faculty Award from the Department of Pediatrics, Texas Tech University School of Medicine. Her websites are UppityScienceChick.com, BreastfeedingMadeSimple.com, KathleenKendall-Tackett.com, and PraeclarusPress.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

73 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the BEST books on the subject, February 9, 2006

By 

MotherLodeBeth "MotherLodeBeth" (Sierras of California) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: The Well-Ordered Home: Organizing Techniques for Inviting Serenity Into Your Life (Paperback)

As a psychologist, researcher and lecturer the author shares

that she has cleaned homes for money while in school and that she faced firsthand the downside of being disorganized after her second child was born. So she's been there done that and knows what works. I appreciate her honesty, or the whole 'been there done that' attitude.

Her 4 key principles for household organization are Start where you are and don't make change a prerequisite for organization. Start where you are and work with the strengths you have. Have what you need. As a culture, we are inundated with stuff. Yet often we don't have what we need to work well. Use Active Storage. Active storage she notes means keeping things you use frequently in accessible areas. And Get Rid of Clutter. Because clutter she notes creates stress and make every job more difficult.

She lays out some helpful and workable suggestions in Part 2 titled Organization Begins in Your Mind where she shows traps to avoid like Perfectionism. Because as she notes perfectionists put things off until they can do them 'perfectly,' but also perfect doesn't exist so things never get done. The All Or Nothing Thinking where one thinks that if they cannot do everything NOW then they wont even start. Or Feeling that domestic work is not worth our time, because its deemed beneath smart people. When in fact a smart person will see the value in being organized and how it brings order and more free time to our lives.

Chapters 13, 14 deal very well with having the simplest yet best cleaning tools for cleaning home and laundry. Chapter 15 and 16 deal with an efficient but rightly stocked kitchen and pantry. To some her advise will seem to common sense, but having watched my share of friends kitchens and television shows dedicated to getting organized I know that common sense is a lost art to many, and being reminded to only have a few knives that one uses for the right task, and dumping the rest is sage advise.

Personally I was surprised and pleased to see Chapter 19 Order to Go where she notes for women 'Women carry around a lot of junk and often end up with a purse the size of a battleship.' Few if ANY books on decluttering or getting organzied ever deal with the #1 (in my opinion) problem for women which is their purse.

Personally I have a small, very small purse that is more like a passport purse since it can carry my money, credit card, cell phone. Its my belief that when we allow ourselves to get trapped in a big purse that we send a message to our family members that they need not plan better, since Mom will probably have what they need. You can keep as the author notes, items like a first aid kit, Power Bars, tablet and pen etc in the car when you need them. No need to carry a mini home with you.

The book is choked full of valuable information, and as someone who owns dozens of books on downsizing, decluttering, simple living, I am picky about recommending books on the subject since the last need someone needs who is wanting to declutter is useless books on the subject.

68 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eating the Elephant, June 19, 2003

By 

Renee Hauser "Renee H." (South Carolina) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Well-Ordered Home: Organizing Techniques for Inviting Serenity Into Your Life (Paperback)

This book has become a permanent fixture at the breakfast spot on my kitchen table. It could easily be titled "How to Eat an Elephant." Every few days, I open to a different page and find out how to make my life sane. The author has done a great job of helping me approach very difficult household tasks and become good at them. This is after all another skill those of us who are not obsessively compulsive need to learn in order to survive life on the edge! So far her ideas have gone down better and have saved me real time and real money by not having to re-buy what I know I have already bought but can't couldn't find if you had a gun to my head! Her writing style is crisp and light and she approaches the negative emotion of why these tasks are so distasteful. As you read you feel she is right there at your kitchen table to help you through the tough spots. Enjoy!

55 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Superficial Advice and Not So Well Organized, Either!, January 25, 2007

By 

Katherine Berry "Venomous Kate" (Kansas) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Well-Ordered Home: Organizing Techniques for Inviting Serenity Into Your Life (Paperback)

As a born-organized person now facing clutter problems due to homeschooling my young son, I'd purchased this book hoping to find new perspectives on battling paper monsters and the inevitable slew of books, toys and crumbs that kids generate. Sadly, there is nothing new in here.

"Handle paper as it comes in" is something you can read at free websites on home-organization. Ditto for "keep a nice box or bin in each room to stash toys in at the end of the day."

But you'll have to read through various chapters to put that together: the author is continually bringing up a topic (e.g., closet organization) then promising "I'll go into that more in Chapter X." Well, guess what: each 'chapter' is only 2 pages long. How much organizational advice do you REALLY think you're going to get in 2 pages?

This book does not recommend any particular system, does not discuss advantages or disadvantages of the varying home-organization products out there, and doesn't even suggest routines or schedules you can adopt for your day.

What it does do is dispense saccharin, simplistic advice -- spend 15 minutes per day sorting through clutter and discard what's broken beyond repair; what's outdated; what you don't love, use or need; do a little bit every day; keep supplies where you need them; replenish supplies as they're depleted; and don't set your expectations unrealistically high.

There, I saved you money. I wish I'd saved my own, and also wish that the hour I spent reading this slim, trite book had been spent organizing my kitchen cupboards (yet another thing this book does not tell you how to do).