In cities where The SLOB Sisters are seeking "the most organized person in the world," each contest entry arrives on time, perfectly bound and documenting tales of alphabetized spices and color-coded pet supplies.
When the sisters are seeking slobs, the deadlines always have to be extended. Entries arrive late, scribbled on grocery bags, laced with horror stories (like that of the woman who nearly died of food poisoning after eating salad dressing that had been in her refrigerator for three years).
This month, Pam Young and Peggy Jones, authors of the national best-seller "Sidetracked Home Executives," will be in Spokane, organizing yet another contest (see related story) and presenting a workshop at The Open Bible Church on Jan. 20.
Young and Jones, a pair of reformed slobs from Vancouver, Wash., are launching an all-out attack on disorder and clutter. It's called Project CHAOS, which stands for Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome. Through their contests, they inspire slob makeovers all over the country.
Young, in a recent telephone interview from Vancouver, said she believes one out of every 10 people is genetically programed to be orderly.
"They're very left-brained, not very right-brained," she said. "Like our mother. For her, it just seemed effortless. The house always seemed immaculate. The meals were always on time. These people do the work of 10 people."
At the opposite end of the spectrum are people like Young and Jones.
In 1977, the two sisters, with six children, two husbands and not a smidgen of order between them, were drowning in chaos. "We both just hit bottom," Young said.
In desperation, Jones remembered an index card file system that had kept her organized as a newspaper advertising account executive.
The two sisters leaped on the idea. They designed an index-card system for housework, wrote a book and soon began traveling the country, appearing on television and in newspapers.
They promoted their system with humor, dubbing themselves The SLOB Sisters, which stands for Spontaneous, Light-hearted, Optimistic and Beloved.
Over the years, The SLOB Sisters have written more books, raised all six children and become grandmothers. They've appeared regularly on "Donahue," "Oprah," "Sally Jesse Raphael" and NBC's "Today" show.
They've been using their card-file cleaning system ever since.
"We're in nervous remission," Young said. "We never have to clean for company anymore."
In Spokane, Young and Jones will present a seminar designed for working women, whom they estimate still do about 97 percent of the housework. It will be based on their book, "I'm OK ... But You Still Have A Lot Of Work To Do."
The book describes the sisters' travails in turning housework over to their husbands and children.
The book describes The Infraction Game, an all-family clutter-busting contest, and a special family version of the sisters' index-card system.
It was after a particularly awful fight between Jones and her husband, Danny, that The Infraction
