Simplicity, Self-Care, and Joy
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Why, that’s a big subject
Why do I want to declutter? There are several reasons. One of the most significant reasons is that we want to move to Portugal in several years. We will be taking a minimal amount of stuff, and I certainly don’t want to try getting rid of it in the last months before we leave. More…
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One step at a time
So this is my bathroom right now: Ah, so much nicer. This side of the bathroom is decluttered, tidied, and cleaned. Most of that did not happen today; a big bout of decluttering happened a few months ago. And I have been able to keep the counter junk-free most of the time. It feels really…
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Tear off the band-aid?
Since the pandemic, I’ve been working from home. I had a sit-stand desk at the office and it really made working more pleasant. I finally ordered one for home, and I’m very excited! I had to remove everything from my desk to move the old desk out and get the new one set up. So…
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A truckload
Whew. Wow. We just did a massive declutter. This is a box of fabric, yarn, knitting needles, and books. It was joined by four more boxes of a similar size and contents, plus a treadle sewing machine, office supplies, scrapbooking paper, costume jewelry, huge embroidery hoop, and a dry mount press! So much stuff that…
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Craft Room
Today, I am decluttering my part of the craft room – our middle bedroom of three. Note that this is after I already went through massive amounts of stuff earlier in the year. We are lucky to have a craft thrift store in town, so it was easy to donate items in good condition before…
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They Called Me Messy Mesi
My last name used to be Mesi – a Sicilian (Italian) name that we pronounced like the store Macy’s. The kids at school called me Messy Mesi. It stung, but it was accurate. Imagine a desk like this old-fashioned school desk… …stuffed to the gills with crumpled papers, school texts, notebooks, and pencils. Maybe a…
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Maximouser to the Rescue!
In The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less, Barry Schwartz discusses the overwhelming number of options available in the modern world, and how people react to it. Schwartz talks about psychologist Herbert A. Simon’s ideas about maximizers and satisficers. From the wikipedia article “The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less”, “A maximizer is…