Table of Contents
Praise for Regina Leeds One Year to an Organized Work Life
Use this guide to organize your officeand mind.
Shape
Streamline one domain a month to prune clutter and spur productivity.
Self
Readers should find plenty of smart, straightforward and rewarding ways to eliminate chaos from their work lives.
Publishers Weekly
Praise for Regina Leeds One Year to an Organized Life
Making your New Years resolutions? If your goal is to finally clear the clutter, One Year to an Organized Life will break the task down week by week.
Parade
This 12-month guide offers the chronically messy a genuine sense of serenity.
USA Today
Not only shows us the importance of organization, [but] takes us week-by-week through the chaos of our lives and tells us how to get it together, from schedules to scrapbooks to celebrating holidays.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
If this week-by-week guide to getting yourself organized wont do the trick, give up.
Newsday
This easy-to-use domicile detox program will help you tackle every inch of your life.
Womens Health
The perfect book for anyone wanting to find important papers instantly or have a navigable closet. Full of useful information for everyone, from the person who needs simply to clean a messy desk to the person requiring a whole new approach to life; highly recommended.
Library Journal
ALSO BY REGINA LEEDS
One Year to an Organized Financial Life
One Year to an Organized Work Life
One Year to an Organized Life
The Complete Idiots Guide to Decluttering
Sharing a Place without Losing Your Space:
A Couples Guide to Blending Homes, Lives, and Clutter
The Zen of Organizing: Creating Order and Peace
in Your Home, Career, and Life
This book is dedicated to the Divine Mother present in all beings.
With special thanks to Lynn Decker Hernandez, Ann Lucien Walsh,
and Christina Naify Zilberthree women who have taught me
what motherhood looks like when its done with grace,
dedication, attention to detail, and love.
We are more than just physical beings, we are Whispers of Love dancing in the breeze.
MICHAEL TEAL
Introduction
Love is the capacity to take care, to protect, to nourish...
... if you are not capable of taking care of yourself, of nourishing yourself,
of protecting yourselfit is very difficult to take care of another person.
THICH NHAT HANH
YOURE GOING TO HAVE A BABY. Whether youre thrilled, terrified, or ambivalent about this news, one fact remains: Youll have a lot to think about over the next twelve months. From choosing a birth team to registering for your shower to actually finding a home for the veritable tidal wave of baby gear that is about to enter your life, you will be dealing with new information and details every day. And soon, youll have a baby filling your arms and demanding lots of your time. The sooner you can create systems that work for you and make your transition to motherhood easier, the better! This book will show you how, one step at a time.
I have a daughter, Regina. My friend Jeremys voice seemed to float from a cloud. We were looking at little Melissa in her hospital bassinet. She was all of eleven hours old. And shes beautiful, he added, as if I might be oblivious to her charms. As I turned to look at Jeremy, I could feel the mantle of fatherhood settling on his shoulders. Jeremy and his wife Ellen had tried for years to have a child. Fertility treatments proved expensive and fruitless. But as so often happens, soon after they gave up, Melissa showed up.
When I next came to visit, I was amazed to see a literal explosion of baby paraphernalia in their home. Melissa was as tiny as a sack of flour and yet it seemed that a boatload of items had accompanied her arrival.
Many parents never really crawl out from under that initial avalanche of baby stuff. I once worked with a woman named Sheila who seemed to always be living in some previous stage of her childs life. Her oldest babys drawers always held clothes that were too small, and dressing him became a fifteen-minute ordeal of picking through to find things that might actually fit. When her baby was two years old, Sheila told me, she still couldnt figure out where to store his tiny baby bathtub and teeny newborn socks. Just as Sheila thought she was getting things under control, another baby came along. By this time, shed stored away the socks and bathtub... so thoroughly that she couldnt remember where they were and had to buy new ones. By the time she called me, Sheilas children were eight, six, and four years old, and yet her family room was still cluttered with their toddler toys. On the other hand, when we cleaned out her attic, we found thousands of dollars worth of things that had been so haphazardly packed away that Sheila couldnt find them when it was time to have another baby. She had three almost-identical bouncy seats! And who knows how many copies of each childs birth certificate... whenever one was needed, she would have to write the county for another copy. What a waste of time and money!
This doesnt have to happen to you. It is possible to get organized during your pregnancy and for initial new-baby chaos to give way to streamlined systems and routines. Ellen and Jeremy soon created a place for every new item. And everything was religiously returned to its designated spot. Their storage system allowed them to easily find packed-away items when it was time to reuse them or give them away. And systems allowed them to easily keep track of the myriad appointments, milestones, and records that come with having a new baby.
Ive been getting into the organizing trenches with pregnant women and young moms for more than twenty years. My clients come from all walks of life: Ive worked with movie stars, business executives, housewives, and everyone in between. No matter what your status in life, the physical, financial, and emotional challenges of having a baby are pretty much the same. My style of organizingwhat I call Zen Organizingencompasses the organizing tips and tricks you would expect, coupled with elements of psychology and spirituality to create a calm, peaceful, and functional home. My goal is for your environment to be converted from a space that sabotages you at every turn to one that nurtures and supports your best efforts in life. And what could be more important than bringing new life into the world?
I couldnt have written this guide, however, without the incomparable Meagan Francis by my side. Among other things, Meagan is the mother of five children, ranging in age from one to thirteen. Shes a nurturing mom, a talented writer, and one organized woman! (Throughout this book we present a united front. To avoid confusion, youll find the pronoun I used for organizing tips throughout, along with specific stories and tips from Meagans experience as a mom.)
As I started writing this book, I came across an exchange between two of my Facebook friends. They were both in the final stages of being pregnant and were lamenting how little they had accomplished. They were facing the daunting task of preparing the new babys room at the very moment they each felt as big as a house. Even if you know all the things you have to accomplish (each of these women has three children), you can get sidetracked. And if this is your first baby, you might be amazed by how much more challenging it can be to stay on top of all the details and things involved in caring for such a small person. With this book as your companion, instead of flying blind, you will have a plan to follow.