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Distressed About Disorganization
I am completely disorganized and need help bad. Can you help? My house is a mess!!!!! Sincerely, A Dear Disorganized: I too am a bit disorganized and sometimes it gets the best of
me. It doesn’t help to discover that in the olden days, houses
must not have had clutter. I can’t seem to find many references
to dealing with the overwhelming stuff that inhabits our modern-day
lives. Clutter was found in the basements of many homes, however,
so we’ll head downstairs to look for some tips from Mildred
Maddocks Bentley about dealing with everything but the tool room.
Seems like a fair comparison. 1924: Cellar Care and Cleanliness
The weekly care calls only for a general tidying. Dispose of newspapers and magazines that may have accumulated. I have two capacious baskets. Both newspapers and magazines are placed flat in their respective baskets when they are no longer required above stairs. No second handling is required when they are taken away to their final destination of hospital, Salvation Army headquarters, or junk man. Dispose promptly of broken articles consigned to the cellar because they are out of sight. Reclaim them at once if there is a possibility of repair. But chop up or burn up ruthlessly if there is no hope of rescue. Most cellars are untidy rather than unclean and solely because the cellar is used, as the attic, for broken or discarded furnishings. . . . In most cellars, there is a tool room sacred to the masculine
members of the family. I would leave this untidy.
Source: Good Housekeeping’s Book on The Business of
Housekeeping Home • About • The Book • Advice • Abiblog • Bookshelf • Contact
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According
to the primer of housework, the modern self-respecting cellar
calls for a casual weekly attention, to be sure, but it is the
semi-annual cleaning after all that keeps it sweet and clean and
healthful.
