Getting organized is one of the biggest challenges in any home today. Pressed for time and bogged down by papers, receipts, household items, and an endless stream of junk mail, Americans need expert ways to get an stay on top of it all. Expert organizer Bonnie McCullough has the answers. In this clear, practical guide, she explains how to: --Take control of household tasks by using a planner, making lists, and setting priorities. --Gain more free time by establishing routines and planning ahead. --Create more space in the kitchen, closets, and elsewhere. --Setup a simple, easy-to-use home-filing system. --Get kids, spouses, and roommates motivated to help keep the household organized. --Establish and stick to a household budget. --Simplify holidays and gift giving. --Work smarter, not harder--when tackling housework, paperwork, and all the little things that drain time and energy from our lives. Bonnie McCullough is a professional home-manager, lecturer, mother of five, and author of Bonnie's Household Organizer and Bonnie's Household Budget Book and co-author of 401 Ways to Get Your Kids to Work at Home . Totally Organized The Bonnie Mccullough Way By Bonnie McCullough St. Martin's Press Copyright © 1986 Bonnie Runyan McCullough All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-312-80747-4 Contents Title Page, Acknowledgments, Introduction, GETTING ORGANIZED FOR FAST RESULTS, 1. Fast Results With Minimum Maintenance, 2. Get a Head Start by Doing Daily Have-Tos, Organizing Your Time and Your Thoughts, 3. Get Control of Your Time With a Planning Notebook, 4. Develop the List Habit, 5. How to Set Priorities and Goals, ORGANIZING YOUR HOUSEWORK, 6. Create a Pattern for Housework That Really Works!, 7. Identify and Avoid Time Robbers, 8. Take Action Against Procrastination, 9. Getting Your Partner to Help, ORGANIZING YOUR WORK MOTIONS, 10. Get "The Habit", 11. Ready, Set, Go!, 12. No More Dirty Dishes, 13. Deep Cleaning the Organized Way, 14. The Right Supplies and Equipment, 15. How to Clean and Where to Start, 16. Licking the Laundry, ORGANIZING YOUR CUPBOARDS AND CLOSETS, 17. A Place for Everything, 18. Keeping Your Inner Space Organized, 19. The Art of Throwing It Out, 20. Creating a Kitchen of Convenience, 21. Drinking Cups and Problem Solving, 22. Techniques for Creating More Space, 23. Managing Your Closet, ORGANIZING YOUR BUDGET, 24. Easy Steps to Establishing a Budget, 25. Quick Ways to Cut Food Costs, 26. Lists, Menus, and Money, 27. Coupon Pros and Cons, 28. A Master Plan for the Wardrobe, ORGANIZING YOUR HOUSEHOLD PAPERS, 29. Managing the Paper Chase, 30. File It and Find It!, ORGANIZING KIDS, 31. Getting Your Kids to Work at Home: the Dos and Don'ts, 32. Chore Charts: the Master Tactic, 33. Kid's Bedrooms: Organize and Conquer!, 34. The Messy Bedroom: Solving a Special Problem, 35. How to Motivate with Incentives, 36. Kids and Money, 37. Organizing Kids for School, GETTING ORGANIZED FOR BIRTHDAYS AND HOLIDAYS, 38. How To Simplify Card And Gift Giving, 39. Handling Major Holidays, 40. The Last Word, Also by, Index, Copyright Page, CHAPTER 1 1. Fast Results With Minimum Maintenance Have you ever had to stay at home, lock the doors, and take the phone off the hook to shovel out after a PTA pancake breakfast? This is the Typical Crash Crisis System of too many busy people, and it's doomed to failure. They let the house go while taking care of a Scout activity or church social. Then they dig out. When more than one outside activity occurs in a week, the house is unlivable. The husband or wife resents the "service" that is given in the name of compassion or career, and tension develops. There is a better way! You can put an end to frazzled nerves and short tempers by developing your own MM system. I chose to explain this simple process first because it will make the biggest, most immediate, most visible improvement in your home. There is no such thing as a miracle cure, but MM (minimum maintenance) can set you free by 9:30 in the morning or have you ready to leave for work on time — and that means with breakfast wiped away, children dressed, dinner planned, and the clutter cleared. The MM system is simple to use. It calls for daily, organized house "keeping" rather than weekly or seasonal house-cleaning ordeals. MM will give you more R&R (rest and relaxation) time for you. Here's how to do it: 1. Begin with the basic plan . Put on an apron or shirt with pockets, check the time on your watch, and give each room five minutes before leaving for work or starting any major project of the day. You put away, straighten up, and wipe off. Where do you start? There is an art to knowing where to begin. What does a caller at your door see first? Pick up this area and it will not only give your spouse, children, and guests a feeling of neatness, if will also give you a feeling of pride and accomplishment, no matter what the rest of the hou