First thing, a disclaimer.  I have not read Marie Kondo’s book.  My sister, however, loved it.

This morning, my friend, Tom, posted a link to an essay about KonMarie tidying and how it affected her when she got to the part of dealing with her 1,127 books.  I suspect that Tom is a little bit of a hoarder.  So, I think that is probably indicative of a step in a healthy direction for him.

Since I booted my second husband, I have been actively trying to live by this:

“If you want a golden rule that will fit everything, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”  ― William Morris (1834 -1896)

(He was, ultimately, neither useful nor beautiful.)

I found it relatively easy to purge furniture, kitchen and clothing.  Although is is sometimes hard to decide if a thing is truly useless or simply rarely useful.  (This is why I have bought a ginger grater twice in my life.)

Books were harder.  As were DVDs.  But, I eventually realized that I wasn’t actually using those things.  Just storing them.  Sometimes lending them.  So, I sold them or gave them away.  Most of them.

I do still have a couple of bookshelves.  They hold books I’m not quite willing to be without.  Picture books.  Poetry.  A couple of collections that I just can’t let go of even though I, also, own them digitally.

After I posted on FaceBook that William Morris predated Marie Kondo, Caitlyn commented that he didn’t pre-date Shinto, which is a part of her inspiration.  Since I hadn’t actually read the book, I didn’t know.