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Growing Up Organized

August 25, 2009 by Jennifer

I am NOT organized by nature, and my husband (who IS organized by nature) has been reminding me lately that I am modeling bad habits for kids. If I don’t teach them good habits now, they aren’t going to learn it later in life.

Professional Organizer Lea Schneider takes a similar approach in her book Growing Up Organized: A Mom to Mom Guide. She also reminds us moms that trying to do everything yourself makes it almost impossible to be organized. In each chapter she underscores several principles:

You can get rid of clutter.
You can become organized.
Your children can learn personal responsibility for their things.
The family can work together.

This book was easy to read and is chock-full of advice that is practical and easy to implement. Topics that were of particular interest to me are

  • How to tackle a big organizing job
  • Keeping up with the cleaning (maintenance)
  • Sharing the household chores with the family

She also includes things in this book targeted directly to families – things I would not have considered an organizational issue, such as managing homework and reading deadlines and those school lunches!

“Part of disorganization comes from trying to do everything for everybody” (page 153). Does that resonate with anyone else? Are you tired of trying to keep up with your own stuff and everyone else’s?

You can buy this book (and I recommend that you do!), either on amazon or at her website (where you can also buy an e-book, which is the version I used so that I could download it to my Kindle, using the emailed pdf option. Other than a few formatting glitches, I enjoyed reading it this way.).

You can find more information at Lea’s Organize Right Now! site, including signing up for her newsletter.

One of you will win your choice of a printed copy (U.S. only) or an E-book (anywhere in the world!). Leave a comment if you’d like to win. Just for fun, tell us who the most disorganized person in your home is (you don’t have to name names).

Jennifer Donovan would have honestly said she was most disorganized in her family, but lately her tween daughter is edging her out. Read more about her family’s strengths and weaknesses at Snapshot.

This is part of the 2009 Back-to-School Giveaway. We’d love it if you helped spread the word!

  1. Leave a comment on this post as your entry.
  2. This giveaway is open to residents anywhere in the world (e-book only)! One entry per person.
  3. New giveaways will be posted through August 26. Winners will be announced August 31.
  4. Check out the list of the other giveaways in the 2009 Back-to-School Giveaway at the main post.


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Filed Under: Home, Jennifer, Parenting Tagged With: Back to School Giveaway

« What’s on Your Nightstand? — August
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Comments

  1. jeanine says

    August 26, 2009 at 2:10 pm

    my hubby is definately the most disorganized person in my home! (and we have 4 kids!!)

  2. rita says

    August 26, 2009 at 2:25 pm

    Hubby & I compete for the title, but each in our own area. Clutter is a problem in many places. Oh, that our grandkids could be raised ‘organized’!

  3. Krystal says

    August 26, 2009 at 3:54 pm

    Sounds like a great and helpful book. I’m definitely the most disorganize in our family! 🙂

  4. Chris G. says

    August 26, 2009 at 4:09 pm

    Boy, did I NOT grow up organized. I need this book. Thanks for the giveaway!

  5. Daniel M says

    August 26, 2009 at 5:58 pm

    my sister is way disorganized

  6. DanV says

    August 26, 2009 at 6:32 pm

    I am probably the most disorganized

  7. Karen Gonyea says

    August 26, 2009 at 7:01 pm

    Count me in – I could really use this 🙂

  8. Daniel Oliver Jones says

    August 26, 2009 at 7:07 pm

    looks useful

  9. JAMES LYNAM says

    August 26, 2009 at 7:12 pm

    MY TURN TO WIN.

  10. Sarah says

    August 26, 2009 at 7:33 pm

    I could certainly use some help getting my family organized!

  11. Winning Readings says

    August 26, 2009 at 9:09 pm

    Just a note that we’ve posted about this at Winning Readings:

    http://winningreadings.blogspot.com/2009/08/growing-up-organized.html

  12. Donna Hunt says

    August 26, 2009 at 9:22 pm

    I need some new ideas–please add my name! Thank you for the contest!

  13. Veronica Garrett says

    August 26, 2009 at 9:45 pm

    I would love to win. My husband is disorganized.

  14. Alicia says

    August 26, 2009 at 10:35 pm

    It’s me. I’m for sure the least organized. It would definitely be a gift to win this!

  15. Heather C says

    August 26, 2009 at 11:42 pm

    Everyone would like to say it’s me, what with all my books and papers…but I think it’s the little girl in the house. She’s a huge mess! lol

  16. Gianna says

    August 26, 2009 at 11:58 pm

    Please enter me 🙂

  17. DeeAnne A says

    August 27, 2009 at 12:03 am

    OMG I NEED THIS!!!!!!!!!! TO STAY ORGANIZED OF COURSE 🙂

  18. rajee says

    August 27, 2009 at 12:05 am

    I am probably the most disorganized. : (

  19. corinne says

    August 27, 2009 at 9:40 am

    I think I really need this one!

  20. Amy says

    August 27, 2009 at 4:28 pm

    I NEED THIS BOOK!!! I don’t want my children learning my bad habits! 🙂

  21. Tami says

    August 27, 2009 at 7:34 pm

    I would love to win this!

  22. stampedwithgrace says

    August 27, 2009 at 8:47 pm

    I am probably the most disorganized 🙁

  23. whimzie says

    August 28, 2009 at 3:08 pm

    I could definitely use this book.

  24. Holly says

    August 28, 2009 at 3:56 pm

    I need all the help I can get! Thanks for a such a terrific giveaway.

  25. edj says

    August 29, 2009 at 7:56 am

    I am very disorganized but my 12 y/o son is WORSE. He is hopeless–except that he gets it from me 😉 We could really use this book.

  26. Margaret says

    August 29, 2009 at 11:51 am

    This sounds like a book I really need. Before I was a homeschooling mom, I was very organized. That was one area I was rated “superior” on work performance reviews! But now…

    Thanks for the review of this book. I’d never heard of it!

  27. Sherry says

    August 29, 2009 at 5:48 pm

    OK I need this book, if it can really get me and my family on the same page as far as organization is concerned. THe most disorganized person in my house is Brown Bear Daughter, but her father is the biggest pack rat. He wants to keep all of the children’s old math papers, a lot of binders of old papers from work, etc. I don’t know what to do about that.

  28. Gail says

    August 30, 2009 at 9:35 pm

    Unfortunately I’m probably the most disorganized person in our house!

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Trackbacks

  1. Organizing: You (and your kids) Can Get Organized. « Organize Right Now says:
    August 26, 2009 at 3:00 pm

    […] from my book Growing Up Organized, for teaching your kids to be organized. As managing editor for 5 Minutes for Books, she’s got a pretty full […]

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