Sorting It Out: One Disorganized Woman Solves the Problem of Too Much Stuff - Softcover

Friedlob, Cynthia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1411693116 ISBN 13: 9781411693111

Publisher: Lulu Press, Inc., 2006

Synopsis

Does your heart race and your head ache when you look around your overcrowded home? That's a Stuff Attack! Do you feel overwhelmed by your possessions the minute you enter your front door? That's Stuff Overload! Does the standard advice from all those so-called organizing experts just make you want to crawl back under the bedcovers? Don't give up! Author Cynthia Friedlob tackles the issue of too much stuff head-on from a fresh, funny, and totally sympathetic point of view. A self-confessed Stuff Sufferer, she recounts stories of her own frustrating battles with too many possessions and offers some down-to-earth advice to set you on the road to Stuff Freedom. So don’t despair! Help, and humor, are finally on the way from a woman who’s been there, organized that, and lived to tell the tale!

About this title

About the Author

Cynthia Friedlob has devoted most of her professional life to the creative arts, including writing and performing music, developing and writing television shows for children, and writing family feature films. She has had the privilege of working closely with the legendary Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, Stan Lee, and Jim Henson, writing for numerous classic cartoon shows including "The Scooby and Scrappy Doo Show," "The Smurfs," and "Fraggle Rock."

The author is also an accomplished artist. Her award-winning artwork has been exhibited for thirty years in gallery and museum shows across the country and is in collections from Hawaii to the east coast, and in Canada.

Cynthia is a graduate of the University of Denver with both BA and MA degrees. She is a member of theAcademy of Television Arts and Sciences. She lives in the Los Angeles area where she paints, writes and tries very hard to be organized.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

EMERGENCY ALERT!

PUBLIC HEALTH WARNING!

WE HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF!

You already know that you have too much stuff or you wouldn't be reading this! And I can guarantee that if you ask a group of your friends, almost all of them will say that they're suffering from the same problem. What is this, some kind of epidemic? Yes! So, let's compare it to an epidemic that everyone understands: the flu.

Just as with the flu, not everyone suffers to the same degree from excess stuff. Each case is different. There are always those few lucky folks who manage to escape totally unharmed. These are the people who want you to "pardon the mess" when you come over to their homes unexpectedly and find the morning paper spread out on the kitchen table and one sock lying on the bedroom floor. We stand in awe of these people.

Sadly, there are also rare occasions when too much stuff, just like a serious case of the flu, literally can be fatal. We've heard the tragic stories of people who were buried under their tons of stuff during an earthquake, or other instances where lives were lost in fires kindled by the massive quantities of stuff that filled a home. Those unfortunate souls had a clinical problem that could have been helped only by professional psychological therapy.

The rest of us fall somewhere in the middle ground. However, unlike a medical epidemic in which there are very easily defined symptoms of the disease, there are few absolute criteria that determine exactly how much stuff is too much stuff. The important issue is how you feel about your stuff. If you feel overwhelmed, if you feel disorganized, if you can't find the time to do the things in life that you really want to do, then you qualify as a Stuff Sufferer.

But don't give up hope! Read on!

Edition details

• Publisher: Lulu Press, Inc.
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1411693116
• ISBN 13: 9781411693111
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 172