One Year to an Organized Life with Baby: From Pregnancy to Parenthood, the Week-by-Week Guide to Getting Ready for Baby and Keeping Your Family Organized

by Regina Leeds, Meagan Francis

Bringing a baby into the family is undeniably one of life's most momentous experiences, marked by expectation, joy, and hundreds of tasks and questions. Which baby gear essentials do you need to buy and when? How can you reorganize your home to make room for your baby? When should you start looking for a daycare center or nanny?

One Year to an Organized Life with Baby prioritizes everything that parents-to-be need to know in order to get their home and life ready for a new baby, as well as strategies for keeping it all together once the baby is born. Packed with timelines, checklists, and tips, this unique week-by-week, month-by-month program eliminates stress and refocuses prospective parents so that they can fully enjoy the changing landscape of their lives.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Self Help, How To

351 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Professional Organizer. New York Times best selling author of 9 books. Speaker.

Reviews

[Sherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful tips for organizing your home and your life for the impending arrival of a baby and one year beyond. Some chapters were less relevant to my life or covered things that I was already doing. Many chapters did provide food for thought on things that would be coming down the pike. At times there were recommendations to purchase expensive organization gadgets or other services that I think are wholly unnecessary, but overall I did learn something and at least have some ideas about what I'd like to tackle before and after baby arrives.

[Kaitlin CU · Rating 1 out of 5]

Condescending tone and weird priorities. Felt like a judgy MIL telling you how to clean your house and make sure you’re pretty for your husband.

[Sarah Delacueva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful tips about getting organized before the baby arrives. I liked the week-by-week format with tips and tasks. Since I am already fairly organized, there were definitely things in this book that I had already done or already had systems for. However, since it was my first pregnancy, there were plenty of baby-related tasks that I had never done before and didn't know how to organize. This book was extremely helpful in alerting me to tasks that I hadn't thought of and gave me lots of good ideas.

My only problem with the book was the chapters that one was supposed to read after the baby is born. There was useful information in those as well, but I just couldn't keep up with the schedule with a newborn to look after. That is why I finished the book 35 weeks after birth rather than the recommended 20 weeks. I am not sure what format would have worked better, I just know that I couldn't keep up and ended up figuring out the stuff from the last chapters on my own as it came up.

I would definitely recommend this book for first time mothers, but I would recommend reading ahead before the the baby is born. Maybe skimming the post-baby chapters ahead of time would made the book more useful. I would have know what was coming and could have referred back to it as it became relevant post-partum.

[Jess Roever · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a good idea, if you find it when you are pregnant. It made me feel like I was very behind and wasn't very helpful in catching up. She said that if you are not at the beginning of your pregnancy, you should go to the week you were at and start there while also reading from the beginning. Well, that wasn't very helpful. The author also made me feel bad about some of my choices as a mom. I like more realistic books that encourage moms and say that we as women and mothers need to give ourselves a break, understand we are doing the best we can do, and just relax sometimes.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I picked up this book, I didn't realize that it was written by a professional organizer who would expect that you were as anticlutter(this woman actually takes her coffeemaker in and out of a cabinet every morning) and as capable of spending lots of money on organizational products as her typical clients. So,I was rather disappointed because I was expected it to offer advice that was more practical.

[Jillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I discovered this book very late in my pregnancy, so I couldn't use it exactly as designed, but I did find it to be a helpful source of organizational motivation and checklists. Most of the advice is predictable but on point. It makes a few interesting assumptions and has the jokey tone I've come to expect (and dread) in so many pregnancy/parenting books, but neither aspect was extreme enough to really turn me off. Overall I would recommend it.
3.5 stars

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Go from feeling overwhelmed to empowered with the organizational techniques in this book. I have been inspired to start some heavy spring cleaning as a result.

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this in about a day, and it was somewhat useful to guide my brainstorming of things I should simplify/organize/declutter before the baby comes. It also pointed out to me how organized we are - do people actually leave wet towels on the floor of the bathroom?!??

Minus like 2 stars for the insidious and ridiculous sexism. I rolled my eyes but moved past the obvious bullshit like "new moms never stop doing laundry" and even "decorate your husband's bathroom with wood organizers for a masculine touch" but the extent to which she envisions preparing a house and family for a baby to be a woman's job was just astounding. She would discuss major projects like painting a room, doing bathroom renovations, etc. and then throw in "make sure your husband doesn't have plans that would conflict." Are you kidding me?! I read most of the "you"s as plural, referring to both me and my husband, so every time she pointed out that the husband was only expected to be superficially aware of this work, it floored and infuriated me.

[Joana Ferret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good reference book for the type A personalities out there. Some stuff is a bit outdated (who uses DVDs anymore!?), but they have pretty solid organizing tips. The postpartum part of this book was not very helpful as arrangements vary a lot, but there’s still some value there. The authors have a bias against disorganized people, and if you not very organized you might feel offended. Since their opinions resonate with me, I was not bothered.

[Brittiny · Rating 1 out of 5]

It seemed like the author had a wild idea to write a organizational book so she sat down and wrote it and by some freak of nature actually got it published. But, it did not seem like she has ever actually organized anything in her life. Not only was her order of things to organize incredibly stupid, but I've found better suggestions and ideas from half-wit mommy bloggers on Pinterest.

[Isabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some useful reminders and ideas throughout the book. It’s better to read while pregnant and in nesting mode so you can dive into some of the organizing when you might have more motivation. A lot of the advice is a bit dated now.

[Sarah Holzer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found some of this to be in a really weird order (especially postpartum) or just unnecessary in this time frame at all like consider child's education and college by 20 weeks old?

[Jaclyn West · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some helpful tips here, but some of the info was repetitive and outdated.

[Nicole Stakeley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great tips in this book. I found that I already did about 90 percent of them but it reassured me that what I’m doing is good!

[Emily]

I got this book free on a Goodreads giveaway, but I had no idea when I entered to win it that it was based on Zen (Buddhist) organization. I'm not into witchcraft nor would I ever desire to open that door of destruction to my unborn baby or my marriage, so I wanted to give anyone looking into this a heads-up that this is the basis for the book.

The author also encourages mind-emptying meditation (very dangerous) and other forms of spirituality that can be ultimately harmful because they open up doors to the demonic. Again, had I known, I wouldn't have entered for the book, but I am just writing this as a heads-up to those who wouldn't be into that sort of thing, so they know. The book doesn't talk exclusively about eastern mysticism by any means, but it is definitely the focus of it.

[Emily Schatz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in quite a bit more than a year, but enjoyed it for the following reasons:
- it's helpful for overwhelmed expectant parents who aren't sure what to do with all the STUFF and information that comes with new babies
- it made me realize I was more organized than I thought
- it covers a lot of housekeeping ideas and things-to-talk-about tips, which for me generated a lot of brainstorming
- it's funny.

Minus one star for relying too heavily on commercial organization products, and minus one star for diminishing usefulness of information post-birth. And I could have done without the constant stream of pop-culture-ized Zen philosophy.

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up after baby had already arrived so I can't speak to the pregnancy parts. In terms of postpartum I didn't really find anything new or insightful. Most of the tips are common sense. I was looking for cool lifehacks and aha moments but this really is just an overview of things you should be doing and probably are doing in some form or another.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up from the library postpartum, so I only read the latter third of the book. I love this sort of book that sets a focus for each week with some tasks and suggestions on how to be efficient. Right up my alley, so I did do some of the organizing and it was an entertaining read, but didn't change the way I do things.

[Tara Nash · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am already an organized, type A person and this book is definitely not aimed for me. The organization tips are simplistic and most organized people already do the things suggested. I found that the organization of the book itself did not make it easily adaptable for those who wanted to customize the timeline of when things get done within pregnancy.

[Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this because I have the author’s other book One Year to an Organized Life and I thoroughly enjoyed that.

This book was also good and it did help me organize a bit before the baby arrived. Though, I recommend reading ahead when it comes to the postpartum sections, because who has the time for all these action items with a newborn?!

[Mrs. Schonour · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thinking ahead to parenting, this book is a great way to organize your life. If you are already a very organized person it will give you a few tips. If you need help in this area, this book will be incredible.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. The book contained lots of helpful advice and information on what to do and expect when pregnant and when baby comes home. Although not all of the advice was useful for my lifestyle, there was plenty of helpful advice for me!

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of good tips for a new mom.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though the timeline and advice is pretty simplistic, the structure was just enough to give me a place to start expanding it.

[Elise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm surprised this book has a 3.2 rating. I have found it to be extremely helpful in preparing for a baby and managing life with one after it's arrival. Some of the chapters and of the information is more relevant to me than others but I liked that, as you can treat it like a buffet of information.