Flylady didn't meet my needs either. But Sandra Felton's Messies Anonymous did wonders for me! I first discovered her work through her first book, "The Messies Manual." It helped me discover why I was having trouble cleaning the house, and that it wasn't simply laziness. It didn't help that at the time, I was married to a hoarder who himself was very messy, but held me to impossible cleanliness standards. It wasn't entirely him. I did have some messy tendencies too, but even when I could GET the house clean, he made it impossible to KEEP it that way. He'd have it trashed within minutes of arriving home, and expect me to come along and pick up behind him because, in his words, "That's what a wife is for."

The book benefited me, though, once we were apart. Nowadays, if you look at my house and you look at his house, you can see which one of is still a Messie.

For my part of it, when a place is very full of things, I have trouble telling figure from background. I simply won't know where to start. I need a minimalist decor, and I need for things to stay organized, or I get overwhelmed easily and it all goes to blue blazes.