Home Management 101: A Guide for Busy Parents Review
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"This book shares all the information you will need to create a successful, easy-to-maintain system for your family. By learning the basic skills of an organized parent, you can react in a calm professional manner so that you control your household, rather than allowing it to control you." ~Debbie Williams
If your home looks like a hurricane just hit and there is no storm in sight, this book might help you finally tackle your organizational challenges. If you just have a few things out of place, here or there, then this will give you a few basic ideas you can implement in your organizational wars.
My mother's idea of organizing was to put everything in my room in the middle of the floor and let me sit and organize it for hours on end. Even after all this training, I still occasionally find myself in the middle of some disorganized, creative whirlwind.
There are times when you might be more in the mood to organize than at other times. To use those to the best advantage, read this book! It is really about more than just putting away clutter. I love her ideas about writing down items you run out of on "inventory" sheets hanging in various rooms. It saves running to the other room to find that pen and paper and ...oops, you already forgot what you were going to write down. This is a great time saver.
Debbie Williams presents an action plan:
1. Let's Get it Together -You will finally have ideas for how to sort through the items in your house. I like her idea about organizing one room at a time. It will give you a sense of satisfaction to see your home changing one room at a time.
2. Home Management 101 - A great section on managing paper clutter. I take ideas about sorting mail very seriously these days. One idea I discovered that saved me a ton of time sorting mail, was to get a P.O. Box. That way, I only get mail once a week for the most part and I take time all at once to sort through everything and organize bills, etc. As Debbie says: "Did you know that eighty percent of what you file is never looked at again."
3. Conquering Common Clutter - It is very easy to organize your closets. The author gives ideas for various ways to organize various items. I used her system to organize my clothes into various sections so it is easy to decide on formal/casual, etc. I like her ideas on "rules about inside/outside toys" and "one toy rule" to keep toys put away when not in use. Her "conquering kitchen clutter" was enlightening. I finally purchased a "chore chart" and put it on the front of the refrigerator. Want to remove some of that art on the front of the refrigerator? The author has some ideas about how to organize your children's creative offerings.
4. The Organized Parent - Ever considered organizing your car? This chapter has ideas about mobile desks, diaper bag checklists, creating a traveling nursery, creating stress-free holidays and even ideas on how to save money when ordering Christmas cards.
5. Office Management 101 - This situation is often a very highly specialized organization task, however most of us need the same basic items. Debbie gives ideas on how to consider the needs of all the people in your family who will be using this area.
6. From Here to There: Effective Time Management - This chapter really makes you more aware of the reality of priorities. Debbie encourages you to define what is most important in your life and schedule time for work, family AND yourself. She ends the chapter with a discussion about goal planning and the difference between must, should and would.
7. It's A Dirty Job, But ...- How to organize bathrooms, complete spring cleaning. Her ideas about freshening up pillows and comforters really do work and save drycleaner bills.
8. More Help for the Organizationally Challenged - A list of books with ISBN numbers so they are easy to look up at Am land. There is also a list of fun organizing products you can shop for online.
Throughout the book, the author gives Bright Ideas that are very helpful. One idea that has helped me be more organized is just getting a big black trash bag and walking through the house now and then. I did this for years and finally I can hardly find anything I want to give away. It has helped me keep the clutter down and it is less painful to get rid of your precious possessions a little at a time. After a few years, you start looking forward to donating items to good causes.
A cute book that is a fast-read so you can get right to all that organizing!
~The Rebecca Review
If you are searching for a book on home management, you may have found yourself among the ranks of the organizationally challenged. You just can’t seem to get it together, running in all directions as you try to balance work, family, friends and spouse while still squeezing in some time for yourself.
You are not alone! Many busy parents feel just as you do. Entrepreneurs, full-time working parents, and those who work from home, all feel that they are stretched beyond the limits of their physical and emotional endurance at one time or another. Home Management 101: a guide for busy parents offers practical, real-world solutions to gaining control of your life and your household, once and for all.
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For Moms Who Are New To Organizing - S. Patel -
This book is a great foundation for moms who are new to organizing and need some basic help and advice. For those moms who are already organized, this book provides nothing new. All in all it was a good read and I did pick up a few useful hints.
It works! - -
A very useful book to gain control of my home. So many helpful ideas to manage and keep my home in order.
Jul 11, 2010 06:40:55
