The NEAT method organizing recipe book 70 simple projects to take your home from chaos to composed

Murphy and Hagmeyer, founders of the organizing products brand NEAT Method, debut with an underwhelming manual for tidying one's home. The eponymous method involves bringing all the items together; sorting them into categories; getting rid of redundant or unneeded items; selecting a place to keep each category; and using bins, drawer dividers, jars, and other organizers to separate categories within the same storage space. Showing how to straighten up each room of the house, the authors start with the kitchen, recommending that readers install turntables and risers in pantries to ensure food at the back doesn't get forgotten. Elsewhere, they encourage readers to use modular drawer organizers in their nightstand and office "junk drawer," and to transfer laundry detergent and snacks into their own reusable containers. Though the authors include some helpful tips on how to, for example, fold a fitted sheet, other pointers are obvious, as when they recommend nesting pots and pans for storage. Some guidance feels aimed at selling the authors' products, such as when they suggest transferring cooking spices from their original containers into uniformly sized jars. There's not much here readers don't already know. (Jan.)

The founders of the NEAT Method, a luxury home-organizing company with franchises across the United States, have compiled a useful book of projects, or "recipes," to assist with reorganizing one's home. Beginning with an explanation of the NEAT method ("editing" or discarding is a major part of the process), the book then provides instructions for each area of a home. Each chapter contains manageable steps to declutter and rearrange spaces, from the kitchen dish-towel drawer to the bedroom nightstand, providing the estimated amount of time for the task and what organizing supplies will be needed. The fact that the authors have a luxury brand is obvious from some of their advice, such as what font to use with one's electronic labeler and getting rid of mismatched hangers, but many of the suggestions are valuable for most living spaces (e.g., showing how to correctly fold a fitted sheet and what to do with children's artwork). The book includes many beautiful photographs and concludes with a section on maintaining reorganized spaces. VERDICT A useful addition for readers who enjoy the Good Housekeeping series of how-to books.--Julie Feighery