At first when I started reading I was thinking to myself, "Oh so-and-so needs to read this" or "I need to pass this on to so-and-so". As always when a person starts pointing fingers at others they forget about those 3 pointing back at themselves! The first thing that struck me personally was the spare room chapter. Uh oh! Practically everything the authors described that happens to a spare room described our spare room exactly! When I read, " Ponder what might be occupying your extra bedroom. Could that be the room where your grandmother's antique furniture resides?" OUCH! That hit me hard, because the answer to that question for me is a resounding YES! Eeep!
A few other things that stood out were:
Keeping old LP records. Now this is not a problem that I have. If it were up to me I would get rid of that box of records. But my husband has the misguided idea that someday those records are going to be worth something. Ummm, NO! Technology today has made records obsolete and they are not worth anything to anyone. Especially if they have damage in any way. Termites got hold of ours years ago so a lot of the wrappings are ruined. But this is a losing battle in my household so I guess I better turn that finger back to my own self.
Christmas decorations. I have to say that I am pretty good about keeping my decorations to a minimum. But there is definitely some room for improvement. Getting rid of those ornaments that are not used anymore, or that are falling apart would sure add more room to the tubs that contain the decorations.
Old Textbooks. Ack! People, sell those things back at the end of the semester! Nobody is going to want them years down the road! You can use that money to help purchase the next round of books for the next semester. This is one that I have never understood about some people. Hanging on to textbooks like you would ever crack one open again. I'm glad to see that the authors agree with me there...or is it that I agree with them?
Hanging on to things to pass on to our children when they are grown also is impractical. The authors say that our children don't want that CRUD either. They are accumulating their own CRUD. ha!
Good Riddance offers reasonable and practical ways of de-cluttering your home. Interspersed throughout the book are little snippets of people's excuses for hanging on to some thing in their home. I found those quite humorous. I thought I was doing well in keeping the clutter to a minimum, but as I was reading this book different places in my home were calling out to me to be cleaned out. Places like the craft closet(just cleaned a year ago, but in need again since it is cluttered again), the kitchen(again, just cleaned out but I find that there are still things that I can whittle away at), the attic(shudder), my clothes closet...and the list goes on!
As always it is so much easier to take care of other people's lives than it is our own...does anyone have any ideas on how I can get my husband to get rid of those records?!
If you would like a chance to win my copy of this book leave a comment and I will have a drawing on Wednesday March 28th.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments will appear after approval.