Shortcuts to an Organized Life
I have a confession. My life needs to be organized. I can spend hours cleaning and then my son, or husband comes along and everything suddenly has a better place and I wonder why I didn’t think of doing it myself. Stephanie O’Dea has come to my rescue with her new book, Totally Together: Shortcuts to an Organized Life
The first 44-pages were a refreshing read as I read through chapters titled Clean Less, Play More, The Daily 7 for a Highly Successful Household, It’s Prom Time, But That’s Why We Had You, Taking Care of Business, Getting Started. It gave me direction to effectively plan and conduct my life.
The book gives me a sense of Zen with sets of daily, weekly, monthly, and season to-dos. Nothing catastrophic! Totally Together allows me to manage my priorities and keep the ant-hill from becoming the mountain I tend to make it in my state of chaos!
Totally Together: Shortcuts to an Organized Life is the beauty of a planner combined with a smart system. The book is in a planner format, and tackles what chores are essential and how to tackle them to maximize time and minimize effort.
This book has everything at a glance:
*7 daily chores that anyone in the family can do in just minutes
*Yearly, seasonally, monthly and weekly chores divided into bite-size chunks
*Household tips and cleaning shortcuts
*Guide for setting up meal plans
*Fun, fast recipes
*Reproducible grocery list with check boxes
*An action plan for keeping the entire family organized
The planner begins September, Week 1–which I love because it’s the beginning of Fall, the kiddos are going back to school and life seems to slow down a tad. The Daily 7 are listed in a shaded box on the left with a checkbox so they can be checked as they are completed. There is the Weekly duties below and This Week tasks like “change bed linens”, “clean microwave”, “insert school schedule and other pertinent dates”, etc.
On the right side of the same page is a Family Meeting Topic: Discuss and Assign Chores (perfect for getting this organized thing rolling at my house).
One of my favorite parts of the book is the WoMom. The planner starts with “Schedule some time for yourself. Need a haircut? Time alone in the library?” I love that I’m making time for myself and someone is there reminding me.
There is also a TIP. The first week of September is an Easy Microwave Cleaning Tip, which is sure to cut time off the chore.
On the opposite page is a calendar where I can write my errands, must haves and family’s schedule. It’s a week at a glance and made so simple.
Totally Together hits shelves August 2, 2011 and will be available on-line.
Get the book, seize your life and celebrate the joy of having it Totally Together!
*I received a copy of Totally Together in order to facilitate an honest review. The opinions, where expressed, are my own, and were in no way influenced by the sponsor. Others experiences may vary.