My favorite aunt is a dear woman — but organized, she’s not. We recently spent the weekend together getting her ready for a tag sale — the first step in clearing the house out so she can sell it and move. We sorted through 30 years of stuff, making three piles: what to keep, what to sell and what to throw away. Here are a few of the items that went into the last category: 13-year-old TV Guides; a “portable” hair dryer from 1967 — the kind with a hose connected to a plastic shower cap contained in what looks like a Barbie case; a mildewed trunk; assorted cracked vases and glassware; a collection of dusty half-burnt candles and my absolute favorite item, the dog’s gallstone.

Penny, rest her soul, has been dead for at least 25 years. An extreme case of clutter-itis, maybe. But most of us can relate on some level — that closet we just keep throwing stuff into and closing the door, the drawer in the kitchen with its hodge podge of contents, the magazines stockpiled in the garage. Don’t wait 30 years to get organized, start now, advises Sunny Schlenger, professional coach and organizer and author of “How to Be Organized in Spite of Yourself” (Penguin/Putnum).

Think about it. More stuff comes into your home than goes out. Something has to give. “People get into trouble because they postpone decision making — I’ll think about it tomorrow, like Scarlett O’Hara,” said Schlenger, who has been organizing for a living for 20 years. “If you do that, your spouse does that and the kids do that, you’re asking for clutter.” Forcing yourself to make decisions about things and follow through, is the first step to managing disarray. “Organization is a learned skill,” agreed Ronni Eisenberg, a time management and organizing professional based in Westport, Connecticut. Eisenberg, who has authored nine books on organizing including Organize Your Business Travel! and Organize Your Home! advises breaking the project up into smaller steps so you don’t get overwhelmed. Identifying a single problem area is a good place to start. Start there — a desk, the dining room table, a closet — then set a time limit, say 20 minutes, for the project. Begin by sorting things into three piles — things to keep, things to get rid of, and the ever popular, I don’t know pile. Remove the items from the get rid of pile. Empty the I don’t know and re-sort. Do this until your time is up. Then set another 20-minute timer and handle the must keep. Set up appropriate files, put back in the closet, etc. If the I don’t know pile is still unwieldy, start the process fresh the next day. “Once you have a system in place, physical places to put things, then you can get into routines,” said Eisenberg, whose clients usually come to her after something pushes them over the edge — a spouse has a meltdown, they lose something irreplacable, an overdue bill wreaks havoc. “Most people would rather be doing something else — go to the park, or clean out the hall closet? — so it just never gets done.”

Being fearless when it comes to getting rid of “stuff” is key to maintaining an orderly household, she added. “In this information age, there is absolutely no reason to hold onto magazines and newspapers —you can always find what you need at the library or online — let go of the fear of losing information, and you divest yourself of all kinds of clutter.” Hospitals and senior facilities are just two places that might welcome your information overflow. Gently used clothing can be donated to shelters or other charities, a family tag sale — with the kids involved selling their cast off toys and clothing, is another good way to streamline. “The only way to prevent clutter is to address it on a regular basis — attack that pile before it grows,” said Schlenger. “Know your values, what is important to you, and save the items that fit into that picture.

“Ask yourself, what do I need to be fulfilled and productive?” she said. “If you’re getting eight magazines in the mail and reading four, stop the other subscriptions, and give yourself one revolving subscription every year. Try a new magazine, if you read it, great, if not, move on.”

One of the best things that she’s done, said Schlenger, is to teach organizing skills to her teenage kids. “They understand that they have to make choices, to go through their things on a regular basis as their values and priorities change.” Of course, with organizing, as with everything in life, the key is to maintain a balanced approach. The point of being organized isn’t to have things lined up in a perfect, inflexible row. “You have to have a sense of humor — organizing shouldn’t be your constant focus,” said Schlenger. “But being organized gives you more time to do the things you really enjoy. Looking for your car keys every morning is probably not at the top of that list.”