Cleaning expert Sandra Felton recommends what she calls the Mount Vernon Method of organizing. By working around the edge of a room, you can make the most of your time because you don’t backtrack, you stay on task and you know exactly where to go next:

 

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Begin at the front door and start with the first piece of furniture you come to that has a nook, cranny, drawer, etc. As you move from one spot to another around the room, take with you three boxes: a giveaway box, a throwaway box and a put-elsewhere box. Open the first drawer.

Throw away every piece of junk that has accumulated there. Be serious about it. Don’t keep the pen that only works half the time; toss the pretty calendar that’s already a year old. Your freedom from clutter is more important than they are.

When you find things that are too good to throw out, put them in the giveaway box. And give them away soon! You’ll be glad you shared. Two cautions are in order:

1. Don’t take anything out of the giveaway box once you’ve put it in.
   
   
2. Don’t wait for the perfect time or the perfect person to give it to. Get rid of it right away. Don’t save a matchbook for Mary’s son who saves matchbooks. Don’t even save it for a garage sale unless you have a specific date set for a sale. After that date, give it to your favorite charity.

Be willing to take a risk that you may later want what you discarded. Remember that although it may cause temporary pain to throw something out, it causes definite long-term pain to keep it. Tossing it out is mild pain compared with the pain that comes from having to live helplessly with all that clutter. There is an exhilarating feeling of freedom that comes once the decision is made to take control of the house.

The put-elsewhere box is there to keep the things that don’t need to be discarded but are in the wrong place. Do not hop up and put them in another place while you are working, because this will break your concentration. You may never return to your job there. Just put them into the box and drag the box around with you as you go from one piece of furniture to another. Put the items in this box away when you finally reach the place where they will be grouped with other similar items.

 

Excerpted and condensed from Sandra Felton’s: The New Messies Manual: The Procrastinator’s Guide to Good Housekeeping. For more information, visit Messies.com.

 

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