The Organizing Sourcebook: Nine Strategies for Simplifying Your Life

By Kathy Waddill

Book Overview

The nine habits of highly organized people

Organizing consultant Kathy Waddill demonstrates how the simple act of being organized can improve your quality of life. In The Organizing Sourcebook, she presents nine organizing principles that can easily be applied to any situation, activity, or environment. The book gives you the tools for managing time; decreasing stress; and dealing with cultural, personal, and emotional change. Case histories illustrate how each strategy solved a specific problem.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0737304243
• ISBN13: 9780737304244
• Release Date: July 2001
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

takes the real world into account

I have read a number of organizing books, and this is one of the most realistic. Ms. Waddill points out that one must actually be motivated to do what is necessary. For example, a family said they wanted to pare down their supply of clothes, but when it came time to actually give them away, they balked. Most of the time, I have considered myself organized as well as neat. The past couple of years or so, I felt as if things were falling apart, that the house didn't reflect who I was because if its unusual level of disorder. I had been working full-time, caring for our young son, and helping my husband, and later my mother, through their final illnesses. Ms. Waddill noted in a story about one client that he had lost his job and gone through other disorienting experiences. He, too, was less organized than usual. I saw myself in that story, and was encouraged that the way things had been for a while wasn't the way they had to stay. Ms. Waddill is analytical without being stuffy, and doesn't condemn clients or readers. She does point out the facets of life that affect our level of organization, and the decisions we may eventually have to make to change it.

Get organized now.

This was a wonderful motivating book. From day one that you read this book you will be inspired. Offers easy to follow suggestions. Helps get you started to tackeling those dreaded get organized projects but once you start, there is no stopping. This book shows examples of other people who are in similar situations and how they got organized and stayed organized. The 9 steps are clearly explained and overviewed at the end of each chapter. Then at the end of the book, they go thru the steps one at a time as a check list to make sure your new set up is working for you and your current needs. If not it refers you back to the specific pages to go thru again as needed. It doesn't leave you hanging. This book is a keeper. I am sure I will need to go back to it for reference from time to time. Very inspiring and well worth every penny. Well written and easy to follow. A great book overall. Highly recommended.

a real page turner!

I never would have believed that a book on getting organized could be so interesting to read! I was absolutely fascinated by Waddill's stories of some of her past clients, the types of (sometimes pretty amazing, sometimes more mundane) messes they were in, and how she helped them solve the problems that got them into a mess in the first place. I used to think of myself as a "totally disorganized person" but, after reading this book, I realize that, like most of her clients, I'm actually pretty organized in most areas of my life, but there's a few areas that need improving (unfortunately, those areas are threatening to take over my apartment and my life!). I thought the book was written in a very well organized way (it's surprising to me how many books on getting organized are not very well organized themselves), with simple, basic principles that are easy to understand. I especially benefitted from reading about Waddill's first principle, which is to think about the activities that take place in your home, and have an area that supports each (simple yes, but I wasn't doing this till now). I also like the idea of "labelling everything" -- including mentally labelling areas of your home -- I have a two year old son, and have realized I still don't have a designated "play area", which helps explain why there are toys all over our apartment! And she uses examples to show how, even if you're living in a very small space, you can still get organized (with great examples of how to do so). I was jotting down ideas like crazy as I read the book, and now have a long "to do" list. Unfortunately, I haven't found an organizing book yet that will actually do the organizing for me :) but at least this book was interesting enough that I got through the first step, which is reading the darned book in the first place! I think this is the first "how to get organized" book that I've actually read cover to cover. If you're looking for a book on organizing that is interesting enough that you'll actually read it, then this is the one for you!

Kathy Waddill is an Organizer's Organizer!

Although I'm a professional organizer and author ("Rosemary Brown's Big Kitchen Instruction Book"), and I thought I had my organizing engine hitting on all cylinders, I can't describe how much I've benefited from reading Kathy's incredibly useful tome! Man, did I need a tune-up! I might add that the benefit has been visible as well as invisible.Over the more than 20 years that I've been a professional organizer, I've read plenty of books on this subject, since after all, it is my profession. If I can glean a few practical new ideas from every book I read, I consider it a good thing. But my response to Kathy's book is off the charts!Kathy describes nine clearly-defined strategies that help get you get organized and then stay that way. I think the strategy that has been most helpful for me (so far) is to "Label Everything." I was good about labeling "things" around the house, such as spices in the kitchen and files in my office, but I had really overlooked the technique of mentally labeling areas. Kathy has opened my eyes to an incredibly insightful approach with this strategy. A verbal tag is a strong incentive to put things where they belong, and to help you find them when you need them.Although our home has plenty of storage space, the fact that my husband (H. Jackson Brown, "Life's Little Instruction Book") is a prolific author and inveterate saver of ANY shred of information, in ANY form, that might EVER give him an idea (including magazines, books, loose papers, and objects large and small!), caused me to succumb to the temptation to stash things in all sorts of places, just to get everything put away. I pretty much knew where to put my hands on what I needed, but I had to maneuver around things many times.Not any more. The times, they are a'changin'. First, I realized that the walk-in closet in our guest room was NOT being used at all effectively. But I never "saw" that until I read Kathy's book. So I mentally "re-labeled" it as a "reference library." In spite of the fact that we have a abundance of bookshelves in our home, there never seemed to be enough. (Did I mention that authors LOVE to read?) I cleared out, recycled, gave away, and re-located most of the odd assortment of things that had found their way into that closet. Then, with my trusty screwdriver, I dismantled the "Closet Maid" shelving, since we didn't need it for hanging clothes, and it certainly wasn't suitable for books. My next step was a trip to Office Depot, where I found some reasonably-priced shelving (29.95 for a 5-shelf unit, made by Grosfillex). I bought 3 sets to begin with, but quickly went back for 2 more. Each unit, when assembled, is about 11" deep by 26" wide, although the box each unit comes in is lightweight enough for me to carry upstairs by myself. The shelving can be assembled without any tools, and is made of laminated particle board, so it's sturdy. Not too large, and not too small, but just right! (Look, Mom, I can do it all by myself!)Then I began goin