More Hours in My Day: Proven Ways to Organize Your Home, Your Family, and Yourself

by Emilie Barnes

This update of the bestseller speaks to people who long for a few extra minutes to take a breath, get focused, and get organized. Emilie helps bring order to everything from paperwork to prayer lives.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Christian, Productivity, Parenting, Christian Living

372 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 1989

About the author

Emilie Barnes was the bestselling author of more than 80 books, including 101 Ways to Clean Out the Clutter, Five Minutes in the Bible for Women, and 15 Minutes Alone with God. Sales of her books have surpassed 6 million copies worldwide. She and her husband, Bob, founded the More Hours in My Day time-management seminars.

Emilie’s heart was always to help others in practical ways as they managed their busy homes and lives, but even more, her beautiful spirit made a connection with readers that was both lovely and timeless. Her words remain as inspiring today as when they were first published.

Reviews

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is soooooo helpful. I saw it sitting on the shelf at the grocery store (late at night because my daily chores seemed to be taking over my day). And it was calling to me. So I didn't even puruse it, like I usually do. I just bought it and it is gold to me I'll tell you that. Barnes breaks down the house work, errands, meals, household chores, paying bills, house organization, etc. in such a fantastic way that I jumped right into the disaster that was my apartment and used her tips to declutter, defrag, and decompress! It's been very, very, very useful. I highly recommend it!

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the homemaking/time management/organizational books, this is the one I always go back to. I feel like Emilie Barnes is my wonderful loving personal mentor that I have never met. In heaven someday I will give her a huge hug! I have always struggled with housekeeping and her method of KEEPING it clean by organizing your daily, weekly, quarterly etc... Chores is genius. She makes me feel like I can do it.

[Poiema · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a formative book for me, one I read many years ago as a young homemaker. Many of the habits still stick with me, especially tackling large projects by consistently working 15 minutes a day. I would like to revisit, now that I am at the other end of the cycle and need to clean out decades of stuff.

[Annmarie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is helpful, but annoying. This system works great if you have no life.

[Rachael Quinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was on my Amazon wish list for so long that I don't even remember why I wanted it or when I wanted it.  It didn't seem like a bad idea to read it, though.  Presently, I am working full time, writing in my spare time, raising a toddler, and managing my home.  Tantrums, laundry, cleaning, looking for lost items (that usually have been stolen by a cat or a toddler), making sure everyone (including cats) is fed, and trying to be a human being is, like, more than enough for anybody.  We also have a small house and a lot of hobbies which means a lot of stuff.  I wasn't really expecting to take much from this book but I decided to give it a try anyway.

I was right.  I didn't take much from this book and what I DID get from it wasn't what I was expecting.  Barnes has some unrealistic expectations, in my opinion, and we have different ways of doing things.  I have never been a fan of that "I have five minutes before I have to run out the door, so I'll just scrub this toilet" mentality.  I don't need to schedule vacuuming in and if a friend invites me to lunch when I'm supposed to vacuum, I'm definitely going to lunch.  The system seems too complicated.  I don't want to store things and keep a list of where everything is stored.  And I was really annoyed by how often they talked about picnics.

Well, until the chapter about picnics and then I decided that I really need to have one and that it's the kind of memory that I want to make for my family.  In the end, what I took from this book was more human.  It encouraged me to change the way I was prioritizing my life and helped me to change the way I was treating my husband, who is a saint for living with a crazy woman.

While I don't agree with Barnes and I lead a much different life than her, there are a lot of useful things in this book and there are a ton of checklists so it might be perfect for you even if it wasn't for me.

**Update** Picnics are life. Even little ones by yourself.

[Aisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great Christian organizing book. A little bit much or dated on all the record keeping or "tips". Much of that can be tossed these days, but overall with the premise of how and why living a planned life is important is all not found in other organizing books I have read. Really addresses the work aspect of home and speaks against laziness, which is so prevalent. A great responsibility to manage a household and train children and make life fun for them - so I really loved those aspects of this book.

[Emily D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love, Love organizing-housekeeping books. This one was exactly like most of the others I've read, but from a Fundamentalist Christian standpoint (something that I don't adhere to presently). Good sound advice about organization, with some ideas that I thought were quite humerous. "If your husband calls and says he has had a hard day and he doesn't want to see your children, make a reservation at his favorite restaurant and feed the kids waffles before you go." YES! Let them eat waffles!

[Patty · Rating 2 out of 5]

By the time I got around to reading this faith-based look at organizing home life, it no longer appealed to me. Some useful tips but it did not reach me with its Biblical look at the Happy Homemaker.

[Elsa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't even finish it because t wasnt what I thought it would be. It's basically a book that tell you how to clean.

[Ada Adeleke-Kelani · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book over 20 years ago and I'm still applying the lessons I learned from it. I highly recommend this book to everyone - male and female - there are easy to apply nuggets in it.

[Cherop · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book didn't take long to skim read. I did it in fairly short order because the information contained in it is much the same as the information contained in other books of this type. There are numerous forms and charts which you can use as a template to create your own for the purpose of keeping yourself organized. There are also numerous chapters devoted to those with children and the household issues that might arise when trying to raise a family and keep organized.

[Katharine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has some great reminders and some new ideas......from the nineties so some chapters and paragraphs are amusing. I have had this book a while and just wanted to reread it.

[Lukuman Akintayo · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Umm Layth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book but it is very preachy to Christian folk. I ignored most of that, though, and continued reading it and really took bits and pieces of her advice, that I found right for me and my family, and I've already seen much change in how I look at my home. I would recommend it to any woman who isn't bothered by the author really aiming the book towards christian women, who aren't bothered by bible verses, etc.

[Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

My MIL gave me a copy of this book (is she hinting something??), and it's had THE BEST IDEAS!! Some of the ideas are not going to work with my kids being so little, but others are immediately ready for practice. My favorite new trick is putting lettuce into a lingerie bag and after washing it, running it through a spin cycle in the washing machine. I tried it and SERIOUSLY. It's a little odd in theory, but it works so well that I'll be using this trick as long as I own a washing machine!

[Lisa Mendiaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been fortunate enough to attend several of Emilie Barnes' seminars in the early to mid 90s. I learned so much from those seminars that I put to use on a daily basis. This book is her message in a book. I couldn't put this book down and referred to it often for many different helpful hints about getting through the crazies of everyday life. Highly recommend this and all of her books.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful book --worthy of reading. It will help you organize your life and will be keep your reading to the end. Plus I used this book a lot in my leadership class when talking about time management.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all time favorite books. I read it years ago, before I was married. I have used the suggestions at various times before marriage, throughout our marriage and with our daughter. I go back to it and see new things each time based on where I am in life. It is a great resource!

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of these ideas seemed obvious to me, or maybe I just don't want to change what I'm already doing. I could see where this book would help newlyweds or young mothers, but I think I'm too set in my ways to gain any benefits from this book.

[Mandy J. Hoffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the best books out there for advice on home organization made simple.

[LaDonna Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not earth shattering, but some good stuff. Slow and steady wins the race. Spend 5 weeks to get your house organized. Make routines to keep it that way. Get the family on board.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit thin on content, but there were a couple of sections that were very helpful.

[Sher❤ The Fabulous BookLover · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is all about organizing. I just wish there were a few truthful, inspirational messages in there and not just about cleaning, etc.

[Ama · Rating 4 out of 5]

if you really want to make a home go get this book.everybody needs the tidbits.it is fascinating.

[Sarah Felix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for new wives trying to get their home under control

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great homemaking book. So glad I read this.