Winning the Clutter War , livre ebook

Baker Publishing Group - Sandra Felton

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135 pages

English

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Sandra Felton's foolproof advice on organization has made this book a proven bestseller that has helped readers of all ages overcome a lifetime of messy habits. Her compassion, humor, and practical tips will help make chronic clutter a thing of the past.

Informations

Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	01 novembre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781441213952
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0173€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Cover
Title Page
Dedication
To my mother, Seco Haley, whose example kept me striving for a better way of life when it was difficult to remember that another way existed.
Copyright Page
© 2005 by Sandra Felton
Published by Revell a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.revellbooks.com
Ebook edition created 2010
Ebook corrections 02.08.2017
Spire edition published 2010
Previously published in 2005 as The Messies Manual
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4412-1395-2

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture is taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture marked NIV is taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
The quote from “Happy Talk” (South Pacific) is copyright © 1949 by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. Copyright renewed, Williamson Music Co., owner of publication and allied rights for the Western Hemisphere and Japan. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Copyright Page
Preface
Foreword
Introducing the Messie (As If You Need It!)
How to Use This Book
PART 1
1 Messies Classified
2 Confessions of a Reformed Messie
3 A “Messies” Quiz
4 Outlooks That Hinder
5 There Is a Reason—It Is Not Laziness
6 Reasons for the Reason
PART 2
7 Developing Organizing Attitudes
8 Cleanies I Have Known
9 You Don’t Really Want to Be a 10
10 Goal Setting He Who Aims at Nothing Is Likely to Hit It
11 Five Pitfalls for the Wanderer in Messieland
PART 3
12 The Mount Vernon Method How I Took Command
13 Simplify, Sort, and Store The Heart of Organizing
14 The Flipper Keeps It in Order
15 The Mount Vesuvius Method
16 Keeping Up with the Info Flow
17 Closets
18 The Kitchen
PART 4
19 On Procrastination
20 On Making and Saving Time
21 Getting the Family to Cooperate
22 More Tips on Organizing
23 Energy The Spark Plug of Housekeeping
24 MA ClutterBuddies
PART 5
25 Painting on Your Clean Canvas
26 The Real Beginning for You
Appendix Ideas That Work
Resources
About the Author
Audio and Video Resources
Other books by Sandra Felton
Back Ads
Back Cover
Preface
When it comes to keeping an orderly house, no one is hopeless—not even you! So, go and dig up a pencil (try looking behind the hutch—one rolled under there two years ago) and evaluate yourself by identifying your particular strengths and weaknesses. True or false:
I am successful in using coupons. I still have my high school dance program. I plan my meals while I shop. I know how much I have in my checking account. I keep my bedroom door closed when I have guests.
There’s more! For your score on this probing survey, see chapter 11.
If you’re longing to welcome unexpected guests with open arms (instead of hiding behind a stack of newspapers) . . . if you’re tired of fighting an avalanche every time you open a closet or cabinet door . . . if there’s a “Cleanie” inside of you who’s striving to break free, then Winning the Clutter War will provide you with the humorous, helpful guidance and painless, practical tips you need to forever break away from chronic messiness!
Foreword
Long, Long Ago . . .
This is my story that began over twenty-five years ago. I feared I was doomed to live and die struggling with clutter in my home and disorder in my life. It is the story of how I changed and later helped many others change with me. The desperate condition of my life before I changed is described in chapter 2, “Confessions of a Reformed Messie.” My strategy for change is described in chapter 12, “The Mt. Vernon Method: How I Took Command” so I won’t go into the details now.
When I found help for myself and felt the drive to clutter leave my heart and life like a fever breaking, I instinctively wanted to share with others, although I was not sure that there were any others who were drowning in clutter as I was.
So back in 1981 I put a little public service announcement in the Miami Herald — “Messy house? Frustrated? Come to Messies Anonymous.” I gave the location and evening meeting time. Since I was afraid to sit alone in the dark, I asked a friend to wait with me in a back building of our church. I was not sure anybody would show up. I suspected I was the only one in the world who had this problem. Who could know!
Waiting in the Darkness
On that first night my friend and I sat together in that little building in a mango grove with the darkness closing in around us, waiting and wondering. Down the unpaved pathway, lights from approaching cars began to appear, mostly late. Twelve people arrived. We were a brave group but shellshocked from the impact of our problem. I recall one man was about to have his business evicted by the fire marshall. Week after week we hammered out and applied the plans that appear in this book. And slowly we changed, as you will too.
Early on in the process, a reporter for the Miami Herald wrote a story about our group. The article was distributed by a large national news service to many of the major newspapers in the country. Twelve thousand letters poured in pleading for help, often adding “Hurry!” This book, The Messies Manual , was written to answer their cry.
At first I printed copies of the book myself to sell to those who asked for help. Two years later Revell began publishing and distributing The Messies Manual in a way I couldn’t. Since then they have published many of my other books. These books were written to flesh out the program and answer other questions about how to change.
The Message Spreads
In the twenty-plus years since that little group met, the program hammered out there has spread all over the world to English-speaking countries such as Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and England. Books in German have become bestsellers, and many German groups have been formed. The word “messie” has entered the German word pool. Books have been translated into Spanish and Dutch, and the Chinese have bought rights to translate and publish. Through newspapers, magazines, radio programs, television, and book distribution, the message of hope has spread to women and men around the world. The program has jumped cultural lines. Cluttering is an equal-opportunity problem and no respecter of social position, intelligence, or any other characteristic.
Local Messies Anonymous groups have formed, and there are many successful and active online support groups. Other help is available through the website www.messies.com for English speakers. There are also websites that serve German and Spanish speakers.
There are no leaders in the group. There are no dues. There are no professionals who benefit from the organization directly. Our members are mostly women, though men are surely welcome. Anyone who suffers from chronic disorganization is welcome. We call that person by the gentle name of Messie, and it is Anonymous because we don’t necessarily want outsiders to know our problem.
Since the beginning of Messies Anonymous, much has been done to help individuals overcome disorganization. The National Association of Professional Organizers and the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization have been formed in America. Other professional organizer groups have begun abroad. These offer referrals around the country. Psychologists have turned their attention to the problem, usually focusing on hoarding as an anxiety disorder. All of these offer insights and help.
A Simple Program
Ten years after its beginning, Alcoholics Anonymous extended their twelve steps and twelve traditions to those who wish to use them. Their late adoption made Messies Anonymous something of a hybrid. Some Messies emphasize the steps and others go about change in a different way. The twelve-step program is explained in the book Hope for the Hopeless Messie .
Just as Bill W.’s beliefs and background flavored his interpretation of the twelve steps of AA, my background as a Bible-believing Christian flavors the interpretation of the higher power of the twelve steps as God, who is willing to restore us to sanity and tells us about that process in the Bible. As was true with Bill W.’s group, because of the variety of backgrounds of those who come for help, there are a variety of approaches in this area. Controversy over differences occasionally arises. Controversy of any kind only distracts from our focus on solving our problem and seldom is useful to pursue as an issue.
Our program is a simple program but not a simplistic one. Simplistic is naive and inadequate. Simple is enough—but no more. Be assured that you can find help for yourself.
The program worked for me. It didn’t come easily or quickly. But little by little as I changed, my house changed. In today’s world many Messies who are changing slowly but surely say, “Baby steps, baby steps.” I challenged ideas and feelings that had drawn me into clutter. Today I am one grateful person. I did not want to live my whole life in clutter, and I sure didn’t want to die with it around me.
But What about You?
So here you are reading this book about organizing because you are one of the growing crowd of those of us in the modern world who struggle with our affluence. We live in crowded and sometimes cluttered houses. We buy sheds and rent storage units because we are exhausted from caring for too much stuff.
The problems and stresses of individuals