The NEAT Method Organizing Recipe Book: 70 Simple Projects to Take Your Home from Chaos to Composed

by Ashley Murphy, Marissa Hagmeyer

“An organizing book that reads like a cookbook. Each project comes with an ingredient list of supplies, an approximate time length, and clear step-by-step directions.” —Real Simple

In this one-of-a-kind organizing book, there are smart, stylish solutions for every room in the house, including quick wins that can be accomplished in just twenty minutes and larger overhauls that may take an hour or more, A “drop zone” for dirty shoes and sports gear at the garage door Compartmentalized drawers for everything from kitchen utensils to makeup to socks A color-coded bedroom closet A playroom kids will actually keep tidy And much more! The end result is  By implementing solutions that emphasize beauty as much as function, you’ll create a home that’s well arranged, a true place of calm and simplicity.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help

208 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 7, 2025

Reviews

[Maura · Rating 3 out of 5]

The NEAT method seems to consist almost entirely of "have a HUGE house with very little in it".

The only useful aspect of the book is that it breaks down every room into little zones and encourages you to just focus on one little zone at a time. But then it just lists the same repetitive steps for each zone (sort like with like, cull, etc.) with only the occasional little zone specific tip sprinkled in.

Oh, except for the pantry, where they strongly suggest that you devote the rest of your life to decanting all the food you buy into fragile glass cylinders that have no place being anywhere near a kitchen. Am I the only person who freaking hates that? Almost as much as I hate these all white interiors that look like hospitals. I've got Irish potato farmer genes and seeing a pantry as empty as the ones in this book just makes me anxious, so this was definitely not house porn in my book.

[Dodi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I saw The NEAT Method Organizing Recipe Book at the library and impulsively threw it into my bag. It sounds harsh, but this book is useless as an organizing book. It is pretty. It has pretty photographs inside a pretty house with a pretty garage. The method is the same method all organizers use: empty the closet (or drawer or cabinet, etc). Clean out the closet. Put less stuff back in the closet. The "recipe" part involves buying very expensive baskets, bins, racks. Or hiring the authors if you live in their area.

[Mary Lynn]

Nothing new here. Might provide some motivation for those who need it. The photos in these organizing books are almost always useless.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had never heard of this brand/company, so I added one star after the endnote described it as a “luxury home organizing brand.”

The book is beautiful and the way the house is broken down into small projects is helpful…. but no amount of organizing is going to change the fact that the pantry shown in the book is roughly the size of my bedroom and the laundry room is larger than my kitchen. There is not a single drawer in my house tall enough to store water bottles upright, nor does my closet have shelves to display shoes and purses. Apparently what I have is a space problem, not an organization problem.

It was visually lovely and a nice giggle for an hour, but I won’t be sad to return it to the library.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book feels like sitting down with a super-organized friend who genuinely wants to help you tackle the chaos. Everything is broken down into manageable steps, so even if you're not naturally inclined to organize (hi, fellow clutter enthusiasts!), you’ll find it easy to dive in. The authors emphasize starting small, working at your own pace, and making sustainable changes. I've already done two projects and I am keen to start on my hall closet!

[Valerie Reid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again I was lured into a glossy book of photographs which promise to organize and keep order in my home. However, this book differs from many of the others that I have already reviewed. First of all is the complete absence of color in many of the photographs. Virtually every single photo in the book is comprised of white, beige, tan and gray. (Personally I can't imagine living in a house so devoid of color.) It is a nice break, though, from those forced rainbow organized refrigerators, pantries and closets! Another feature is a description of their NEAT method, which has good suggestions of how to approach the editing.

The book is divided by rooms in a house, including the garage. Each of the chapters includes various sections (cookware, refrigerator, spices, etc.) and is presented like a recipe - including the approximate time to organize plus the essential equipment and accessories needed along with step-by-step instructions. Finally they have included a 7-day reset, a way to spend 30 minutes each day for 7 days in order to maintain the order that you have created.

If you are looking at just specific rooms or sections, it's a great way to approach your organizing. However, if you are reading the book page by page, you soon realize how much repetition there is between the sections. And I don't necessarily agree with their suggestion that you need to put everything in matching bins, and I definitely think that decanting all of your kitchen ingredients into other containers doesn't work for me. That being said, I came away with some ideas to implement. My recommendation is to check the book out from your local library and save your money (I did).

Read more of my reviews at https://thegoodreader13.blogspot.com/.

[Linda Hutchinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Neat Method Organizing Receipt Book
Authors: Ashley Murphy & Marissa Hagmeyer
Source: Orlando Public Library @ocls
Publication Date: January 7, 2025

This book was very detailed with a lot of great suggestions. However, anybody could organize the huge and gorgeous house featured in this book. It's HUGE. The pantries and closets each were the size of my entire house. I live in a sweet 1545 square foot house, and I love it. But I have no closets and my bathroom closet (towels, etc.) shares space with my air conditioner unit. My kitchen has very few cabinets with most being upper cabinets. Our previous family home for many years was 3,000 square feet so I know what you can do when you have space.

I would love for someone to write a book about SMALLER homes with limited storage space.

#homeorganizing #systems #theneatmethodfororganizingrecipetbook #cleaning #styling #home #organizing #non-fiction #self-help

[Linda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can't believe they eked this out into an entire book. Style-wise, this isn't for me. No soulless, bland white decor for me, thanks. But from a practical level, I also hate this advice. Their pantry and kitchen organization advice is particularly ridiculous. Remove everything from its packaging if you can, because apparently you want to give the impression that you live a wholesome, unprocessed food life but really you're just dumping your potato chips into a glass container. Who has time to waste like that? Sometimes you need the info on the packaging, too. Not to mention that while it may look uncluttered for their photo spread, a pantry with four canisters on a shelf just screams "wasted space!"

[Leona · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautifully photographed book that covers many categories of home storage. It’s somewhat repetitive as these kinds of guides often are, for the reader only looking at specific areas. While this is an ideal method of organization, with more than adequate space, I personally am looking for ways to maximize the storage in my smaller home and that is not the goal here. Still, this is an inspiring and lovely book.

[April Karn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The easiest guide to organizing your home! This book breaks down the steps and helps you calm the chaos. Read the intro, then choose any section of the book to start a project big or small. It is so helpful!

[Cory Plum · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Organizing Recipe Book is so easy to use! It goes room by room and breaks projects down in each of those spaces. I feel like I'll actually be able to tackle jobs in my home without going crazy, losing motivation, or giving up. I can't wait to get started!

[Joshua Sorrows · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the new NEAT Method Organizing Recipe Book!! The beautiful images are highly motivating and the book is wonderfully organized (surprise!) into small projects to tackle with simple steps to follow.

[Lizzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Straightforward, simple, nice examples. The recipe idea is helpful and there are useful tips. As usual for these books, doesn’t have a lot of tips for smaller spaces, but otherwise is fairly practical. Blessedly no boring personal info like so many of these books have.

[Michelle Kennedy · Rating 1 out of 5]

There were some aesthetically pleasing pictures, however this method very much just copies Marie Kondo and The Home Edit method-from taking everything out of the place, deciding to keep what you love, to arranging in rainbow order.

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of these ideas, and certainly the pictures, work great if you have a very large house. For smaller spaces and smaller budgets it doesn’t feel as applicable. Though I did get some good ideas from it. Worth a read.

[Talia Lewey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only organizing book you’ll ever need! It touches on both small and big projects in every room in the house. Such a game changer.

[Sarah Gerber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring photography, easy to follow projects and looks amazing styled with my home decor. Perfect for gifting or to add to your own collection!

[Marcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully photographed, but it works on the premise that you have tons of available storage space and big, wide drawers, which is not the case for most people.

[Jennifer Rowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is not only “so satisfying” visually, it’s comprehensive, relatable, and offers a great step-by-step guide for getting any space in your home organized.

[Paige · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book. I believe it is fiction unless used to further organize a staged model home.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit more into folding with boards and other methods than I like, but still got me motivated to make changes

[Jacob Estell · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a picture book of some already organized spaces

The theme of maintenance in the practice of organizing was solid

[Kacey E · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the book inspiring and implemented a few new ideas. Any book that gets me tackling projects I've put off is a win!

[Hazel Leu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty standard tips. I found it to be helpful and inspiring.

[Flo Rouk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great advice but we need addresses and brands where to buy the goods!

[Berit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Should be called The NEAT Method: How to organize your home if you have huge closets in every room and endless time for folding things every day.

[Lydia Kass · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful pictures of a curated home with limitless budget.

[Linda · Rating 1 out of 5]

There was nothing in this book that I haven't seen/read many times before. There were some nice products shown but no reference to the maker or seller. Disappointed.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a gorgeous book, though not as helpful for me at this time in life, living in a rented place - I feel like I need a more permanent domicile to implement everything they discuss here. The pictures are pleasing and it’s fun to imagine having the money and resources to actually do what they outline.