Unstuff your life! : Kick the clutter habit and completely organize your life for good

386 Pages·2010·1.65 MB·English

by  Andrew J. Mellen

Table of Contents

Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Introduction

Chapter 1 - You Are Not Your Stuff
Chapter 2 - Keys • Wallet • Purse • Mail
Chapter 3 - Kitchen • Pantry
Chapter 4 - Office • Home Office •Paperwork
Chapter 5 - Clothes • Closets
Chapter 6 - Auxiliary Spaces: Basements • Attics • Garages
Chapter 7 - Car
Chapter 8 - Mementos •Sentimental Objects • Gifts • Collections
Chapter 9 - Photos
Chapter 10 - E-mail • Organizing Computer Files • Social Networking Sites
Chapter 11 - New Things and the Rest of Your Life

Acknowledgements
Appendix: What to Save
Resources
Index

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Copyright © 2010 by Andrew J. Mellen
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any
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Published simultaneously in Canada
VirgoMan® and VirgoMan creating order out of chaos®
are registered trademarks of Andrew J. Mellen.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mellen, Andrew J.
Unstuff your life! : Kick the clutter habit and completely organize your life for good /
Andrew J. Mellen.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
eISBN : 978-1-10118895-8
1. House cleaning. 2. Orderliness. 3. Storage in the home. I. Title.
TX324.M
648’.5—dc22

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the
While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the
time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for
changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not
assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
http://us.penguingroup.com
For my mother, Frances Mellen;
my father, Jordon Mellen;
and my maternal grandmother, Bess Osborne—
who, each in his or her own way,
taught me about Like with Like
and putting my things away.

I wasn’t the neatest kid, so
I guess it finally took.
Introduction
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
ARISTOTLE

Gentle reader; less-than-gentle reader; kind, clumsy, unfocused, slightly
desperate reader . . . this book is for you. Welcome to my world. I hope soon it
will also be your world. Or your version of my world. That would be even better.
And what exactly happens in my world? As an author, educator, professional
organizer, and president of VirgoMan (www.virgoman.com), I travel around the
country, working with individual clients and companies throughout the United
States, helping them become more efficient, effective, and clutter-free. My
clients vary widely in life experience and economic background and come from
all walks of life. They run the gamut from award-winning authors, designers,
and filmmakers to stay-at-home moms, carpooling dads, and harried executives.
They also include small businesses and corporations ranging from production
companies and publishing houses to tiny not-for-profit organizations and places
of worship. What they all have in common is too much to do and not enough
time to get it all done, and absolutely no idea of what to do with all that stuff!
I’ve led and facilitated seminars and workshops across the country, from
house parties to hotel conference rooms, spreading the gospel of VirgoMan and
unstuffing one’s life through a delightfully nonsectarian evangelism. I’ve
appeared in print (O, The Oprah Magazine; Oprah’s book, Dream Big!; In-Style
magazine, among others) and on radio and TV (NPR; Oprah and Friends; The
Satellite Sisters; DIY’s Wasted Spaces; HGTV’s Hot Trends). Like the Johnny
Appleseed of stuff, I cross the country spreading the seeds of organization and
liberation at every opportunity. Strangers are fascinated by my line of work and
it seems every conversation eventually touches on my simple yet comprehensive
plan for kicking the clutter habit and completely transforming one’s life.
Whether I’ve been chatting with people or writing an article, however, time
constraints or word-count restrictions have limited the volume of information I
could share at one time. Until now.
Within this book, my enthusiastic editor and publisher have allowed me the
room to finally spread out, sharing the step-by-step process I offer to clients and
workshop attendees across the country—with greater detail and more instruction
and commentary than I can necessarily include in a 1,500-word article, a thirty-
minute TV show, or even a daylong seminar.
These simple steps, none of which are complicated, all of which have proved
helpful to someone, guarantee success in getting organized. And I hope that
number of people will now include you.
From entering and exiting your home with your keys and your bag and your
wallet always in tow, to facing the challenges of large-scale spaces such as
attics, basements, and garages—we cover it all in these pages. So whether you
want to get a handle on your kitchen, your car, or your closet, you’ll find exact
methods and complete directions right here. I’ve avoided general living areas
such as bedrooms or bathrooms or family rooms—the principles and techniques
laid out for typical clutter hot spots are easily translatable to those spaces. Once
you’ve mastered these techniques and applied them in your most challenging
problem areas, you’ll be able to apply them throughout your home. From your
nightstand or entertainment center to your medicine cabinet, you’ll easily
eliminate expired medicine, unplayable videotapes or board games missing
parts, broken emery boards and tweezers that no longer tweeze—until each
room, each drawer, each space is neat, clean, and clutter-free.
Simply stated, after you finish reading and working through this book, you
will always know where anything and everything is in your home or office or
car. Vehicle registration? Got it. Spare keys? You bet. Social Security card? No
question. Aunt Betty’s famous piecrust recipe? Your tax bill? Without a doubt,
you will have it in your hand before you break a sweat.
And you will never again find yourself drowning in stuff—whether it’s
papers, sporting goods, magazines, collectibles, or clothing. Through a series of
activities and exercises you will replace your currently ineffective habits with
powerfully successful habits, freeing up hundreds if not thousands of previously
wasted hours. My clients know that I avoid absolutes when speaking with them,
but I promise you that always and never are about to come true for you.
The ideas and directions laid out in this book form a road map to freedom
from clutter. It may be hard to read that and not get a little excited and feel some
skepticism creeping in as well. That’s fine. These steps have been field-tested
during years of working with clients in their homes and offices, so I feel