A Growing Library of Resources for

Creating Space, Simplicity and Serenity in Our Homes

I have another group at Yahoo, where people can give things away for free. It is part of the national Freecycle online group; mine is for people living in Northeast Connecticut. You may have to create a Yahoo I.D./e-mail account to post.

Click to subscribe to freecycle_storrs

    * TIP * I find it very useful when I do a book search on Amazon.com to take time to read the reviews written by people who actually have bought the book. Often the book title and basic description sound exciting, then you read one of the reviews and either realize it's not what you thought it was, or there is something about the presentation that you would not enjoy.

So, save yourself some cash and disappointment (and NEW clutter, as the book sits some place unread). The flip-side of this tip is that sometimes a title or cover doesn't look very exciting, and then you read the review and it turns out to have some feature you were looking for.

 

Amazon also has two other features I use a lot. One is the lists that readers make of their favorite books within a given area (i.e. Feng Shui). The other is the "buy it used" selections. I have bought $15 books for $4.98. Usually they are just as good as new, but even if the corner of the cover is bent or someone wrote their name in it -- who cares? I am buying the book for the information.

The following books are from Amazon.com and after reading their reviews, I decided they might be good resources for this group.

   

If anyone has read one of these books and wants to "review it," post your comments on the message board named Book Reviews

-- and I will add the review here.

    

You can give a book one to five stars if you like, with one being "don't waste your money" to five being "this is a great find," or something similar.

Enjoy!

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 Lots of Different Ways to Look At and Use Feng Shui

[Note: prices subject to change, of course.

And paperback = pbk; hard cover = hcv]

* Fast Feng Shui for Singles: 108 Ways to Heal Your Home and Attract Romance - Stephanie Roberts (pbk) $8.95 used

* Feng Shui: The Art of Living - Rosalind Simmons, Chris Paschke (hcv) $1.73 used

* Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui - Karen Kingston (pbk) $6.95 used

* Feng Shui for Apartment Living - Richard Webster (pbk) $6.75 used

* Household Feng-Shui - Sheng-Yen Lu, Janny Chow (pbk) $10 Amazon.com [these are Feng Shui masters]

* The Delinquent Fairy's Thoughts on Feng Shui - Lauren White (hcv) $9.95 Amazon.com [The reviewer said this writer is very funny AND helpful.]

 

Other Books on Decluttering, Serene Spaces and Getting and Staying Organized

* File ... Don't Pile! - Pat Dorff (1986) This very sympathetic and humous author writs very clearly about two pretty simple ways for coding and filing papers in such a way that you can tackle the worst piles, and your papers become instantly retrievable when you need them. I took notes as I went along, and chose the simpler of the two systems -- but they both make so much sense!

She has written another book called File ... Don't Pile! for Writers which I also will be ordering. If you do a search online for Pat Dorff, you will find several sites that sell her books. I got mine from Half.com for $2.50. (Also available at onlineorganizing.com, but full price.)

* Zen Interiors - Vinny Lee (hcv) $19.50 used

* Simply Zen: Interiors and Gardens - David L. Scott, et al (pbk) Not Yet Released, but can pre-order. $15.75 Amazon.com

* Messie No More: Understanding and Overcoming the Roadblocks to Being Organized - Sandra Felton (pbk) $10.39 Amazon.com ** Also see MSN group for Messies Anonymous and Messiestalk **

* ADD Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life - Judith Kolberg, Kathleen Nadeau (pbk) $13.97 [ADD = Attention Deficity Disorder] Amazon.com

* Making Peace With the Things in Your Life: Why Your Papers, Books, Clothes, and Other Possessions Keep Overwhelming You and What to Do About It - Cindy Glovinsky (pbk) $10.47 Amazon.com

* The Well Organized Home: Organizing Techniques for Inviting Serenity into Your Life - Kathleen A. Kendall-Tackett (pbk) $10.36 Amazon.com

NOTE - That lovely angel (top of page) was created and is copyrighted by Deb Harris. To see more of her work, which she "lends" for free, see http://www.wonderflight.com