BEST ORGANIZING TIPS by Stephanie Winston

IF YOU have a family like mine, you will know that this book should be the family's bible. Not many people are organised in a sensible way but we all hope to be something like that one of these days. Well, here's a handy little book that should put us on the right footing.


THIS is one of those `must-read' books that you probably won't - not
because you hate it, but really, you are just not organised. It boasts 60-
second solutions which can help you "get on with your life".
A quick glance at the Contents reveals that it is organised into four
parts: `Paper Trap', `Get Time On Your Side', `Clutter and Closets', and
`Homestyles and Lifestyles'. A 10-second visual search reveals various
factors which could have been responsible for the fine mess you're in now.
If that's the case, Best Organizing Tips surely is the Holy Grail you
are looking for. The suggestions Stephanie Winston proffers are
surprisingly simple and full of commonsense (which, as you ought to know
from experience, is hardly common at all).
Before you proclaim from the top of your desk that "a well-organised
work area is a sign of a sick mind", give Winston a chance. She teaches
you to get rid of that desk mess, or paperwork gridlock as she very
scientifically puts it. Then she moves on to straightening your
priorities, and offers advice on the best approach to adopt.
On the far end of the spectrum, Winston gets into the parental role of
planning a child-friendly home, including some wonderful ways of helping
kids organise themselves and their toys.
One suggestion: Read the chapters that really nail your problems to the
family wall. Read them slowly and religiously. Memorise them and
internalise the Ways of the Organisation. It's much like involuntarily
remembering that growing-up advice mum has been trying to drum into your
cerebrum for years.
Leave the book in a safe place and, when the need arises, refer to it
diligently and seek the insight you gravely desire.
The opportunity of reading Winston's first best-seller, Getting
Organized, did not present itself but this book draws mental comparisons
with a similar 1982 publication by Reader's Digest entitled Organize
Yourself. Coincidentally, the latter is also divided into four parts, and
in typical Digest style, it's more reader-friendly.
Winston's offering is written and designed more for the seriously-
afflicted professional or homemaker. Whatever you are, Best Organizing
Tips has practically all the answers you want, except the smoothest and
most painless way to heaven.
Some of Winston's ideas on how to get rid of long-winded phone pests
border on the hilarious; nevertheless, they are functional. For example,
to stop a chatty caller dead on his tracks, try the tactic employed by a
TV producer who raises his hand to his assistant when he's desperate and
the colleague will shout: "Jim, you've got a call from London on line
one!" That ought to pull the plug off motor-mouths.
Another sound tip concerns the time lapse before you file items away.
For phone messages, a year; general correspondence, two years; legal
documents, indefinitely (nasty bit of business those legalities), and tax
documents - make that six straight years.
The keywords, as advertised on the jacket, are "peace of mind". If you
are not the type to succumb to reading materials which have no bearing on
your life whatsoever, peace of mind should be your only reason to pick up
Best Organizing Tips.