Real Simple: The Organized Home

I bought this book in the store after flipping through it. If you like Real Simple (the magazine), this book is for you. The ideas in the book are perfect for first-timers who are looking to organize all their stuff as they move in to a new place. I love the photos and suggestions - from cleaning products to furniture ideas to color schemes. One wish I have for this book is that they would have shared the best places to buy these things, but a lot of the products, units and furniture seem like they could be purchased in local department stores or stores like Ikea.

This book is a practical guide to organizing your entire home with beauty! Not just plastic boxes.... It is also a framework for teaching your children & family members life skills - being organized simplifies your life and leaves more time for living.

Ok, so I was never on the brink of death - I'm exaggerating a little. But I was/am the consummate slob. When I was a kid I kept a terrible room and as an adult I keep a terrible apartment that has only one closet. Plus I am so busy that my time to spend on housekeeping is fairly limited. The beginning of this book gives solid points in plain talk on how an organized home can save time, positively impact your life on so many levels and how easy it is to maintain if you know how to set things up. The book was very encouraging about the daunting task of getting started on things one step at a time. The pictures in this book are SO beautiful and the furnishings so high end that it was a bit intimidating at first. But if you actually read the advice given in the book you can find clues on making good use of what you already have. And through the sea of expensive visual art and design you see in the pictures they manage to highlight basic 'must have' items that will really make a difference rather than try to entice you to buy certain products or expensive furnishings. I ended up giving away things that served no practical use except to bang my toes against in the dark. There are no ads and they never mention or acknowledge in the book what brands are featured or where you can purchase the items you see there. At first I was annoyed by this but it allowed me to shop around for inexpensive items that are within my budget. I spent less than $200, and that's including the book itself. I have a long way to go as far as retraining myself to form better habits to keep my place from reverting back to it's former cluttered glory. But I credit this book with being a Godsend in getting me out from under the mountain of junk I'd been staring at for so long. It helped me to actually look forward to getting started and how to keep on the lookout for solutions to recurring clutter problems as I go along. If you are really ready to do something about your clutter problems, I would highly recommend this book. This book might not do anything for you if you already have your act together. But for the rest of us this book makes an organized home finally obtainable. A kiss for the people at 'Real Simple' who put this thing together. Thank you for thinking of the rest of us!