Pretty Neat Book Review

Pretty Neat – the buttoned up way to get organized and let go of perfection, written by Alicia Rockmore and Sarah Welch offers great advice for letting go and not worrying about being perfect when trying to keep your house organized.

Much of the advice resonated with my beliefs and offered me suggestions for keeping it all together.

As I read, I kept post-its on ideas that I wanted to go back to to learn more and start implementing in my own life.  As a mom of three, I know I could benefit from some of the organzational tasks. I also knew that if I didn’t post-it, I would forget.

Here is a highlight of what I learned from Pretty Neat:

1. Prepare yourself for imperfection.  As much as I try, I feel like I could clean night and day and I still would have a mess.  I have accepted the imperfection, but I’m working on getting it altogether.  This book is offering advice on how to do that.

2. Prepare for the unexpected. An emergency kit and some extra supplies will help you should something unexpected occur.  I always try to keep water and an extra box of diapers at home.  I need to work more on the supplies listed in the book.

3. Delegate like a master.  This is defintely one of my favorites!  It reminded me of something my mom always said, “When trying to clean, do something that others cannot do.” At first, I didn’t really utilize the advice, but after almost 10 years of marraige, it has come in handy.  My husband doesn’t like folding and I am not a fan of the dishes.  So, I leave the dishes until he can get to them and move onto the clothes, straightening the girls room, and taking care of paperwork.

4. “It’s easier to just do it myself.” Through the years, I have heard many of my friends say this.  When I hear it, I always think of laundry.  If it’s easier to do yourself, that would mean that I would be doing laundry by myself for over 50 years.  Teamwork sounds much better!

5. Tame your inboxes – Texts, emails, Twitter, Facebook, blogging, OH MY!  How do we control it all without going crazy.  The authors list some great ways to keep your sanity while being a part of social media.

I defintely will be rereading through different parts again to start on my way to being Pretty Neat!