Mama Kat Thursday: Messies

 The Mama Kat blog prompt today is to write a post inspired by to the word, "Messy."

Years ago, back in the mid-80's when I was newly married, when I felt I needed some tips on keeping the handle on house clutter and general cleaning, I read a book called, "The Messies Manual: The Procrastinator's Guide to Good Housekeeping" by Sandra Felton.

Keep in mind I'm just recalling highlight points that stood out to me back then:

First she defined the term "Messie"----which, spelled this way with "ie" in no way implies dirtiness or uncleanness.
 She used the word "Messie" to describe someone with a tendency either by personality or procrastination or both to be simply dis-inclined about dealing with the build-up of clutter that comes with life and family and have a struggle managing that. 

Then Sandra Felton goes through and describes how there are, in fact, different types of "Messie" personalities, each with their own problems.
Here's a couple examples I recall as standing out to me, since I had them:
#1)  "Creative messies," prefer ignoring boring repetitive tasks, like folding clean laundry or picking up other people's clutter in favor of using their energy for more fun or creative activities.

#2)  "Sentimental messies," hold onto everything that represents  treasured memories, until it's an overwhelming clutter and they find it hard to figure out what to keep and what not to. 

Then she identified things that block success for decluttering: 

#1)  Distraction. By this she meant the problem of going into one room, finding something that needs putting away in a different room, taking that object to that other room, finding something else there that goes upstairs, taking that item upstairs, then finding something else upstairs that belongs downstairs and, in the end, accomplishing next to nothing.

#2)  In general, just a lacking a good plan and with a to do method. 

Here's the basic organization plan she suggests:

 Start in one room. Stay in that room.
Take containers with you, like boxes or laundry baskets, for "keep" and "throw away," items.
Start on one wall in that room and work around the room.
 Once done with that room, proceed to the next and repeat.

She recommended putting on some good, upbeat music while working.

Plus she had lots of other tips and hints and even schedules for keeping things organized, including ways to involve the family members in managing their own clutter. 

****

In the end, after trying out some of her ideas, which did help in general with some organizational things, I ultimately decided I didn't have as big a clutter problem as I imagined. 

Nowadays, Hubby and I live in a small house that cleans up easily once a week.

 But---don't ask to look in the office we share! Our desk tops are sacred messes and we know exactly where everything is!

The Messies Manual is still in available online from any number of book retailers.
I picked up the Maxine comic on top from Pinterest, though Maxine, of course, belongs to Hallmark.