Rating: 
Summary: Thorough, effective, and therapeutic. One of the best.
Review: Morgenstern has a different approach than most authors who write books about getting organized. She divides the book into four sections: Laying the Foundation, Secrets of a Professional Organizer, Applying what You've Learned, and Tackling Time & Technology. Sounds ordinary, but the first section is priceless. And, throughout the book she includes textboxes of "insiders tips" and "avoiding common pitfalls." Many of us try hard to be organized and end up cluttering our house with organizing books, baskets, filing cabinets, and other gadgets. We get our house almost organized, yet find there's one room or task we just can't do. Are we sabotaging ourselves? Yes, according to Morgenstern. She quotes, "You can't fix it till you know what's broken" and explains that until you know why you stray toward disorganization, you will never master it. Psychological obstacles are one of three factors in clutter, according to Morgenstern (the other two are errors in your "organizing system" and external realities. But she deals with the psychological aspect in a brisk, energizing chapter that actually motivates you. Her actual organizational tips revolve around three essential steps: 1. Analyze (evaluate your current situation and what's not working.) 2. Strategize (Create plan and realistic estimate of how long it will take.) 3. Attack (Dive into the work.) The Analyze and Strategize sections are actually very useful and are easy to tackle. You will need a notebook, and will go from room to room answering 5 questions: What's working? What's not working? What items are most essential to you? Why do you want to get organized? (i.e., in the kitchen the answer might be - stop wasting money on duplicate purchases), and What's causing the problem. She advocates creating zones in each room. Again, a kitchen example might be: food prep zone (counter space between sink/fridge), daily cooking zone (build around oven and cooktop), daily dishes zone, food serving zone, and food storage zone. You'll learn to store items for each zone near that zone. No sense keeping dishes in cabinets near the food prep zone and corningware near the dishwasher zone. Once you get a solid grasp on the three steps, you can take your notebook through the house and quickly identify what needs to be done, room by room. While this isn't a "organize your house in one hour" kind of book, it also doesn't bog you down. The essentials are basic and what I've listed above, and they help you get the prep work out of the way while setting a solid foundation for you to tackle the clutter. You will see a real transformation of your house - or of whatever rooms you attack. It's not just a matter of "cleaning" them. You will turn them into efficient workcenters.
Rating: 
Summary: Basic Organizing with a New Twist but not up to the "Hoopla"
Review: I like Oprah and I like the author but... I found Morgensten to be skilled at relating to the reader but maybe I expected too much. This is an average organizing book with a new spin much like the a "new diet fad". I found validity in the words but I did not like the way the author slighted the "Simplify Your Life" approach of Elaine Saint James; this seemed rather passive aggressive. Ms. Morgensten may be onto something here but this book is just average. I would say at full price, it's not worth it. I gave it 3 stars.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Thing About This Book: It Helps You Develop A Plan
Review: Like many of us, I have lived for years by the motto "A Neat Desk Is The Sign Of An Empty Mind." I was proud of my mess, darn it! It showed that I had something going on in my life. And as for my home? Well, it was _lived in_. The truth is that I was scared. Bringing order to my life and environment seemed like a daunting task. I had no _plan_ for getting organized. If you're disorganized to begin with, how the heck are you supposed to get organized enough to organize yourself? Julie Morgenstern may not help you structure a fortune 500 company, but she sure will help you find the blueprints you need to get your act together. Organizing From The Inside Out helped me understand: 1. What my problems were 2. What could be done to address each one of them 3. How to take everything I'd learned and turn it into a strategy. Am I 100% neat and orderly today? No. I think that takes a particular personality type. But if, like me, you've always been "the messy one", I think this book will really help you find the cleanliness (hey, it's next to godliness!) that you've been after.
Rating:
Summary: This is a great book!
Review: This is a great book on organization for the disorganized.I have found it extremely helpful in rearranging and clearing the clutter from my life. This process brings a wonderful freedom and clarity to life. It is amazing how great it feels! Another book I can highly recommend and is devoted to getting our acts together from a psychological viewpoint is "Mega Mind: Path to Success and Freedom" by Dr Hemant Thakur. It allows us to identify the areas in our life where we are not doing so good and offers simple recipes to improve these areas. A GREAT READ
Rating:
Summary: Invaluable Book!
Review: Organizing From The Inside Out is an excellent resource for both Professional Organizers and those individuals who are serious about getting their lives in order. Ms. Morgenstern provides practical tips to help you develop a user friendly system that works. I know many people who would benefit from this book!
Rating:
Summary: Best Advice Ever
Review: I am a freshman in high school and I need A LOT of time to TRY and organize my work. My mom and friends always tell me that I am the most unorganized girl they have ever met. One day, my best friend (Jessi) got me this book and I started to read it..one day i took a look at my room and I was so amazed that it was clean, my homework was even handed in on time!
Rating:
Summary: It really works!
Review: I bought this book back in January. Over the next couple of weeks I gradually used Julie's system to organise the cupboards and rooms throughout my house. 5 months later all the areas I organised are still clean and tidy! This is absolutely amazing for me, just ask my Mother! Even my husband agrees that this book is well worth the money. It may not really tell you anything startlingly new but somehow it really gets you motivated to tackle all those "too hard" organising jobs. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: VERY User-Friendly...A Real How-To Book
Review: I saw this book featured on Oprah,and like many, was skeptical about the fact that a simple book can affect my life so much!Within one day after reading the book, and really trying to understand the concept that Morgenstern dirves home, with her 5 steps, I was able to organize my room, along with my office,and 4 bedrooms.This is definitely for someone who has always tried in earnest effort to get organized and never really knew how...of course it takes your own motivation, but after reading this book you just feel like jumping up and doing it..the steps seem so easy to apply.Highly Recommend!
Rating:
Summary: Ordnung ist Ueber Alles!
Review: Das buch ist zehr gut. I recommend this book for everybody.
Rating:
Summary: Not a quick fix, but a permanent one
Review: I was not the neatest kid in the dorm when I was in college. My poor husband thought I would suddenly become neat when we got married -- no such luck. It took Julie Morgenstern and her tackling things from the inside out to turn me around. What differentiates this book from the, oh say dozen others I've read is that Morgenstern doesn't make it seem like only idiots are disorganized and messy. She also makes you understand, right up front, that you cannot undo years of clutter in a couple of hours. She coaxes you through the entire process. The criticisms of this book, font size and the way that the book is divided into segments that "don't apply" seem somewhat unreasonable to me. Yes, Morgenstern jams a ton of information into this book, and granted I don't see how the "cubicle" stuff will apply to my life, but the principles are what help -- not the specific examples that she uses to illustrate her points. This book is worth its weight in gold. Buy it; use it; and, tell others about it.
| 
