The Organized Life: Secrets of an Expert Organizer

by Stephanie Denton

Have it All and Have it Organized!

Imagine every room in your house and every part of your life organized. You can make it happen! The Organized Life give you quick, easy-to-reference advice for taking control of clutter so you can live every day with less stress and more free time.

You'll find tips, checklists and easy-to-follow guidelines for organizing every part of your life, including:

*Paper piles
*Kitchen & pantry
*Grocery shopping
*Holiday shopping & storage
*Home office
*Photos & memorabilia
*Closets & clothes
*Kids' rooms & toys
*Garage
*Bedroom & bathroom

Real-life examples and inspiring full color photos who you how to make these proven techniques work for you, no matter how busy you are.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Stephanie Denton is an organizing and productivity expert who has been featured on the front pages of both The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. Her consulting and speaking clients over the past fifteen years have included individuals, small businesses and corporations such as Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble.

Stephanie is a frequent contributor to national magazines and a longtime syndicated newspaper columnist. She has been interviewed hundreds of times on television and news programs around the country, including CBS This Morning, CNN, and MSNBC and by such publications as The New York Times, Business Week, Inc., Reader’s Digest, Family Circle, Real Simple, Better Homes & Gardens and Entrepreneur.

Stephanie is past president of the National Association of Professional Organizers and a recipient of its prestigious Founders Award, the industry’s highest award for career achievements and industry contributions.

Reviews

[Danielle Bess · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my bible for organization! Logical way to organize and stay organized while decluttering your life and home!

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will tell you great ways to get your life under control and how to handle the clutter than invades our lives. There are some great ideas on how to declutter your life and how to get organized. This book can save your life--being free of clutter can free up time to accomplish many other things.

This is a great gift for anyone needing to organize his/her life.
[Meaning anyone with a desk should read this book.:]

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

i recently moved into a studio .. given the limited space .. i use this all the time; great suggestions and ideas .. easy read for those challenged in organizing .. L

[Brittany · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a good guide if you are looking for general ideas about how to store various things. Some of the ideas, however, actually seemed counter productive (putting all the same shaped silverware together in the dishwasher actually leads to a higher chance of dirty silverware since they will tend to nest!). I didn't find any new ideas and think that perhaps this would be better for a true beginner to organzing rather than someone who has any level of experience.

[Kristen Gebbia · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot of the tips in this book are either glaringly obvious or readily available on Pinterest. Still, I came away with a handful of ideas, like:
-if I were looking for this object right now, where would I look first? That’s where I will store it.
-organization is an ongoing process; a lifestyle

[Rogue Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Attractive design and layout highlighting the bullet points and some helpful suggestions. Some hints are pretty bizarre, unfair to say as I can't single out an example at the moment.

[Bethany Lockhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick, helpful read. Loads of tips that I will refer back to!

[Kayla Barriger · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of things I already have implemented, but still had some good ideas.

[Jeanne Nichols · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very basic book about organizing. This is for someone who has never tried to organize their life and has no idea what to do. A beginner's book.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few counted interesting thoughts on organization. However, it is probably a great starting point for someone who is starting out.

[Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhat helpful. Somewhat outdated

[Caro · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was about 50/50 for me. I liked the ideas and processes presented, although a lot of them I'm already doing or don't really apply to me personally. I liked how this book covered a lot of different aspects of home life and stuff. This was written well and I liked the included examples. The pictures were good, but kinda vague(?) and didn't really seem to grab me or express/show what was being explained. (ex: organizing a closet/drawer/desk = pic of front of drawer, not inside) Overall, there were some really good things that I am most likely going to try (mostly from the time saving chapter) and some good tips on how to store things so that they'll actually be recognizable when you go to look for them. Pretty good, easy to read, no techno babble (yay!), pretty and simple pictures, and some good concepts of organizing not just your home, but your life to some extent. Enjoy

[April · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just L O V E this book. The author is so on the ball that she even had the book bound in such a perfect size and feel good weight that it's not in the least annoying to hold and read as you lay in bed. The cover is nice and glossy and the pages are colorful and with just the right amount of text so you can pick it up for just a second or read for a good long while. Some ideas are slightly out of date re: technology, but is has completely transformed a few of my office/filing systems and even has some advice I'd second regarding keeping things running smooth with small children about. I couldn't have been more pleased than to happen upon this at my local second hand book store!

[Juli · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a pretty good how-to, but some of the ideas were kind of obvious (to me, at least) and some of them were not all that practical. There were pretty pages and photos, though, and handy recommendations at the end for places to purchase organizational tools like shelves and containers and labels, and there were also recommendations for other good "life" books, and not all were strictly of the organizational-type. :)

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the way this book is laid out...with snippets and brief paragraphs, instead of being dense with text to read through. Some of the points I already knew/use, but I particularly liked the chapter about time - the perspective on how we can organize our time more efficiently and effectively was very helpful.

[Alissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Small format, attractively designed. The best parts were the "real life stories" but those were few and far between. Not a lot of original ideas and I've read a lot of organizing books. The structure lends itself to be a quick reference type of book.

[Joe Theer]

How come all the reviews are written by women? Aren't men organized? Sometimes? LOL I know I am!
But then I think I was born with the Heart of a Woman. I'm not like a lot of other guys! Don't care for Sports either!

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Non-Fiction; Home Improvement
3 stars

I like how this book was written in a step-by-step manner. Organization is not that hard once you know where to start. Most of this is second nature for us OCD types, but I definitely can see where this would help those who need a little extra guidance.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I'm much older, I guess I knew a lot of the suggestions, even if I don't use them all. But, I did find her information very helpful about how to store photographs, whether in boxes, albums or scrapbooks.

[emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great tips for getting organized. Well laid out to guide you through your efforts.

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfect for anyone who likes pictures and quick, helpful tips. You'll see results immediately if you follow the advice.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The photos were beautiful, and it was a quick read as it was mainly little hints with full page photos. It was a nice refresher, but really nothing new.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an aesthetically pleasing book and gave me a few good ideas, but didn't tell me much that I hadn't read before.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read a ton of organizing books. This was a good one, but I'd heard most of the tips before.

[Valerie Sherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the more attractive & easy to digest organization books, but not many original ideas.

[Sunshine Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of great tid bits. Read it once, won't use it as a reference.

[Cardiogirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good advice and a few quizzes to decide what kind of organizer you are and what the strengths and weaknesses are to each type.

[Sarah Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice easy to read size and format. Good organizational tips resource, but not a lot new here for me.

[Rachel Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A useful informative book filled with suggestions on how to organize all the areas of the house. There is also a little section on time-management.

[D. Eisenbise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of great ideas. Easy read. Common sense approach.