The One-Minute Organizer Plain & Simple: 500 Tips for Getting Your Life in Order
by Donna Smallin
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Book Reviews of The One-Minute Organizer Plain & Simple: 500 Tips for Getting Your Life in Order
Book Review: Organizing made easy!
Summary: 5 Stars
Organizing doesn't have to be all that difficult or
time-consuming . . . in fact, Donna Smallin in her
excellent THE ONE-MINUTE ORGANIZER PLAIN &
SIMPLE contends that by doing it in small chunks
of time, your life will be made both easier and simpler.
Smallin, a nationally-recognized speaker on
uncluttering, had previously written ORGANIZING
PLAIN & SIMPLE . . . although I haven't yet read that book,
I will do so in the hopes that it is as helpful as her
latest effort.
You can read THE ONE-MINUTE ORGANIZER straight
through in less than two hours . . . that's what I did
the first time . . . now, I'm going back and rereading
certain parts from such various chapters as Getting
Started, Clearing Clutter, Paper Stuff, and Everyday
Strategies . . . I will probably continue to do so
in this valuable little book that I'll keep, as well as
cherish.
There are so many useful tips presented that it makes
it difficult to present just a few in this review . . . however,
I'll try by sharing the following that caught my attention:
Start with the most visible clutter first. Seeing clear and
obvious results will give you a boost of confidence.
Sort knives, spoons and forks as you put them into the
dishwasher to make it easier to put them away when
they're clean.
Keep the same calendar for business and personal use. Use
different-colored pencils or highlighters to distinguish between
work and personal commitments.
When you write appointments in your planner, also write in a phone
number to call in case you're running late, want to confirm or
need to reschedule.
And here's a final one that I REALLY need to consider implementing:
Check e-mail messages and return telephone calls once or twice
a day, instead of all day long.
Book Review: Easy to read and bursting with great ideas!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a very useful little book filled with tips on keeping yourself organized. I found many great ideas in the book and it covered just what I was looking for.
The book is organized into two parts:
Getting organized (getting started, clearing clutter, paper stuff, spaces & things)
Staying organized (everyday strategies, clutter control, home management, schedules & to-do's)
I found so many of the tips useful (perhaps more useful tips than other similar books). Putting small items in zippered bags in your purse helps to cut down on clutter and makes finding things much faster. (I did this with my makeup and now finding my lipstick is a snap and I don't have to worry about the lid coming off in my purse!). Stapling product receipts to the manual is also a great idea. The author warns about keeping your will in a safe-deposit box because it will be sealed at your death - an important piece of information!
I also really like the format of this book. You can read it from front to back or just open to any page and start, which makes it easy to read in small bytes before going to bed or for a minute or two while your coffee is brewing in the morning. The typeface on the pages sorts the information visually: lists are easy to read, important words are bolded or printed in a different typeset. This probably sounds unimportant, but it helps you to read the book very fast and get lots of ideas in a short amount of time. The author also includes little sentences to encourage you in your organizing (like: "Remember nothing worth doing is easy").
This book is full of ideas you can really use and is so easy to read. A great reference for anyone and would also make a nice gift!
Book Review: Incredibly practical
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are like me (and you just might be if you are reading reviews about this book) you have a tendency toward clutter, but have never given up the fight. If that sounds like you, I urge you to get this book. Each page has one or two bullet points in large print - advice and tips on how to get organized.
One of the best sections in the book for me was on paper clutter. I seem to drown in papers. Until I read this book, I had struggled for years with how to organize my files. In just a few bullet points of advice, I was able to understand for the first time how to file. I am still in the process of switching over the headings of my files, but what I have done so far makes paperwork a breeze. Taxes this year were a cinch because of how I had my tax paperwork filed.
Based on this book by Donna Smallin, I look forward to reading her other books.
Book Review: Hope You've Got a Lot of Minutes
Summary: 5 Stars
This book has 500 tips for getting your life in order and most of them take a lot longer than one minute. I'll let you do the math on that. But each of the tips is pretty quick to read about, and that's mostly what I do. I keep this book on my bedside table so that when I need something light to wind me down, I can pick it up, read a tip or two, like " . . . create standard packing checklists for volunteer meetings, children's overnights, or family camping trips," and think to myself, who lives this way? If I did all the things this books suggests, my family would have me at the psychiatrist's office getting me diagnosed. So I don't really do any of it. I just find crazy books like this highly entertaining. I think you will, too.
Lucy Adams, author of If Mama Don't Laugh, It Ain't Funny
Book Review: Fun read; helps get you in the mood to get organized!
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is worthy of taking up space on the shelf. I enjoyed reading it and look forward to referring to it again and again. It's a great tool for getting in the organizing mood. THIS BOOK DOES NOT TAKE A BIG TIME COMMITMENT. I read it mainly while sitting in the car-line at my child's school waiting for school to be out. 5 minutes here; 10 minutes there! The suggestions for getting the whole family into organizing were very helpful. While I found several ideas I have heard of or used before, there were many more that I had not thought of. Some reccomendations that didn't apply to me made me think of other things that did. Warning! The One Minute Organizer may lead to a better organized home.