Checklists for Life: 104 Lists to Help You Get Organized, Save Time, and Unclutter Your Life

Have you ever wondered how to handle some basic task in daily life? My favorite book for this challenging task remains Checklists for Life: 104 Lists to Help You. Each chapter focuses on a practical life skill from buying a computer and finding a good mechanic to organizing your workplace and writing letters of condolence. The advice is practical, focused, and clear. As an English teacher at a community college, I assigned readings from both Checklists for Life and Don't Sweat the Small Stuff to adult students. By far, students preferred this little-known book over the mega-best seller. Why? The advice in Don't Sweat the Small Stuff seems very idealistic and naive to immigrant professionals and working adults. Checklists for Life provided clear, step by step, instructions for handling new and/or awkward situations. I also strongly recommend this book for ESL teachers. Both immigrants and international students appreciate the clear language, simple imperative sentences, learning new idioms while discovering unknown aspects of American daily life.Therefore, this book qualifies as an essential resource for ESL teachers, recent newcomers to America, and everyone else who just feels sometimes feels a bit confused! This is the rare self-help guide that actually helps! Scan it, browse it, and buy it.

I really appreciate the wide variety of lists here. Sure there are some no-brainers like how to clean up quickly or how do laundry (I wish my husband would read these!), but there are many much less obvious choices. How to shop for a funeral -- a real eye opener! -- is my favorite. The ones I've found particularly useful: 1) Which kinds of stationery to buy so I'll always be prepared to dash off a "correct" note. 2) How to choose a charity to donate to; 3) How to write various kinds of letters -- I recently had to write a condolence note to a friend and leaned gratefully on that "how-to" list.

I like to run my life as simply as possible and love having all kinds of information in one place. The other day a friend of mine had a death in the family and called me up for help with making arrangements. I took this book down from the shelf and read her the advice about shopping for a funeral. Last night I took the book to Target and used it to shop for linens and kitchen equipment for my new apartment. This is what I call an amazingly useful book!

Kirsten Lagatree is a wonderful writer, and in this handy little book she has put her writing talents to work again, compiling a highly useful household resource that can help anyone who's a pack rat like me get better organized around the house. I found her lists on getting organized around home, how to guarantee hassle-free travel, and on how to organize your social life to be particularly useful. This is also a fun book to read, nicely formatted, written in an easy, conversational style. Nice job!Rick Koonce Arlington Virginia

Like most guys I am not a list person. And I figured I knew how to do a lot. But this book filled in a lot of the gaps--the list on traffic court preparation was MOST helpful.Yeah, my kitchen is all set up--don't need that list. But Lagatree even helps you prepare for something truly unusual--a death in the home. Would you know what to do? I didn't until I read this book. List after list, I found lots of useful stuff here. It now sits next to my dictionary and phone books--all essentials for daily life.