Everyone has a problem area of their home where unused belongings fester for years. This can be tough since often we could really use that space for our trance-dancing, healing work, sauerkraut crocks, or singing bowls.

So, let’s get rid of that junk we’ve come to hate. Let’s take back control!

Today, we’ll just begin (so as not to tire ourselves). Tomorrow, we’ll do more.

1. Start by moving your stereo, boom box or iPod charging station closer to the closet or basement (where your mess is no doubt concentrated).

2. Borrow from neighborhood (or your own) teenagers the raunchiest rock’n’roll CDs they have. Or go to a used CD places, and buy a heavy metal album the management might pay you to take away. I recommend something from ZZ Top, that very scuzzy Texas band of shag-bearded hippies popular in the 1980s. One of their songs employs the telling lyric: “I’ve got a gal, she lives on the hill. She won’t do it, but her sister will…”

Trust me, this is the kind of base, low-down music your messy closets and basement ADORE. They are energetically stuck on this stuff. The idea here is to stop telegraphing your annoyance to your no-longer-needed household items. By offering them music they like, at a root level they “get,” you are indicating that you have some appreciation for their past usefulness. You are saying: “Hey, baby. I like what you’re about. I can get down. I can relate!”

3. PLAY this music on a loop for them ALL DAY. You may leave your home, meet friends for brunch, shop for groceries, but you must pay this music at reasonably high volume near your messy “hot spot” for at least twelve hours.

This will really get your cluttered area’s attention, and perk it up in preparation for the radical transformation to come.

Good luck. Tomorrow: Wind chime-hanging, bell-shaking, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.