FRESNO, Calif. — Who among us mere mortals could invite someone into our home, have them open every cabinet and drawer and not fi nd clutter?
Pam Young is that anomaly. Young and her sister, Peggy Jones, have made a career out of telling adults how to clear their junk drawers filled with golf balls, rubber bands and expired coupons. Their how-to organizing book, The Sidetracked Home Executives: From Pigpen to Paradise (Warner Books, $13.95), written in 1977, is still in print.
Young has set her sights on children with an alter ego named the House Fairy. She claims the House Fairy can getkids to clean their rooms without nagging them.
"The best ages for this are ... 3 to 9 years old," Young says. "Their imaginations are so fertile. They love to pretend and they love surprises."
Here's how it works: For $10 you get a two-year subscription to the House Fairy Web site, www.housefairy.org, and enter the virtual world of Sarah Claus, the little-known sister of Santa Claus.
Sure, her brother gets all the ink, but Sarah, or the House Fairy, is her brother's eyes and ears. Young says Santa depends on Sarah to tell him whether children are keeping their rooms clean. She "visits" their bedrooms when they're sleeping and notes whether the roomis clean or messy. If a room is messy, the child will find a glitterlike substance or fairy dust on their carpet.
If the room is tidy, the House Fairy will leave a small trinket behind such as a pencil, gum, a coloring book or crayons. Since the children never know when the House Fairy will make a spot inspection, they keep their rooms clean just in case she flies by. Special downloaded coupons can be collected to earn larger rewards.
Children can go online to see House Fairy videos and photographs of clean rooms that proud parents post online. Parents, Young says, are a part of the process. They can e-mail the House Fairy and brag about how great their kids are doing.
The House Fairy Web site offers a DVD version ($17-$25.95) for households without computers or not equipped with broadband. So far, since debuting in January, there are 10,000 House Fairy subscribers, Young says.
Family, Pages 38 on 10/31/2007