- Eric Abrahamson/David H. Freedman
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- Paige Hobey
- Deidre Imus
- Jane Isay
- Dr. Harvey Karp
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- Andra Medea
- Ann Pleshette Murphy
- Elizabeth Pantley
- Kathy Peel
- Kathryn Sansone
- Martha Stewart
- Dr. Jennifer Trachtenberg
- Denis Waitley
- Rosalind Wiseman
Perfecting Your Mess
Organize Your Clutter
Many people say they never have time to get organized, when, in fact, they constantly engage in useful organization strategies that keep things sufficiently under control, according to the book 'A Perfect Mess' by Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman. Here are some of the more effective mess-management techniques that people frequently use.
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The Mini-mess
Some people set aside one section of the kitchen counter, one bedroom closet, a few shelves in a den or a desk in an office as a sort of mess sink, which removes the pressure of straightening out an entire room. In the same way, messy bulletin boards and refrigerator surfaces can keep the rest of a kitchen free of mail, children's drawings and other paper mess.
The Full Moon
Mess can have natural cycles in which it builds up before being at least partially organized at predictable periods. It may be a matter of tolerating disorder for most of the week until free time comes up on the weekend or of ignoring it and then massaging it in sync with the ebb and flow of work pressures, parenting duties and even mood.
The Tower of Power
Almost anything looks neat if it's in a pile. Magazines, CDs, books, photographs, receipts and a bag of pistachios spread across a coffee table can all be made to pose in a neat, stable, not terribly obtrusive stack. The neatness level can always be kicked up a notch by adding a bin where a pile forms -- a way of building around mess instead of fighting mess.
The Archaeologist
A large heap of items crammed helter-skelter into a drawer, filing cabinet, closet, attic, under a bed or even behind a couch needn't be dysfunctional, as long as the more important items tend to remain accessible at the top or outermost layer. That tends to happen naturally, as the oft-retrieved items don't sit around long enough to get buried deeply.
The Maintenance Plan
Some people confronted with the piles that have formed over time treat them like nuclear waste -- something that requires a massive, costly cleanup. But others make small adjustments to the mess to keep it under control, such as scanning through a pile to make sure nothing important has been buried or getting rid of a layer of deeply buried, useless mess.
The Code Blue
Word of an unexpected visitor might trigger a frenzy of highly efficient straightening out that transports the loose clothes from the floor into the closet, sends a week's worth of scattered newspapers into a bin and gets the dishes into the sink -- leaving a home perfectly presentable even after weeks of relative neglect.
The Satellite Mess
There are 1.5 billion square feet of self-storage units available to rent in the United States. The money saved by not hiring a professional organizer could pay for years' worth of storage.
'A Perfect Mess'
Excerpted from 'A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder -- How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices, and On-the-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place' by Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman. Copyright © 2007 by Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman. Excerpted by permission of Little, Brown and Company. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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