Real Simple: De-Cluttering, Part 1

Alright, I admit it: I'm a sucker for anything that promises to help me conquer the outrageous --and often precarious-- clutter that is found throughout our home.

Real Simple magazine

This time, the June edition of Real Simple magazine caught my eye at our local library. So of course I checked it out.

As usual, my illusions of a quick and final solution to our messiness were soon dispelled. Magazine before and after photos look sooooo much better when you can throw lots of money at your organizational problems. (Or does everyone spend $60 on dividers for a single drawer?)

Nevertheless, I was struck by one part of the cover picture, namely the bottom right corner. A small box... no, a tiny box of matches and a few simple candles.

"Wow," I thought. No great collection of themed or numbered candles, elaborate cake decorations or such. I have a whole drawer full of do-dads like that. But I don't really need all that, do I?

Birthday cakes need candles. But simple candles do the job just as well as the boatload of stuff I have. And I could free up space for tidying away some of that aforementioned clutter. I was inspired...

I didn't actually start with my drawer of candles. But I did gather up a few boxes worth of stuff I've been hanging on to "just in case," for all those occasions that don't --and likely won't-- come to pass. Then I sent those boxes packing!