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Change Your Life: Empty Just One Drawer
I dan’t say I am a minimalist, or even a person who strives to be one. I have photo albums, after all, and I have a small collection of alpaca-themed things. On the Scandinavian-style shelves in my dining room, I have some fairly useless white pottery that is really just there because it looks good, and althought it is indeed functional I don’t actually summon its function very often. I suppose I could, but I just don’t. It’s there because it’s pretty.
On the other hand, I have written from time to time about the true usefulness of getting rid of stuff. I abide by that philosophy. I really don’t like hanging on to things. I view piles of things as useless. A stack of papers, a tumble of sweaters on a chair, unfolded laundry, you name it, it’s all stress-inducing to me. The detritus of life is just that — detritus. I can’t understand why we’d keep things around if they gather dust or have no real purpose.
My mother for a while collected these old-fashioned antique prints called Godey’s Lady’s Prints from a women’s magazine in the 1800s. They were women in dresses, fashionable for the period, ink-drawn, carrying parasols and handkerchiefs. I guess she just liked them? So a collection began. Similarly, she liked cats. Over time, she was gifted an assortment of cat knick-knacks that had to be hung, placed, and subsequently dusted, boxed, moved.
