My cousin T.C. was the biggest slob I knew growing up.

How he’s grown into one of the tidiest, cleanest adults you’d ever want to meet is a mystery to me. Because when we were kids, his room always looked like a trailer park that had just been hit by an F-5 tornado. Baseball cards strewn everywhere; magazines shoved under the bed; dirty clothes in piles. Basically, crap everywhere.

Yet somehow, T.C. always managed to keep his mom off his back about his disaster-area room. And that was no small feat considering my aunt Carol seemed to be in a crabby mood from about 1978 to 1985.

The first part of T.C.’s trick to keep mom off his back was to strictly uphold his low standards so that any minor cleaning effort appeared to be a major improvement. And that’s when I learned the second part of his trick—words of wisdom that have stuck with me all these years later:

“You can make any room instantly look 50% cleaner just by making the bed.”Think about that for a minute and it will resonate true—and applicable in many areas of life. You can make your office 50% cleaner just by clearing all the junk off your desk. You can make your yard look 50% better just by mowing the grass or raking the leaves. You can make yourself look 50% better just by styling your hair (sorry, Josh!). You can make a meal look 50% more impressive just by adding some vegetables. You can look 50% more impressive in a business meeting just by carrying a briefcase.

The previous little story was borrowed from 'Monopolize Your Marketplace', a terrific buch of guys that can convince you in a couple of hours that everything you know about advertising is wrong. For a paltry sum of money they will teach you the correct way to write ad copy.

Clearly a little effort goes a long way when it comes to appearances, but don't forget the clothes are still stuffed under the bed or in the kids closet or in the trunk of your car.

Re-arranging the piles doesn't really solve the problem, you still need the closet cabinets . Design a cabinet in your spare time or better yet, call me for closet design ideas- free. Free is good.

A closet shelving system eliminates the need to stash your stuff under the bed - save that space for dust bunnies.

'To me it matters' she snapped.

With a reduced budget and deadlines looming this Boston Back Bay couple was getting their 'free consultation' and closet design ideas from the closet designer..me.

Right or wrong, he was over ruled. She was right this time, the color she wanted was going to look better against the walls. It cost a weensie bit more than white  and that was what this brief tug-of-war was about. 

To her 'The Look" mattered. To him white was a money saver and just fine. Luxury closet design was not something he had ever considered before and any closet storage solutions would  have been better than what he had grown up with.

He managed a wry smile and while  looking at me said 'delete four drawers'.

That would offset the price differential and this time he was right. They didn't need all of those drawers we had penciled in earlier.

One thing I know...life's full of tradeoffs.

Her eyes sparkled as she looked my way and nodded her wordless consent. Things were moving along nicely for all of us. A bit of friction is to be expected in discussing these matters- in the end it's all good. 

Sure it's 'just a closet', but getting it right matters a lot.