It’s lovely to be missed. Many of my faithful friends and readers have called, texted, and emailed wondering what I have been up to, or worse, wondering if I am sick. I am fine, and my days have still involved the use of books, but this time not cookbooks. The book in question is a bestseller and is living up to the “life-changing” part of the title. It truly is amazing what cleaning up thirty plus years of accumulation will do for the soul. I have barely even begun and I already feel different. We all love the feeling of an orderly space but don’t always know how to achieve it. If you are like me, you have thought about it many times, even bought books on organizing. I think I have three of four. I’m not sure, I lost them. I bet they are in a closet somewhere. While cleaning out (sorry, tidying up) a drawer yesterday, I found several articles on organizing, one from a magazine article dated 1993! Yes, I needed Marie Kondo. If you want to tidy up, declutter, and organize your house once and for all, you need her too.
So here it is in a nutshell; I’m not going to tell you too much because I want to get back to cleaning. (did I just say that?) Anyway, know that Kondo’s method is a long-term strategy, not a quick fix, but after only reading for about fifteen minutes, you will be itching to get started. Organizing a small studio apartment might just take a weekend. A house like mine where we have lived for over thirty years will take months. I am up for all the work, but it’s work I am looking forward to, especially my Culinary Cellar, but that’s a whole other exciting blog!
Here is my advice: don’t start until you have read the entire book and follow her order of tidying up – it works! She does not have you clean room by room, but rather category by category. Don’t go out and buy a bunch of containers or organizing supplies until you have read the book. After you read it, you’ll understand what I’m saying. Happy tidying. Oh, and by the way, I will be returning soon with recipes, travel fun, photos, and more. I’ll just be a little more organized.
my husband has been looking at every piece of clothing he owns and asking the question, “does this bring me joy?”….he is cleaning out and tidying up
Yay! That’s great! Bill came down the stairs the other day and said, “I love being able to find my brown socks now!”
Ha .. good luck. I’ve had my name on ‘reserve’ list at our library for over a month; they have 3 copies and there are over 15 ahead of me!
Only 30 years in that house? Did you bring things with you? I have several boxes in the basement that I brought back from Greece (in 1966) and they have moved with us! Opened one and saw the cut-outs I’d made for some Christmas cookies and closed it up. I’llwait for the book! Good luck to you…keep with it.
Shirley – just go buy it; you’ll be waiting forever! You can pass it on to someone else when you’re done. Actually, we have been in this house for 37 years. I did bring some things with me, but not much! Mostly kitchen and Christmas stuff. Still have most of it, but probably not for long!
It’s your fault there’s yet another book in my house! 🙂
I’m looking forward to reading it and finally getting everything organized.
Madonna, let me know what you think!