Product Description

Professional organizer Peter Walsh presents this witty and enormously practical guide to getting it -- and keeping it -- all together. With more than 500 easy-to-follow how-to instructions, How to Organize (Just About) Everything is packed with shrewd advice and insider tips to make your home, your workplace -- indeed, every imaginable aspect of your life -- run more smoothly. Step-by-step solutions help even the most organizationally challenged take on:

Kids

Schedules

Storage

Photos

Lists

Politics

Education

Remodels

Meals

Weddings

Finances

Holidays

Parties

Vacations

Emergencies

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11996 in Books
• Published on: 2004-12-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 576 pages

From Publishers Weekly
As this massive guide shows, anti-clutter expert Walsh’s expertise extends well beyond closets and cabinets. The star of TLC’s Clean Sweep offers advice on how to organize your whole life, from education ("Plan Your Course of Study in College") to finances ("Organize a Loan Application") to social life ("Plan a Prom"). And while you may not think you need to know what to do in case of an Ebola outbreak, can it hurt to be prepared? Most of the 500 subjects are covered in a page of clear, commonsensical advice, with warnings and extra little tips highlighted along the margins of the page. You may think more than one page is needed to explain how to be happy, but Walsh actually offers a concise summary of the basic points found in hundreds of self-help books. You could save yourself a lot of time by getting this useful compendium.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Don't fool yourself. This is so much more than simple organization; in fact, cable TV Clean Sweep host Walsh has corralled 11 contributors to help cover the universe of how-to's. Inside the 16 sections are 501 activities, both the usual and out-of-the-ordinary tasks, from getting organized and planning a remodeling project to joining the Peace Corps or becoming an astronaut. Each features the step-by-step procedures, tips, a warning (if necessary), and "who knew?"--additional advice designed to make the activity a success: for instance, for running errands, arrange sticky notes in the sequence of the stops you need to make. A personal favorite may turn out to be the last activity--be happy--which features steps like dream big, make a conscious decision to be happy, eat chocolate, work out, find satisfaction in little things, and take care of yourself. A great humane reference anytime, anywhere, for any occasion. Barbara Jacobs
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Peter Walsh helps harried individuals and Fortune 500 companies alike by integrating simple design strategies with classic organizational principles. His techniques can be seen in action on TLC's hit series Clean Sweep where he works magic with a couple's out-of-control clutter and disorganization in only two days. Peter divides his time between Los Angeles and his native Australia.

Customer Reviews

A Place for Everything and Everything (and Everyone) in place!
Logical sequence of events given to plan everything from organizing your home to organizing a trip to organizing a run for the White House! As entertaining as Mr. Walsh's TV program. A good reference manual to keep - you never know when you'll need to plan a safari or a trip to Europe (or a baby nursery!)

Great how guide for just about everything
My goal was to get organized and this book helped!

It has over 500 suggestions on how to organize everything, from the pile of papers in the office to the laundry room to the family schedule.

It's full of little organizing tips that I would have never thought of.
This book is great for the person who wants to be organized but just doesn't know where to start!

Good for simple organizing tasks, but some topics over-simplified
This book has its good points and bad points.

THE GOOD: The 500+ lists cover a number of organizational topics including organizing your spaces at home, organizing your finances, preparing for life events (sending kids to college, wills, etc) and just miscellaneous tasks (organizing a block party, preparing for house guests. The sections on organizing spaces and paperwork/finances contain quick lists on how-to organize your life, which I will probably use. These contain some good information since I would assume this is the area of the author's expertise. Other lists have fun and inspirational ideas, like "Decorating for the Seasons", which provides some suggestions of how to freshen up your home's look as the seasons change.

THE BAD: With so many topics covered, I just can't imagine that the author is an expert on them all. If I am looking to prepare for childbirth, I would be more comfortable reading an entire book on the topic written by someone who is an expert in the area, rather than reading a one-page summary. I had similar thoughts about the list for Feng Shu. Many topics are really too complex to be adequately covered in a short list, but the lists could serve as a quick refresher for someone who already knows something about the topics. As other readers have mentioned, some lists I'd never use and seem almost silly like "Become a Movie Director" (not one of my goals in life) or "Win the Tour de France" (not likely for me).

Overall, it's an okay book that I'll probably refer to as a starting point for some of my organizational projects. But, I'm not looking to it as "expert advice" in all areas since some topics just can't be covered in a short list. Certainly there are a number of sections that I will never use or read at all because they're just not relevant to my life.