To me my african voilet looks like it needs to be repotted but I've been reading some posts that say that most house plants like to be root bound and that most people repot too soon. What guidlines should I go by to figure out if my african violet should be repotted or not?

generally speaking, and african violet can go years without repotting. if the whorl where the leaves originate is more than 2/3 the size of the pot, or if you (gently) pull it out of the pot and there are roots wrapped in a circle around the outside of the dirt, it is time to repot. otherwise, i'd leave it!

agreed Afr.vio's almost never need to be repotted unless they are jumping out of their pots

Excellent. I don't have a pot for it right now anyway...

you may just need to "freshin" her.take her pot and clean it in bleach water dry it and remove old soil and add new AV potting mix.I went with scultz this time& I think I like it better,but wish I'd wicked it.My pot currently is actually a international blue creamer cup.I took 2 cinnamon hazelnut recently...because they were red.
Also...some fertlizers have salts that will build up in the soil.

If you see the neck getting long, it's time to repot. If the neck gets too long, it will start to snake a little. Just lift it out of the pot, cut off an inch of soil from the bottom and put it back into the same pot and add fresh potting mix until the bottom leaves.

Well...by the sounds of things my voilet is good in it's home for now. ONCE again the great gardeners come to my aid! Thanks crew