Spring cleaning is all the rage this month. We’re tired of winter clutter and ready for spring freshness. A purge revolution is currently sweeping our country. Who would’ve thought that a “cleaning out stuff” book would be a bestseller?!
Those that know me are chuckling right now because they know I do that on a regular basis every six months or so. If I buy a new piece of clothing (only on sale), I first go through what’s hanging in my closet and give away what I haven’t worn that year to make room for the new.
However, books, baskets and material scraps are another matter altogether! I’d rather get more bookshelves than discard books. Nevertheless, I do exchange a so-so novel at my favorite half-price bookstore for the possibility of purchasing another jewel that’s bound to be a keeper.
Baskets are another genre of must haves for me. I display handmade works of art by the Tswana tribe purchased when I lived in Bophuthatswana, South Africa. I also have an infantry of baskets at the ready, lined up at my back door, eager receptacles for whatever the garden’s daily bounty might be.
And then there’s material! My craft/sewing/spare bedroom shows off shelf after shelf of identical baskets, each containing specific color scraps left over from sewing projects waiting to be acclimated into even more quilts. To illustrate how persnickety I am about my material collection, I recently used up all my gray and blue scraps for a “crazy quilt.” Now, every time I enter that room, I swallow a gulp of angst when I see the obvious gap of emptiness in my overall collection of scrap baskets. Pretty pitiful, I know!
How about a new hospitality mantra? Use what you love, love what you use, and display your cherished useful, beloved collections. Transform your home into the peaceful, uncluttered sanctuary that greets you with open, welcoming arms every time you enter through your front door.
Reader, reader, quite contrary, how does your home greet you?
To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven….