Well, the thought of having to buy new calendars isn't exactly thrilling, and let's just ignore the fact that each passing year reminds you that you're getting older.

But 2007 does offer a fresh start, and New Year's resolutions are the ideal way to solidify plans to organize your house, use your time more efficiently, and clean up your act for good.

Or not.

That's the convincing case outlined by Eric Abrahamson, a professor of management at Columbia University, and journalist David H. Freedman in their new book, "A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder." So before you make a list of resolutions you'll feel guilty for not keeping, check out this list of New Year's Anti-Resolutions suggested by Freedman, also a columnist at Inc. magazine.

1) Feel fine about having a cluttered house.

"An ultra-neat home can feel sterile and unlived-in, with little sign of the personalities of its occupants. A moderately messy home feels warmer, and more comfortable and nurturing, and reflects the interests and activities of the family," Freedman says.

2) Feel fine about having a somewhat dirty house.

"Clutter or even grime don't make kids sick -- a bigger risk comes from overexposure to fumes from cleaning products," says Freedman.

According to a study done at Australia's Curtin University of Technology, fumes from chemicals, including those found in home cleaning products, made children up to four times more likely to develop asthma compared to children who received no such exposure. In addition, many studies -- including one conducted by the British medical journal Thorax -- have found that children with limited exposure to dust and allergens are more likely to develop allergies later in life.

3) Be more disorganized with your time.

"People who try to be more productive by packing in as many rigidly scheduled tasks as possible into the day typically end up shortchanging almost everyone they deal with -- plus they don't have the flexibility to accommodate spur-of-the-moment opportunities, give extra time to the tasks that become more critical, or just engage in the sort of goofing off and daydreaming that recharges batteries and leads to some of the best thinking," says Freedman.

And before you rip up your schedule in favor of a free-flowing list, take note: "Don't go list crazy, or else you'll overly focus on a small number of fixed tasks and goals. Research shows that people who frequently vary what they do and how they do it find it easier to solve problems and make improvements."

4) Have a messy desk.

"Messy desks can be highly functional, with the most-needed documents ending up at hand and the less-important ones buried," Freedman said.

Freedman says people who describe their desks as very neat actually spend more time looking for things at work than people who describe their desks as fairly messy.

Maybe grunge really is back in vogue -- even for your boss. Freedman says people with messy offices are more likely to be more experienced and more highly paid -- but that the prevailing belief among workers is that they'd get more done if they were neater and more organized.

5) Don't fight with partners or children over messiness.

By now you've resolved to keep your mess -- how about being at ease with it, too?

Most couples who live together cite messiness and disorganization as a cause of tension, Freedman said.

Instead of fighting the mess and each other, Freedman suggests accepting it and working around it, by "restricting mess to certain areas or rooms, or conceding certain types of mess to each other: 'you can have a messy bedroom if I can have a messy kitchen,'" or agreeing on how long a mess can go on before it's cleaned up.

Children's messiness often causes fights between them and their parents, but Freedman says studies have shown children study and function well in messy environments.

6) Procrastinate more.

"Procrastination is a form of prioritizing, and of letting as many things as possible take care of themselves or become irrelevant over time, without your having to waste effort on them. We often get lots of important things done while we're putting off doing something else."

And when it comes to trying to make resolutions that could help you lose weight or quit smoking, when should you make them? "For starters, put off making resolutions until December 31st. You really can't say what you'll feel bad about between now and the last day of the year. Actually, you better put off the resolutions at least until the morning of January 1st. Not that it really matters, since you should probably change them throughout the year."

You heard right: In 2007, the best New Year's resolution might be one you make in March.

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asap contributor Karla Starr freelances from Portland, Ore., underneath a pile of crap.

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