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Organize Your Way: Simple Strategies for Every Personality
Stressing over the mess? Discover YOUR personal organizing style—and stay organized forever!
Organization isn’t one-size-fits-all. Different people need different solutions. Fortunately, Katie and Kelly McMenamin—the organizing gurus behind PixiesDidIt!®—have found the key to making organization stick, with strategies that work for every personality.
Whether you’re OCD or a little less fastidious, Katie and Kelly will help you discover your organizational style, using unconventional approaches or sticking to what already works. Along with personality-based solutions for every space in your home, they offer advice on solving strife between different “PixieTypes.” So you can keep the stuff you love . . . and the peace!
Organization isn’t one-size-fits-all. Different people need different solutions. Fortunately, Katie and Kelly McMenamin—the organizing gurus behind PixiesDidIt!®—have found the key to making organization stick, with strategies that work for every personality.
Whether you’re OCD or a little less fastidious, Katie and Kelly will help you discover your organizational style, using unconventional approaches or sticking to what already works. Along with personality-based solutions for every space in your home, they offer advice on solving strife between different “PixieTypes.” So you can keep the stuff you love . . . and the peace!
- GenresNonfictionSelf Help
256 pages, Paperback
First published March 14, 2017
32 people are currently reading
700 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 23, 2017
Weird book lover moment: I am so glad I got a physical copy of this book rather than digital. It's a cute size and a cool texture. It just feels good in your hands.
Organize Your Way is a fun read. It never felt intimidating or overwhelming (as some organizing information can.) I wanted to implement the strategies immediately because they made sense for me. What makes this book stand out from everything else out there about household organization is the personalization.
The strategies are based on your personality type. There is a short quiz at the beginning of the book. You can also take it on their website Pixiesdidit.com (which is what I did.) I will admit determining my type from the quiz results was slightly confusing. Mostly, because I didn't understand the directions. So, I don't blame the authors for that.
Readers are encouraged to not blindly follow the results of the quiz but to also read the summary of each personality type and determine which truly describes them.
My quiz results were more "Who I'd like to be" than "Who I am." After reading the summaries, it's clear.
I am an Organic Structure.
I like to make piles.
I like things where I can see them.
I like routine, schedules and calendars.
This translates into what type of organization works for me. It also creates conflict since I live with other humans who aren't my clones and have different organizational ideas.
Basically, it finally made sense that every time I try to declutter or organize something for my youngest daughter, her response is a quite exasperated, "It's FINE, Mom!"
If you don't speak teenager, that is code for, "DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!"
This system is not just about making an area look pretty, although that is going to happen by default.
The main tenant of the system is retrieval. Can you find what you need when you need it?
My method of retrieval might be different than yours, or my very artsy teenage daughter, and, "It's fine, mom!"
Organize Your Way addresses each room with universal tips that can be applied to every personality type then breaks down very specific suggestions and guidance for each type individually, complete with "Pixie Tips" side bars and adorable illustrations. Each chapter concludes with a checklist for that household area. There are specific chapters on dealing with toys and conflicts that arise when two personality types have to co-exist.
I whole-heartedly recommend this for anyone interested cutting the clutter and add some organization to their life!
Organize Your Way is a fun read. It never felt intimidating or overwhelming (as some organizing information can.) I wanted to implement the strategies immediately because they made sense for me. What makes this book stand out from everything else out there about household organization is the personalization.
The strategies are based on your personality type. There is a short quiz at the beginning of the book. You can also take it on their website Pixiesdidit.com (which is what I did.) I will admit determining my type from the quiz results was slightly confusing. Mostly, because I didn't understand the directions. So, I don't blame the authors for that.
Readers are encouraged to not blindly follow the results of the quiz but to also read the summary of each personality type and determine which truly describes them.
My quiz results were more "Who I'd like to be" than "Who I am." After reading the summaries, it's clear.
I am an Organic Structure.
I like to make piles.
I like things where I can see them.
I like routine, schedules and calendars.
This translates into what type of organization works for me. It also creates conflict since I live with other humans who aren't my clones and have different organizational ideas.
Basically, it finally made sense that every time I try to declutter or organize something for my youngest daughter, her response is a quite exasperated, "It's FINE, Mom!"
If you don't speak teenager, that is code for, "DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!"
This system is not just about making an area look pretty, although that is going to happen by default.
The main tenant of the system is retrieval. Can you find what you need when you need it?
My method of retrieval might be different than yours, or my very artsy teenage daughter, and, "It's fine, mom!"
Organize Your Way addresses each room with universal tips that can be applied to every personality type then breaks down very specific suggestions and guidance for each type individually, complete with "Pixie Tips" side bars and adorable illustrations. Each chapter concludes with a checklist for that household area. There are specific chapters on dealing with toys and conflicts that arise when two personality types have to co-exist.
I whole-heartedly recommend this for anyone interested cutting the clutter and add some organization to their life!
September 25, 2018
Blugh...
(bleh + ugh)
This book seemed interesting but once I started reading it I was disappointed. The authors came up with a creative group of 'organizing personalities' that I was excited to read about. The bad part was when I related to ALL of them. The authors don't claim you are 100% one personality, but if you made a book about DIFFERENT personalities where you're supposed to find specialized advice, it kind of fell flat.
I absolutely DID NOT like the format of this book (design-wise), it irritated me and discouraged me from reading it. I felt bored and "bleh" when looking at it. The only thing that was ok were the hand-drawn illustrations of before-and-after areas.
It was so hard for me to read it, I skipped big chunks because I was disinterested and not motivated. I feel bad, it probably should go on my did-not-finish shelf, but there is a lot of repetition as well, so it's going on read.
This book could have amounted to a lot more.
I would not recommend it.
(bleh + ugh)
This book seemed interesting but once I started reading it I was disappointed. The authors came up with a creative group of 'organizing personalities' that I was excited to read about. The bad part was when I related to ALL of them. The authors don't claim you are 100% one personality, but if you made a book about DIFFERENT personalities where you're supposed to find specialized advice, it kind of fell flat.
I absolutely DID NOT like the format of this book (design-wise), it irritated me and discouraged me from reading it. I felt bored and "bleh" when looking at it. The only thing that was ok were the hand-drawn illustrations of before-and-after areas.
It was so hard for me to read it, I skipped big chunks because I was disinterested and not motivated. I feel bad, it probably should go on my did-not-finish shelf, but there is a lot of repetition as well, so it's going on read.
This book could have amounted to a lot more.
I would not recommend it.
September 4, 2017
For many, September is the start of a new year. With getting the kids back to school and back into a routine, it is also natural to get our homes reorganized and systems in place to know where everything is.
Everyone has their own system of organizing and you can tell that by the hundreds of organizing and decluttering books available. The McMenamin sisters have taken organizing another step by linking your styles of organizing to your specific personality type. By offering tips based on your specific personality (or PixieType as they call it in the book) then you can learn how to better create systems in your home that you can maintain and understand.
The book begins with an explanation of the different PixieTypes and gives you an opportunity to take a quiz to see which type you belong to. This is my only real negative of the book and I will offer a caveat that I had an eBook which didn't make it as easy to read rather than if I would have had a physical copy. But, in taking the quiz, I found that I fit nearly every category of PixieTypes. The quiz results didn't give me any definitive group to identify with. My notes showed Fun, Classic, Organic, Smart Freedom, Organic Freedom, Organic Structure, Fun Freedom, and Classic Freedom depending on situations. So, I just decided to move on from the personality types and just read the organizing tips.
Much like any other book, you have to offer numerous solutions and this book does that well. Since the authors/professional organizers are trying to give tips to numerous PixieTypes, they offer lots of different ideas for organizing. The chapters are broken down into areas of the home including the entryway, the home office, the master bedroom, the kitchen, the dining room, the family/living room, the bathroom, the kids'/rooms/playroom, and the garage/attic/storage spaces. By reading each section and working with their tips, you can certainly get your rooms in order. One thing I appreciated in each chapter were the illustrations (not photographs of perfect rooms but illustrations) of the main areas of a room first cluttered and then rearranged based on the tips shared in the chapter. Every chapter ends with a checklist of things you should do to put your room back in order. My favorites were the home office and master bedroom chapters. Those are areas that seem to get cluttered the most for me and I took away some tips that I'm hoping will help me keep the chaos contained. I loved that the authors gave me permission to throw out my white t-shirts. They never look the same after a year of wearing, yet I hate to throw them out but I should. White t-shirts are cheap! YES! The same goes with underwear and socks. Why do we hold on to socks that barely have any material left or underwear that no longer fits or is comfortable???? Adding a small dish for my daily jewelry was also a life changer. I typically wear the same earrings and necklace, once in awhile changing them out. Rather than having to put them away every day, leaving them in a small dish on my counter keeps them close since they are in my rotation frequently.
So, I came away with some helpful tips on keeping our home organized, but the personality type part just didn't work for me. If you need an organizational book that breaks down the rooms and steps for each room, then this book is for you. It doesn't get much simpler and offers you motivation to get it done and keep things looking nice.
Everyone has their own system of organizing and you can tell that by the hundreds of organizing and decluttering books available. The McMenamin sisters have taken organizing another step by linking your styles of organizing to your specific personality type. By offering tips based on your specific personality (or PixieType as they call it in the book) then you can learn how to better create systems in your home that you can maintain and understand.
The book begins with an explanation of the different PixieTypes and gives you an opportunity to take a quiz to see which type you belong to. This is my only real negative of the book and I will offer a caveat that I had an eBook which didn't make it as easy to read rather than if I would have had a physical copy. But, in taking the quiz, I found that I fit nearly every category of PixieTypes. The quiz results didn't give me any definitive group to identify with. My notes showed Fun, Classic, Organic, Smart Freedom, Organic Freedom, Organic Structure, Fun Freedom, and Classic Freedom depending on situations. So, I just decided to move on from the personality types and just read the organizing tips.
Much like any other book, you have to offer numerous solutions and this book does that well. Since the authors/professional organizers are trying to give tips to numerous PixieTypes, they offer lots of different ideas for organizing. The chapters are broken down into areas of the home including the entryway, the home office, the master bedroom, the kitchen, the dining room, the family/living room, the bathroom, the kids'/rooms/playroom, and the garage/attic/storage spaces. By reading each section and working with their tips, you can certainly get your rooms in order. One thing I appreciated in each chapter were the illustrations (not photographs of perfect rooms but illustrations) of the main areas of a room first cluttered and then rearranged based on the tips shared in the chapter. Every chapter ends with a checklist of things you should do to put your room back in order. My favorites were the home office and master bedroom chapters. Those are areas that seem to get cluttered the most for me and I took away some tips that I'm hoping will help me keep the chaos contained. I loved that the authors gave me permission to throw out my white t-shirts. They never look the same after a year of wearing, yet I hate to throw them out but I should. White t-shirts are cheap! YES! The same goes with underwear and socks. Why do we hold on to socks that barely have any material left or underwear that no longer fits or is comfortable???? Adding a small dish for my daily jewelry was also a life changer. I typically wear the same earrings and necklace, once in awhile changing them out. Rather than having to put them away every day, leaving them in a small dish on my counter keeps them close since they are in my rotation frequently.
So, I came away with some helpful tips on keeping our home organized, but the personality type part just didn't work for me. If you need an organizational book that breaks down the rooms and steps for each room, then this book is for you. It doesn't get much simpler and offers you motivation to get it done and keep things looking nice.
February 12, 2021
I appreciated the main text about organizing each room, but the personality type advice got very wordy and repetitive. I didn't identify with all the advice for my personality type, so I scanned the other sections too. I wish there had been more bullet points and more pick-what-you-like advice, and less trying to shoehorn readers into the authors' invented "PixieTypes."
Might've been a three-star book, but first there was the authors' odd fondness for silver flatware ... followed by the declaration that paperback books have no place in your family room. Not to mention the constant plugging of a specific brand of hangers. Overall, less useful and a touch more annoying than many organizing books I've read.
Might've been a three-star book, but first there was the authors' odd fondness for silver flatware ... followed by the declaration that paperback books have no place in your family room. Not to mention the constant plugging of a specific brand of hangers. Overall, less useful and a touch more annoying than many organizing books I've read.
September 23, 2017
I love organizing, but I still felt the need to bring this book home with me to see if it had any more ideas for me.
First, you take the quiz (in the book or online) to see what your Organizing Personality Type is, then the book is divided by chapter into different rooms in your house and has a section for each personality type with good tips for you. I'm a Classic Structure type so I am already doing most of what the book suggests, but I didn't think about keeping an inventory of my basement storage area before. I do have it organized by type of item (all the Halloween storage in this area, etc...) I think everyone can learn at least one new idea from this book.
It also has a section on how to deal with people of different Organizing Personality Types living together which is helpful. At the end, they include a list of stores and websites to order some of the items they recommend throughout the book.
First, you take the quiz (in the book or online) to see what your Organizing Personality Type is, then the book is divided by chapter into different rooms in your house and has a section for each personality type with good tips for you. I'm a Classic Structure type so I am already doing most of what the book suggests, but I didn't think about keeping an inventory of my basement storage area before. I do have it organized by type of item (all the Halloween storage in this area, etc...) I think everyone can learn at least one new idea from this book.
It also has a section on how to deal with people of different Organizing Personality Types living together which is helpful. At the end, they include a list of stores and websites to order some of the items they recommend throughout the book.
September 9, 2018
Great advice for all personality tyoes
As a smart and organic freedom type I've often struggled to deal with too much stuff. I did their questionnaire to find my type on their online page (link in book). Everything is getting organised one bit at a time now with ease, as I know now how its best for me to organise. The info in the book is invaluable. I have the kindle version so was able to search for my personality type without having to search the book for the bits that apply to me which was very helpful. I think I would have struggled with the paper version-kindle made the whole process much easier. Excellent. I recommend this for everyone.
As a smart and organic freedom type I've often struggled to deal with too much stuff. I did their questionnaire to find my type on their online page (link in book). Everything is getting organised one bit at a time now with ease, as I know now how its best for me to organise. The info in the book is invaluable. I have the kindle version so was able to search for my personality type without having to search the book for the bits that apply to me which was very helpful. I think I would have struggled with the paper version-kindle made the whole process much easier. Excellent. I recommend this for everyone.
February 15, 2018
Unlike some organization books that require you to adopt a completely new method, this book focuses on taking advantage of natural inclinations to organize - what works for one person may actually be frustrating for another. Many practical tips and suggestions. My only criticism is that the repeated recommendations for certain brands (ie. closet organizers) sometimes felt like a paid advertisement.
May 29, 2019
A lot of great ideas and easy to incorporated into your life.
September 13, 2024
I must admit that the way the book is written helps because it goes right to the point. I love that it offers practical stuff that can be implemented right away.
May 24, 2025
Some interesting new thoughts.
Currently reading
August 1, 2018My husband and I were laughing over the perfect descriptions of our pixie types! They nailed us to a "T".
"Being organized means you're managing your life; it's not managing you."
"Be honest with yourself and accept that you are who you are."
"Knowing where things are, easily retrieving them, and being able to maintain that system are the three essential building blocks to organization."
"Formalize and create structure around the things you already do Naturally. By doing so, you will look and feel more organized."
"Learn to take organizing one step at a time, because getting organized always feels like I hate gargantuan project everyone tends to put it off, no matter what their type."
"Understanding your personality type makes life easier."
"Made it a priority, no apology needed."
"The environmental influence is where you developed all of your shoulds about organizing."
"Entryway -the first available, sensible spot to put things down...the first stop on the clutter train."
"Everyone needs bins... and bins get as close as possible to cubbyholes, which are beloved by most anybody he went to kindergarten."
"Labels can also keep you from getting lazy and stuffing things you don't know what to do with an empty corner somewhere."
"When people don't know the 'why' behind a system, they respect it less, even if you've labeled things like a madman."
"Being organized means you're managing your life; it's not managing you."
"Be honest with yourself and accept that you are who you are."
"Knowing where things are, easily retrieving them, and being able to maintain that system are the three essential building blocks to organization."
"Formalize and create structure around the things you already do Naturally. By doing so, you will look and feel more organized."
"Learn to take organizing one step at a time, because getting organized always feels like I hate gargantuan project everyone tends to put it off, no matter what their type."
"Understanding your personality type makes life easier."
"Made it a priority, no apology needed."
"The environmental influence is where you developed all of your shoulds about organizing."
"Entryway -the first available, sensible spot to put things down...the first stop on the clutter train."
"Everyone needs bins... and bins get as close as possible to cubbyholes, which are beloved by most anybody he went to kindergarten."
"Labels can also keep you from getting lazy and stuffing things you don't know what to do with an empty corner somewhere."
"When people don't know the 'why' behind a system, they respect it less, even if you've labeled things like a madman."
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews