Free Be My Neat-Heart by Judy Baer Page B

We worked out a quiz for you to give your clients. If they answer ‘yes’ to three or more questions, they need to hire you.”
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    Clutter Busters Suitability Quiz—If Your Life Isn’t Cluttered, You Don’t Need Busting!
Do you say to yourself “If I can’t make it all perfect then what’s the use of doing it at all?”
Do you have luggage, boxes, furniture or your birdcage stored in your bathtub or shower?
Do you have magazines that are at least three years old somewhere in your house, waiting to be read?
Do you sleep on top of your bedspread rather than crawling between the sheets because you’ll just have to make it again in the morning anyway?
Have you given up folding your laundry because you’ll just be using the clothes again tomorrow?
Do your friends insist on not coming to your home?
Have you had to look in the refrigerator to find your nail polish, shoes, hairspray or parakeet?
Do you have good intentions and absolutely no follow-through?
Is there always something late, lost, overdue, misplaced, outdated, moldy or unidentifiable in your home?
    â€œYou’ve got to admit. It will make them think.”
    It certainly made me think. I realized that Molly Hamilton could answer yes to every single question.

Chapter Nine
    M y idea of good working conditions does not involve an irate brother hovering around, breathing steam down the neck of my client. But, by the look of things, that is Jared Hamilton’s plan. I tried to tactfully dissuade him but it didn’t work.
    â€œYou don’t have to stay, Mr. Hamilton. Molly and I will get along beautifully. It’s Monday morning. I’m sure you must have dozens of things to take care of at your office.”
    He didn’t bite. Instead he appeared to dig his heels in a little deeper. “I’m here for the duration” was written all over his face.
    I glanced around the room and my gaze fell on a family picture. Jared and what were obviously his parents stared pleasantly out of the frame, he and his father in dark suits, his mother in a tailored navy dress, her hair done to perfection and the smile on her face serene. And then there was Molly.
    Molly, noticing what I was looking at, told me the story.
    â€œWhat a day that was! I was late for our family picture. I’d thought I’d have time to launder the dress I planned to wear, but—silly me—I didn’t read the tag or think about the fact it contained wool. I discovered the hard way that I should have taken it to the dry cleaners. So I just wore something from my closet that was clean. It worked out fine, though, don’t you think?”
    What was clean in her closet was a bright turquoise sweater covered with beads in the design of a parrot. In contrast with the rest of her well-dressed family, the photo looked less like a family picture and more like a snapshot of three Supreme Court Justices and Dolly Parton.
    I glanced around her living room and made a mental note to have her clear places for us to sit down. The places she’d cleared last time had already disappeared.
    Molly was admiring the colored laundry baskets I’d brought to sort items into. “By the way, call my brother Jared, otherwise I won’t know who you’re taking about.” She, who might have been angry or bitter about her brother’s heavy-handedness, was happy and chirpy as a bird in spring. Jared, however, resembled a fractious vulture that hadn’t seen road-kill in a very long time.
    â€œJared, then. Molly and I will be just fine sorting through these—” I turned to look at the breathtaking display of clothing, books, blankets, DVDs, dishes, food cartons, tapes, art supplies, ski equipment and papers decorating her living room “—for quite some time.”
    â€œNo, I’ll stay.” His brows furrowed. “You may find something important that I need in this mess.”
    I turned to Molly for