Organized Enough:the Anti-Perfectionist's GUide to Getting-and Staying-Organized

Organized Enough: the Anti-Perfectionist's Guide to Getting-and Staying-Organized by Amanda Sullivan     229 pages

I love this book.   When you really want things perfect it is so easy to procrastinate, "well, I don't have time to do it the way it really needs to be done (perfectly) so I will wait (put it off) until I do."  But that magical time never comes and stuff literally becomes clutter.  Amanda Sullivan's take on organizing is PEOPLE IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE PERFECT!   O.K. is good enough.   She gives you permission through her FLOW system Forgive yourself, Let stuff go, Organize what's left, Weed constantly.   She offers a far more forgiving and easy system for allowing ourselves breathing room in our quest for clutter free lives.  She also talks about habits forming after doing them consecutively for 28 days so decide what habit or habits you would like to add to your skill set and do one new task every day for 28 days so that on the 29th day, it is automatic, you don't even have to think about it.  She suggests starting with doing a sweep through the house before you go to bed.   No cleaning involved just take a sweeping glance through each room, if there is something there that doesn't belong take it to the place it does belong. (Kid's toys, Fido's chew toys, the sweater you draped across the chair when you came in, mail on the countertop, keys left who knows where and of course any remote control someone walked in another room with, etc.)  Establish that habit first.  A good second habit is washing any dishes left in the sink.   You will feel so much better walking into a clean kitchen with NO DISHES in the sink.   After that, habits are what you want to establish.  But whatever you decide do it for 28 days in a row and then it will meld into your daily routine and you won't even have to think about it, you will just do it.    And again she stresses you home doesn't have to look like a showplace or like a photo from a magazine but, it should look like your place - well lived in among the things you love.   She suggests grouping like things together on shelves to make it appear as a collection not random things.   She suggests the same with your groceries put them away in cabinets with other items you will need to use with it coffee, creamer, sugar together,  pancake mix and syrup you get the idea.  It makes it easier and faster when you go to use the items.  It works in all areas of the home, if all the like items you need are together - you stay more organized and have everything together when you need it and boo on perfection.   It doesn't have to be perfect - she for one, hates books that are on a shelf by size, color or alphabetized.   She suggests putting groups of like topics together.   There are no hard and fast rules to sorting but remember the one item in one item must go out rule.    And stop accumulating paper!    It piles up fast.   It needs to be in either a hard copy file cabinet or digital form.  It doesn't have to be color-coded  or labeled fancy it just has to work for you so you can locate what you need when you need it.  I highly recommend this book to any and all who might want toread a book on organization that doesn't make you feel like you must march to a certain way of doing things.   Your way is o.k. if it works for you.