The Get Yourself Organized Project: 21 Steps to Less Mess and Stress, by Kathi Lipp

Overview (from NetGalley): An organizational book for women who have given up trying to be Martha Stewart but still desire some semblance of order in their lives.Most organizational books are written by and for people who are naturally structured and orderly. For the woman who is more ADD than type A, the advice sounds terrific but seldom works. These women are looking for help that takes into account their free-spirited outlook while providing tips and tricks they can easily follow to live a more organized life.

In her inimitable style, Kathi Lipp offers:

• easy and effective ways women can restore peace to their everyday lives
• simple and manageable long-term solutions for organizing any room in one’s home (and keeping it that way)
• a realistic way to de-stress a busy schedule
• strategies for efficient shopping, meal preparation, cleaning, and more

Full of helpful tips and abundant good humor, The Get Yourself Organized Project is for those who want to spend their time living and enjoying life rather than organizing their sock drawer.

Review:This is a fantastic book written with people like me in mind (you know, people who would like to be organized but don't think a little mess is the end of the world because there are things more important in life). Kathi Lipp has a no-nonsense writing style: funny, to the point, very sincere and candid. She does not pretend to be an expert, a Martha Stewart type. She just knows what the daily life of the average family looks like and gives us pointers on how to make it less messy based on her own experiences and organizational methods, as well as with the help of a few, very clever friends.

The goal is not to have a picture perfect home cut out from a magazine. The goal is to have a home organized around what works for you and your family; it has to work for you instead of you  having to work hard to be organized. And we are not talking about your house only, no. Mrs. Lipp sets out to help us organize our life, from the basics (the living room, the bedroom and bathroom) to the more complicated (schedules, paperwork) and even the car. But again, she does all this not with a I-know-more-than-you attitude, but with the attitude of a friend who has been through the same thing and wants to share with you what works for her.

To be completely honest, we have a very messy home, and we've tried to make it better, but every clutter book out there seems to be written in a foreign language for us. Now, we have a space that looks good and works for us. This book made all the difference. The only thing that I didn't love about it was the use of so many plastic bins. I get that they are great (I use them, too), but if I were to use as many as were suggested here we would have very little free space. But we came up with other solutions, which in the end is what the author expects and encourages us to do.

4 1/2 stars out of 5

*I received a copy of this book from Harvest House Publishers through NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.