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Summary and Reviews of Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern

Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern

Organizing from the Inside Out

The Foolproof System for Organizing Your Home, Your Office and Your Life

by Julie Morgenstern
  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Readers' Rating (1):
  • Paperback:
  • Sep 1998, 256 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

Will be welcomed by anyone facing an overwhelming amount of clutter, both physical and psychic.

The Foolproof System for Organizing Your Home, Your Office, and Your Life.

Veteran professional organizer Morgenstern has spent years honing the principles of organization into a simple, and universal system. Organizing from the inside out--developing a plan tailored to each individual's psychological needs--ensures, once and for all, a system that won't break down.

Morgenstern explains the basic concepts--analyze, strategize, attack--then provides tips gleaned from her years of experience with offices, home offices, mobile offices, children's rooms, kitchens, garages, and storage spaces. Organizing From the Inside Out will be welcomed by corporate executives, entrepreneurs and the self-employed, working parents, students and city dwellers in small apartments--anyone facing an overwhelming amount of clutter, both physical and psychic. Also provided are useful chapters on time management and taming technology, critical elements in any modern organizing scheme.

Chapter One
A New Way of Looking at Organizing

If I asked you to describe an organized space, what would you say? From most people, I hear things like "neat and tidy," "spare," "minimalistic," and "boring."

But an organized space has nothing to do with these traits. There are people whose homes and offices appear neat as a pin on the surface. Yet, inside their desk drawers and kitchen cabinets, there is no real system, and things are terribly out of control. By contrast, there are many people who live or work in a physical mess, yet feel very comfortable in this environment and can always put their hands on whatever they need in a second. Could they be considered organized? Absolutely.

Being organized has less to do with the way an environment looks than how effectively it functions. If a person can find what they need when they need it, feels unencumbered in achieving his or her goals, and is happy in his or her space, then that person is well organized.

I'd ...

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Reviews

Media Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Anyone who has ever felt overwhelmed by clutter and chaos will welcome this clear, easy-to-follow guide to organizing a room, home or office.

Library Journal
Covering the workplace and each room of the home, she provides sample time lines of how long the process will take and offers tips on what to toss and what storage products to use.

Reader Reviews

Anonymous

This book was a real find. I heard the author interviewed on the radio and bought her book. Her description of herself as a teen, trying to clean up her own room, is priceless. But I especially appreciate her respect for each person's individuality. ...   Read More

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