Quick Guide to Home Organizing , livre ebook

Baker Publishing Group - Sandra Felton

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116 pages

English

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Description

This proven forty-day plan helps readers achieve a well-ordered home and life. Practical and easy to apply, it shows how to get control of clutter, chaos, and disorganization. Each day readers learn tried and tested organizing tips such as how to recognize the time realities of modern life, keep email and paperwork under control, simplify solutions, and more. An orderly home is only forty days away!

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Informations

Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	18 mars 2014
Nombre de lectures	1
EAN13	9781441245823
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0173€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

© 2006 by Sandra Felton
Published by Revell
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.revellbooks.com
Spire edition published 2014
Previously published under the title Organizing Magic
Ebook edition created 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-4582-3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
The authors of any unattributed quotations are unknown.
contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Acknowledgments
Introduction
How to Use This Book

Day 1 Ready, Set, Go!
Day 2 Envision Your Goals
Day 3 Party Your Way to Order and Beauty
Day 4 Be Annoyed—Very, Very Annoyed
Day 5 Learn the Secrets of Organizing Magic
Day 6 Cooperate with Your Personality Style
Day 7 Battle Boredom and Lethargy
Day 8 Recognize the Time Realities of Modern Life
Day 9 Be Patient with Yourself and the Process
Day 10 Get Mad at the Mess
Day 11 Always Have a Backup in the Wings
Day 12 Simplify Your Solutions
Day 13 Wrestle That Email to the Ground
Day 14 Make Bold Judgment Calls
Day 15 Save Time and Frustration!
Day 16 Attend to Little Things
Day 17 Circumvent Predictable Problems
Day 18 Abandon Extremism
Day 19 Become Your Own Good Mother
Day 20 Creep Up on Tasks
Day 21 Find Out Where You Stand—or Fall
Day 22 Watch Those Four-Letter Words
Day 23 Do It the Easy Way
Day 24 Avoid the Quagmire of Passivity
Day 25 Embrace Old Sayings
Day 26 Don’t Overdo Hobbies
Day 27 Let Mr. Technology Help
Day 28 Focus Intently on Laundry
Day 29 Free Yourself from the Burden of Options
Day 30 Simplify Your Paperwork
Day 31 Sort and Store Your Paperwork
Day 32 Work Your Paperwork System
Day 33 Zap Hidden Hindrances
Day 34 Upgrade Your House
Day 35 Empty the Area to Be Organized
Day 36 Revamp Your Family Room and Kitchen
Day 37 Revamp Your Laundry, Closets, Bedrooms, and Bathrooms
Day 38 Revamp Your Kids’ Rooms, Garage, Attic, Basement, and Home Office
Day 39 Control Your Time
Day 40 Bonus Maintenance Program

Resources
About the Author
Other Books by Author
Back Ads
Back Cover
acknowledgments
Thanks to the following for making this book a reality:
As always, to Ivan, supporter extraordinaire at home and in life. Kisses to you!
To Nanette Holt, remarkable editor and hard worker who strengthened the book with her outlook and experience. Wonderful guidance!
To Lonnie Hull DuPont for her faith and encouragement in moving this book into being at Revell. Many thanks!
To Revell, my publisher for the past quarter of a century. Wow!
introduction
I have loved magic since childhood. And I know I’m not alone.
Many of us have vivid memories of watching Cinderella, sitting in ashes, sad and in disarray. She never had fun and always worked hard. Even so, she was powerless to improve her condition. (Sounded like me when I looked around my messy house.)
But then we rejoiced when she found the prince who whisked her off to a beautiful castle, where she never had to turn her hand to work again. Wow! Can’t beat that!
And who brought about the wonderful transformation? Why, the fairy godmother, of course!
For years I waited for my fairy godmother to show up, wave her magic wand over me, and magically change my mess into glorious order, my frustration into joy.
It never happened. The fairy godmother never came to my house. Nor did the elves who worked for the shoemaker while he slept. Nor did the prince, with the reviving kiss, or any of those other magic, fairy-tale people on whom I had subliminally pinned my hopes.
Then I learned where the magic really is—and it changed my life.
In this book I share with you the organizing basics I learned after long ignoring them, waiting for outside help. The information in each chapter contains a little magic dust. Rightly used, you will find your house being slowly—but surely!—changed into the neat, orderly, elegant, comfortable castle of your dreams. And you will be the princess, more relaxed and unhurried, finally able to enjoy your domain.
But you must wave the wand. You must sprinkle the magic dust. Don’t worry—I’ll tell you how, step-by-step, walking you through the transformation that will change your life.
Here’s your part: Read each chapter carefully. Zero in on how each can help you improve your situation. Note the steps you need to take to create the solutions that apply to you. Then start waving that wand, your treasure trove of solutions. And watch. The magic will come.
Often in fairy tales, like those about Snow White or Sleeping Beauty, a kiss awakens the princess to her new life. So it is with us.
As you follow the hints, tips, suggestions, and encouragements in these pages, always remember to apply them using the magical kiss of organization:
KISS (keep it super simple)
Say it to yourself, when you’re tempted to make things more complicated than they need to be. Whisper it again and again. It’s an endless source of organizing magic.
Focus on the few changes that work well for you and do those consistently. You’ll be surprised at the change that happens. Now get ready for an enchanting journey with me. Our coach awaits . . .
how to use this book
A few useful ideas rightly applied can make a significant change in your life. But it is easy to lose track of them. They tend to drift away unless nailed down on the spot as you read. Here are some suggestions on how to hold on to those ideas that relate to your interests and needs. Underline and write notes in the margin when you see or get an interesting idea. (Unless, of course, this is a borrowed book.) Mark important places you want to remember with a small annotated sticky note so you can find it again easily. This works better than turning down corners. Immediately do the easy step that will make a significant improvement in your life, like calling the phone number that will take you off the calling list of telemarketers. Commit to long-term change where you see the need, such as working to change one bad habit or unproductive behavior. Work on one at a time. Keep a running list of things you need to buy on a sticky note attached to the book so it won’t get lost while you read. You can then easily take the note to the store later. Write a to-do list in the back of the book (projects and such) as action ideas occur to you.
day 1

ready, set, go!
When I was younger, I embraced many ideas I gleaned from tip books—even the ones that weren’t very good. Why? I thought the “expert” who wrote the book was smarter than I was and surely wouldn’t lead me wrong. But if I had stuck with all those suggestions, you’d see the following when visiting my house: Salmon poached in the dishwasher. It may work, but is it really a good idea to go that quirky route? (Unless your stove is out of order, of course, in which case using this method might make you look like a genius.) Nail polish and pantyhose stored in the fridge. They’ll keep “fresh” longer there, but do we really want to dress out of our appliances? Homemade soap-on-a-rope, created with soap slivers stuffed into the toes of pantyhose. Onions kept fresh by suspending them in legs of pantyhose straddling a door. Still more discarded pantyhose, recycled as pillow stuffing. (Pantyhose, for some reason, seemed the solution to nearly any household problem.)

Smart Thinking!
How you think affects how organized you are—and how organized you will become. Try reprogramming yourself to become more organized by meditating for a few minutes daily on these positive statements: I am too smart to create a mess. Therefore, I put things where they belong immediately after using them. I am too smart to let the kids make a mess. Therefore, I spend the time and energy to train them to keep things orderly. I am too smart to do everything myself. Therefore, I create a team of family, friends, and hired help to call on when I need assistance.

I Wised Up
It took me some time to wise up a tad. Now I’ve learned to avoid introducing things into my life that are far out of the pattern that already exists. If a new idea is not easy to incorporate and easy to follow as a regular part of my life, I reject it. What a relief to have finally found that I don’t have to integrate all great ideas into my life—I need only the ones that will make my life easier.
In this book you’ll find many suggestions, strategies, and tips. Employing well-chosen tips will free up your life—now and for years to come. Happily embrace those.
A few you’ll try now and perhaps abandon later. But don’t cheat yourself by not trying at least a few new things, even if you’re not sure they’ll work for you. Some of the ideas I thought originally were the poorest, like grouping my clothes in the closet according to category and color, have proven to be lifelong time-savers. Had I not tried them, despite my doubt, I never would have known!
Sometimes you will see what seem to be contradictions. This is often true with words of advice. Tradition tells us that you can’t tell a book by its cover. Yet we’re also admonished that first impressions are the most important. We’re told to look before you leap. But we’re also warned that he who hesitates is lost. Which of the truths in each pair is correct? Both are—but they apply in different circumstances. For instance, sometimes you should be impatient with clutter and take bold steps to move forward. At other times you need to be patient when it comes to moving forward, even when you become discouraged with how slow the improvement seems.

Organizing is not nearly as important as many other things in life.
But what it delivers of