Product Description

If you're tired of fighting an avalanche every time you open a closet or cabinet door... if you never answer the phone because you cant find it... if there's a "Cleanie" inside you whos striving to break free, The New Messies Manual can help you make chronic messiness a thing of the past!

After thirty-seven printings and over 300,000 copies sold, The Messies Manual is a proven best-seller. Now completely revised and updated, The New Messies Manual provides more foolproof strategies for overcoming messiness as our lives become busier and busier. Seven new chapters have been added.

A reformed Messie herself, Sandra Felton founded Messies Anonymous to help people improve their organizational skills. Combined sales of her Messies books now number over half a million. In this practical and perceptive book, Felton helps readers who swim in clutter every day learn the secrets of good housekeeping. This book was first published in 1981.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #382775 in Books
• Published on: 2000-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 255 pages

Review
Felton has done it again! The New Messies Manual is a fun book to read, filled with practical advice and a voice of compassion that rings through in every chapter. -- Judith Kolberg, director, National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization

About the Author
Sandra Felton founded Messies Anonymous in 1980 and has taught the how-to's of good housekeeping to thousands of disorganized individuals. A well-known speaker and workshop leader, she is also the president of a direct marketing company that supplies products to disorganized people.

Customer Reviews

Unbelievable! No more pig sty for this Messie
Before I comment on this book, you need to know that I'd spent the previous 20-something years of my life as a chronically messy person. If you'd walked into my childhood bedroom, my college dorm room, or any of the apartments and homes I've had since graduating, you would be greeted with the same dismal scene: Clutter everywhere...papers, books and magazines covering every surface and stuffed into or under every piece of furniture...clothes draped on anything and everything. More often than not, to reach my bed would entail an acrobatic series of leaps and hops through my bedroom so as not to disturb the falling-into-each-other piles. It was utterly depressing both for me and for anyone who had the misfortune to visit. And yes, I'd tried every cleaning/organizing technique known to humanity.

Two books changed that forever. One of them was this book. Why did a single book finally make all the difference? As Sandra Felton admits, it's because she is at heart a "Messie" herself, and therefore she understands our plight -- unlike the maddeningly perfect Martha Stewarts of the world who just DON'T understand! But beyond that, Sandra speaks to several problems I have that have contributed to my chronic disorganization: namely, ADD, perfectionism, procrastination, and "decision anxiety." Sandra applies this insight to solving the plight of the Messies, with an approach that involves both how you think about organization and how you actually set up your home and office for organizing.

An important distinction between The New Messies Manual and other books on organization: While many books address EITHER the act of clearing the accumulated clutter OR the "how to" of maintaining an organized home, few discuss both to my satisfaction. The New Messies Manual addresses both, beautifully -- first it holds your hand as you tackle the nightmare of a hopelessly cluttered home, step by step; then it guides you through establishing systems that WORK for the Messie-minded person.

Some of the key tips I gleaned from this book are:

* Write down an image of your life as an organized person (seems simple, but really makes a difference when you visualize how you want your organized life to run).

* The most important habit you can get into is that of Doing It Now. (Yes, all organization books beat us over the head with this rather obvious "tip." But something clicked when I read The New Messies Manual that's pushed me to really make this a habit -- and it really does make a world of difference! The Procrastinator's Creed on page 186 is worth the price of the book. I've printed it in a beautiful font on art paper -- what, you expect me to do calligraphy?!--framed it, and keep it prominently in my home office.)

* Create activity centers (a box where you keep items such as gift-wrapping supplies, crafts supplies, camping gear, etc.), and clearly LABEL them. (I've found the clear plastic boxes from the Container Store ideal for this.) Again, other books recommend this, but something about the way Sandra describes this system gave me the kick I needed to actually do it.

And much MUCH more. Sandra's resource list at the back is also outstanding.

If you are a nearly-perfect Martha Stewart type who needs tips on alphabetizing your two hundred perfectly-crafted scrapbooks, this is not the book for you. But if you've struggled much of your life to get and stay organized, especially if you are a perfectionist or a procrastinator or think you could have attention deficit disorder, I urge you to read this book.

FYI, the other book that impacted me just as much was Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui by Karen Kingston. I know, these books on the surface are completely different, but I believe they complement each other wonderfully. Whereas Clear Your Clutter gave me the motivation I needed to want to clear the clutter once and for all (she talks among other things about the direct relationship between clutter and depression, and other good reasons for WHY to clear the clutter), The New Messies Manual hit closer to home for me in terms of HOW to clear the clutter and then stay that way.

Clutter-free for five weeks, and counting!

Martha Stewart I ain't--but I'll never be ashamed again
Recently, I made friends with another mother in the neighborhood while our children were playing outside. She and I chatted on the phone a few times, but she had never seen the inside of my house. I told her that I had a hard time keeping the house clean, and she said that she had the same problem. Then one day she visited me for the first time. I could tell she was trying to not look shocked, but it was instantly apparent that her version of a "not clean" house and my version were pretty different. The truth was obvious. I was a Messie. As soon as she could gracefully do it, she scooped up her kids to leave--probably to save them from the imminent danger of whatever was underneath all that stuff on the barely-visible floor. This had happened to me many times before, and I was totally depressed and discouraged. I have struggled my entire life trying to keep my living space clean and organized. I would have just hidden myself in the closet, but there was never any room. My mom was a "cleanie" and I figured I was just a lost cause.

This book was a godsend. Other housekeeping hint books I have read and tried to follow are oriented towards the average to clean type person and I just ended up feeling more and more inept. Sandra Felton knows what being a Messie is like, and takes the shame out of it by explaining why we are the way we are. She then helps you to learn what you need to do in order to change. It outlines a simple, straightforward approach to housekeeping that is easy to follow and makes sense. I was able to start implementing her plan before I even finished reading the book. Her "this is a marathon, not a sprint" philosophy has kept me motivated to keep going and not get discouraged and slip back into old habits.

The changes this has made in my life are fantastic. I can invite people in the house without total embarrassment. The "piles" (fellow messies know what these are) are gone and I can see my kitchen counter now. I can even find all my keys, bills, important papers, and children. My friends and family are amazed. This book offers more help than any therapist or antidepressant. Try it!

Simple Solutions for My Chronic Disorganization
I highly recommend this book for people who are chronically "messy" homemakers. I have to admit that the book did discuss too much of the "whys" of messiness, but if you can get past the first part of the book, you will be surprised that the second half of the book provides just as much of the "hows". I have read quite a few de-cluttering and organizational books, which have been very helpful, but this one has helped in a way that none of the others have been able to. I have been struggling with a messy house for the last 13 years, and after 3 months, my home is organized! I've tried lists and time schedules and they just don't work for me. However, the "flipper" idea in the book works like a charm! It helped me from getting overwhelmed by distributing small jobs over a period of a month. Cooking and grocery lists are much simpler now also. If you are sick of having a home that you are embarrassed to show your guests, read this book!