cover image Amy Knapp's Family Organizing Handbook: 314 Mom-Tested Super Tips, Tricks and Secrets to Take Care of Everything with Time Left for What Really Matter

Amy Knapp's Family Organizing Handbook: 314 Mom-Tested Super Tips, Tricks and Secrets to Take Care of Everything with Time Left for What Really Matter

Amy Knapp. Sourcebooks, $13.95 (309pp) ISBN 978-1-4022-0761-7

Knapp, who has built a small empire on helping stressed-out moms bring some semblance of order to their homes, follows up Amy Knapp's Family Organizer with a bevy of techniques and organizing strategies that can be tailored to individual needs and goals. Encouraging small steps rather than sweeping but superficial changes, Knapp urges readers to make organizing ""part of your standard operating procedure, not an additional task that needs to be done when the ship is sinking."" Included are detail-oriented ideas (""If you are writing an appointment on your calendar, write the contact phone number next to it"") as well as ways to get a handle on the big-picture, longer term projects. Most insightful are her ideas for getting the entire family to help keep the home organized, throw out the junk (""Toss all the products you were suckered into purchasing"") and keeping the home running smoothly. The text is brisk and to the point, which is a boon for busy mothers who have to read on the go. Though some ideas may take more time than they're worth (""Write your grocery list to roughly match your store's layout""), readers looking to cut down on clutter have a good starting point here.