Confessions of a Happily Organized Family

Deniece Schofield is absolutely wonderful. She led a seminar at a university near our home several years ago and was one of the most entertaining speakers I've ever heard. Though her topic of home organization does not normally lend itself to being humorous -- just let Deniece get started on how much clutter corn on the cob creates -- she made the prospect of deep cleaning seem like fun. I'm sure I've saved our family thousands of dollars just from attending that one seminar. She gave us her philosphy of living on less -- we don't need all the gadgets and gizmos people try to sell us. Those items you think you can't live without are going to have to be stored somewhere, eventually. Her long-term advice: keep life as simple as possible. The great thing about her book is she REALLY is an expert. She uses all these fancy terms that make homemakers feel like we're really CEOs of small corporations. (And we are!) But now I can recite exactly which technique I'm using when I clean house. Her six work simplification techniques are priceless: 1. Think before you act. 2. Discard and sort. 3. Group. 4. Be motion-minded. 5. Accrue your benefits. 6. Preventive maintenance. Read the book to find out what each means. All I can say is that "preventive maintenance" is a lovely term to have in your mind as you get your kids to keep their STUFF out of the family room. The first couple of chapters build a foundation upon which her philosphy of family organization rests. Basically, she gives you reasons why you're not doing anybody favors by doing all the work yourself. Her mantra of planning and scheduling make this book a must-read. She commiserates with overwhelmed homemakers by saying, "One of the big problems with housework is that it's never done. You can work for hours and hours and never feel like you've accomplished anything. But a schedule eliminates those feelings of frustration by giving you a stopping point. The work may not be finished, but YOU are." The book is full of drawings, detailing her ideas, and would be a great gift for a new bride, new mom, or someone you know who is moving. In fact, she has a whole chapter on the art of moving peacefully -- yes, it can be done. I can't say it better than a quote she borrowed from Winnie the Pooh's pal, Christopher Robin: "Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it's not all mixed up." --Reviewed by Heather Lynn Ivester

I would put forth that Confessions of a Happily Organized Family is more about the how to of organizing. She provides a wealth of suggestions for storage and organizing solutions that are not very expensive and easy to make and/or buy. I rate it five stars for the usefulness. My only thought about this is that much of this you can do yourself without buying the book. However, if you are not sure where to begin or need ideas on storage, this is an excellent book. However, if you are interested in organizing your home and want a starter book, I would suggest you consider her other book Confessions of a Happily Organized Homemaker. In this book she discusses the whys, how tos, and what fors of organizing every aspect of your life. Also, it seems to me that much of what is in this the Family book is also in the Housewife book. Either way, both are good.

I liked the book Confessions of an organized home maker but I am very interested in the home manager note book mentioned in the book, Does anyone know where I can find the note book, where or how I go about buying the note book that is mentioned in the book.Help please J.Griffin

I loved her sense of humor and the way that she tied real life experiences into her subject matter. She really seemed to have learned by experience and hard work and I respect that. I would love to see how her children turned out.

After reading Confessions of an organized homemaker , and this one on the organized family I am amazed at how much I have learned. It teaches you to organize your laundry room to your garages, along with sporting gear and hobbies stuff. It goes into schedules for the whole family. and keeping everyone organized . Truely this is a great companion for her first book. You learn to handle the papers from school and mail coming into your home and how to get your children and husband into working with you and not against you. Now I am reading her book on Organizing my kitchen time...Just wait!