Do you consider yourself more of a ‘neat nick’ or a ‘clean freak’? (Or maybe neither??) How about your hubbie or significant other? Does it cause friction in the harmony of your home? Well, if there is a desire to change, it is possible, and I will share an interesting book on the subject – but first, let’s start with Ginger: She was both. VERY MUCH SO….extremely neat, extremely clean….and while our home was certainly beautiful (looked like out of House Beautiful magazine), it was not comfortable, it was not a relaxing place to be….shoes off at the door, do not sit on the bed, linen closet decorated with fancy soaps and lacy paper liners, must scrub the tub with Ajax every day, wipe any containers before putting in fridge, wash all dishes by hand wearing Playtex yellow rubber gloves, etc, etc….”I love a clean house!”, she would say, and my dad came to like living that that too….Fast forward to the present. I am definitely a neat person, do not like clutter, and do like everything in its place…it gives me a sense of order and control when life gets crazy busy…Super clean? Not so much….don’t get me wrong, my home is clean enough, I have a cleaning lady twice a month, but my floors are not spotless, seek dust and ye shall find……Let’s face it, extreme of anything is not good and there is always something we can learn regardless of which side we fall on…which leads me to this book….. This was given to me as a gift recently, and the attraction for me was – no big surprise – related to clothes….how to “let go” of clothing that is cluttering your closet….well, yes, I know that! I preach that myself to friends and family……even so, this book gave me a different perspective that already has been helpful……
A very powerful focus of the book in helping people discard items (clothing is a major example) is to take each item in your hand and ask yourself, “Does this spark joy?”……..It might sound crazy, but it really works – you know the things you really love, and if you don’t love it, why let it clutter your closet? In applying this technique through spring/summer wardrobe inventory, I held in my hand a perfectly functional Banana Republic pencil skirt, black and white small dot print…fits perfectly, like new…NOTHING WRONG WITH IT….Does it spark joy?? Eh! No…It’s fine, but there ain’t no joy…Goodbye skirt, hello Revolve! (Hopefully will spark joy for someone else…) I won’t go deeper into her philosophy so you can enjoy this easy read yourself…..I will say that after taking a bag to Revolve and a bag to my daughter, I still had five trash bags full of discards (not all clothes)….and there is a lot more to go once I get Peter to participate…….