I’m the type of person who likes “tip books” — you know, those books that have chapters filled to the brim with short, practical suggestions covering a wide range of topics. Amy Knapp’s Family Organizing Handbook is just such a book, and I was so glad when the nice people at Sourcebooks, Inc. asked me to check it out.
From the back of the book: “Amy Knapp’s Family Organizing Handbook uniquely compiles strategies, tips and ideas that go well beyond time management and organizing to help your family make time for what you all most want — more togetherness!” The book has tips on everything from:
meal planning
to
household chores
to
controlling the never-ending flow of paper
to
remembering the things that are important, but often forgotten. Things like spending time with our kids, getting enough rest, and giving ourselves a break every now and then.
The 314 tips in this book are short and practical. Many are simple and easy to implement right away. Here are a couple tips from Amy, just to give you an idea:
Tip #154. Help your child clean their room to a reasonable standard — probably somewhere between what you consider clean and what they consider clean — and take a photo of the finished product. Put the picture…some place where it will be accessible. When you ask your child to clean their room, they can refer back to the picture before they declare the job done.
(I really like this — both to stop the, “Is it clean enough?” questions, but also to give C. a visual, specific goal rather than my usual directive of, “Just put everything away or in the garbage!”)
Tip #218. When you’re feeling overwhelmed, eliminate everything else from your to-do list, and stick to the basics. Allow yourself the satisfaction of knowing that you’re accomplishing the things that are most important to your family — that’s something to be proud of.
(Great advice!)
The Family Organizing Handbook is available at all the usual book-buying places, or directly from Amy’s website, where you’ll also find a number of other organizing books and tools.
Just put it on my paperbackswap.com wish list! Cool! Thanks for the heads up!
I used the Amy Knapp Family Organizer and found it very helpful. I especially liked the tear-off grocery list/menu planner.
I’m going to give it a try, thanks for the review. I need all the organinzing help I can get!
Great tips! I used Amy Knapp’s Organizer/Planner last year and enjoyed it.
Sounds like some good ideas. I tend to get really overwhelmed with the housework.
I am so needing an organizing tool…thanks for the review!