Sidetracked Sisters Pam Young and Peggy Jones have published six books; two are out of print, while two others can only be purchased from the official S.H.E. Web site:

Books in print may be ordered at a discount through Amazon.com. Look for out-of-print books through E-bay or online used booksellers:

• Sidetracked Home Executives - From Pigpen To Paradise
  Young and Jones 1978, Warner 1981;
• The Sidetracked Sisters Catch Up on the Kitchen,
  1983;
• The Sidetracked Sisters' Happiness File,
  1985;
• I'm Okay...but You Have a Lot of Work to Do!,
  1988;
• Get Your Act Together: A 7-Day Get-Organized Program For The Overworked, Overbooked, and Overwhelmed, 1993.
• The Phony Gourmet: Includes 75 Delicious Recipes for Shortcut Cooking,
  1995.
• Sidetracked Home Executives(TM): From Pigpen to Paradise,
  revised edition published February 2001.

Sidetracked Home Executives - From Pigpen To Paradise
(Warner 1981)

The sisters' first book, S.H.E. outlines the 3-by-5 cardfile system to move from "pigpen to paradise". Written at the end of the '70's, this is definitely a "Becky Home Ec-ky" presentation, but it contains the best description of the classic S.H.E. cardfile system.

Readers learn to corral household management, clutter control, and cleaning using a 3-by-5 tickler system.

Rating: 5

The Sidetracked Sisters Catch Up on the Kitchen
(out of print; Warner 1983)

A kitchen book, companion to S.H.E.™. The kitchen book is out of print, and it's not quite the blockbuster for the terminally sidetracked that S.H.E.™ was.

Still, it provides a way out of messy, disorganized kitchens and pantries, and offers help for menu planning and meal prep. Look for it at public libraries or used book stores.

Rating: 3.5

The Sidetracked Sisters' Happiness File
(out of print; Warner 1985).

Also out of print, and it's too darn bad, too! The Happiness File (or HF to S.H.E.™ diehards) shows how to use the basic S.H.E.™ cardfile to achieve personal growth.

A month-by-month guide focuses on different areas for growth and order--and many S.H.E.s believe this is their best book. Even though it's out of print, this one is largely available in public libraries, while copies on E-bay routinely sell for $30 and up!

Rating: 5+.

I'm Okay...but You Have a Lot of Work to Do!
(available only from P&P; Permanent Press 1988).

Self-published, and it shows, I'm OK outlines P&P's method for family cooperation.

Only available through the official S.H.E. site and largely republished as GYAT, don't waste your time on this one unless you're truly S.H.E.™-maniacal.

Rating: 1.

Get Your Act Together: A 7-Day Get-Organized Program For The Overworked, Overbooked, and Overwhelmed
(Harper Collins 1993).

GYAT is a streamlined version of the Sisters' earlier works. It introduces a stripped-down version of the cardfile, touches on some of the Happiness File concepts, and reprints much of the earlier "I'm OK" book.

Some readers like the S.H.E.™ Lite treatment, others find it doesn't work for really stubborn Sidetrackers.

Rating: 3.5

The Phony Gourmet: Includes 75 Delicious Recipes for Shortcut Cooking
(HarperCollins, 1995)

Common convenience foods doctored with other common convenience foods are the staple product of P&P's first fling with a cookbook. Includes such "gourmet" tricks as "Aroma Only"--a method of making the house smell as if you'd been cooking all day.

Involving Bisquick and "frozen garbage", we'll spare you the remainder of the embarrassing details.

Rating: (silence)

Sidetracked Home Executives(TM): From Pigpen to Paradise
(Warner 2001)

Eagerly awaited by S.H.E. fans throughout the world, the "revised and updated" publication of Sidetracked Home Executives is doomed to disappoint. Everything old is new again: nearly all of the book is a page-by-page reprint of the 1981 Warner edition.

Dedication and acknowledgement pages have been updated. Want to know more about "zones"? Dream on--they're not there. Interested in learning about the Sisters' personal planner? Keep looking--aside from a passing reference here and there, it's missing, too.

The sole addition is a single chapter of seven pages, "This Little Piggy Gets A Mouse", in which P&P demonstrate what online S.H.E. fans have known since this writer established the very first online S.H.E. discussion group in 1991: Pam and Peggy are not computer-savvy.

Ignoring popular (and free) information management software like Microsoft Outlook, free Web-based services such as FranklinCovey's online planner, or handheld PDAs like Palm and Handspring, the Sisters recommend a single software program: Lotus Notes R5. Why? Evidently, because it's the only computer software they've been able to master. This long-time techie-S.H.E. is still scratching her head at the omission of so many exciting options for cyber-S.H.E.s.

Nonetheless, the chapter does have a seven-point plan for using computer software with the S.H.E. system. In essence, P&P recommend the reader choose a software program, install it, make activity lists and a basic week plan, enter the information into the computer, have fun with customizing features of the software, and print out pages for your personal planner (if you use one).

Bottom line: if you're new to the system and want to use the cardfile method--or you're just a total S.H.E. fanatic who wants a complete P&P collection--go ahead and buy the book. If you own a copy of the 1981 edition, you aren't missing a thing if you bypass this "new" offering from Warner--and if you're interested in the Sisters' new concepts? This isn't the book you're waiting for.

Rating: For newbies and fans of the cardfile system, a 5. For old-timers: nothing new or useful here!