The Complete Idiot's Guide to Organizing your Life (3rd ... (ISBN 0028643186)

This book changed my life, literally.:
With all the harsh reviews of this book, I had to put my two cents in. All my life, I had kept everything because I was so sentimental. Any little thing I was given, no matter if it was useful or not, was to be kept. I spent most of my teenage years perenally cleaning my room. It's not that I was a slob persay, but that I didn't have enough room to keep everything put away neatly. So it overflowed into my attic.. which was a mess as well. When I went to college, the clutter came with me. Finally, the summer of my freshman year, I saw this book (2nd edition I think), in a bookstore and picked it up. I can honestly say it was a Godsend. Georgene Lockwood gave simple advice for dealing with the clutter that had taken over my life. It took me all summer to put everything in order. I had to get over the "attachment" I had to each item. I followed Lockwood's common sense approach for cleaning out each room, and closet. I gave things to friends, charities, had yard sales. For the first time in my life, I started to keep a filing system following the principles put forth in this book. I learned what chores I should do, and how often to keep the house cleaner. Now I have my own home, and it may not be perfect, but the amount of clutter is very low, and pretty much everything has a system. The straight forward style of writing may be intimidating to those who aren't ready to make a life change. It's kinda like dieting, you have to be ready to change. If you're willing to make a change and strictly follow the steps in this book, you'll be all set.

dissapointed...:
ive read over 10 guides in this vien. this one's an overall dry read. i know my review's harsh but its the truth.

Very helpful with organization:
This is an excellent book. It helps you put together a plan to get started. I just got rid of 30 bags of stuff I didn't need. Nice and refreshing. It has helped me with my shopping problem. I highly recommend this book.

Actually quite good, overall, if a bit too broad in focus:
Let me first say briefly that I don't care for the "Complete Idiot's ...." series name. It's one thing to be called a "Dummy" by another popular series, but a "complete idiot" is taking it a step too far, at least for me. So why did I pick up the book and read it? Well, frankly, most of the other titles available looked a bit too dry, and this was cheap. In spite of my prejudices against the book, the first four chapters really impressed me, particularly the foundational discussions that analyze what role "stuff" plays in our lives and why we become bound to "stuff." This section of the book cut pretty deeply. As a matter of fact, I should go back and reread it every year or so. The middle sections of the book dealing with actual organizational techniques, were in my opinion good but only average. I read a couple other organizational books at the same time as this book, as well as many web sites, and found that there is a lot of common wisdom about organization that is expressed in different words, but is more or less equal. However, if you really need this book, then it's likely that you need a plan to be laid out for you, even if it is only common sense. After all, not all recipes are amazingly creative, but we still need to follow a recipe! Toward the end, the book includes chapters on organizing your taxes, your finances, your pet supplies, your vactions, etc. This is where I more or less lost interest. It's also the primary reason this is a four star (maybe three and a half) rather than a five star review. I've no doubt that these chapters may help some readers. However, if you just want to organize your "stuff," then you may be left wishing for more advice on organizing general THINGS and less advice on organizing specific items such as vacations and taxes.

Happy:
Book looks like it is what I want. Received it in good time and excelle nt condition. Thanks so much. KA