Life Changing Magic – How It Started

I’m not a hoarder, at least I don’t think I am. But along with collecting ideas for stories, I’ve been collecting stuff. Not any specific stuff….just stuff. Someone keeps bringing it into my house and yes, I’m me. I’m the someone.

One of my goals (not just this year but for a while now) has been to get rid of stuff and downsize so I can move into a smaller place. Something less than 1,500 square feet. I used to live in a house that was 1,100 feet and it was perfect! It was much easier to clean and take care of.

But then I moved from there into my current house which, given the standards of the year it was built, is a ridiculous 2,000 square feet with four (yes, four!) bathrooms. I’m overwhelmed with things that need doing, and little pockets of places where I’ve stuffed my stuff until I’ve quite forgotten what is there. Maybe some of my readers can relate!

So today, January 1, 2022, was the day. I had finished a stint of writing and was wondering around, wondering what to do with myself till the next stint…and then I remembered what I’d promised myself. And, according to Marie Kondo’s guidelines in her amazing book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up,” I began by pulling all my clothes, and I do mean all, and putting them into a single pile. From two closets full of clothes, along with a shoe rack (an early attempt at tidying up)…

…I now have a pile that’s about four feet high and six feet in diameter.

Who in the world bought all these clothes and shoes and bags and things? Me. I’m the who.