My daughter received a copy of "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" by Marie Kondo for Christmas. Any author who jumps onto the New York Times Top 10 list can't be all that bad—right? Anyway, Lucy drank the cool aid and came over to address her sisters, using my house as a teachable moment. The no. 1 question Ms. Kondo wants us to ask ourselves as we look at the things which get in our way and which we might possibly throw out is "Does this thing spark joy?"I get it, I really do, but although my vacuum cleaner and my potato masher do not spark joy, I am not about to throw them out. I am happy to say I got pretty un-sparked about some old cans of paint and a few lengths of cloth, all of which I bought to make my daughters cute little dresses. My youngest will be 40 in May.
So that is my rock. And my hard place? Thanks to the Wall Street Journal for illustrating my problem (although a few piles of newspapers would make for a pretty soft place.) A very soft place in fact.
I am resigned. Perhaps I can persuade the co-inhabitant of this house to follow another of Ms. Kondo's precepts and pat and hug some of his boxes of belongings—before he throws them out.
2 comments:
Trouble is, the things that spark joy are often what others would consider clutter. The things that don't are too useful to get rid of.
I;m a great believer in archives but every now & then I do start to declutter, sometimes regretting it.
Maggie x
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