Month: March 2025

Ever since I decided to rearrange my room in the garage, I’ve been on an organizing kick. The room has a partial wall separating it into two sections – the front part was my office/exercise space, and the back part was where I did all my “crafty” stuff like sewing and card-making. The first thing as far as rearranging was to switch things up a bit. I had already gotten rid of most of my craft supplies so I moved my office to the back area. I created a proper poor man’s gym in the front part by taking the exercise equipment that was in the cabin and adding it to my workout stuff in the garage.

There’s been a ton of papers, doodads, and memorabilia to sort through, but I’m very close to having it done. Each time I culled the clutter in the past, I’d get rid of some of it, but I still held onto a lot of things that I didn’t need because…you know…what if? As in, what if I might need them someday? I’ve loosened up a lot since those previous attempts, and this round of cleaning has gone much better. I’m actually quite proud of my newly acquired ability to purge without panicking. No more holding onto every little thing. If it’s been tucked away, unused, for years on end, I doubt that the need for it will ever present itself. 

As I’ve mentioned before, my reading challenge for this year consists of two books a month read alphabetically by title. The ‘D’ book I chose last month was Does this Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? by Peter Walsh. It had been sitting unread in my bookcase for ages, and considering my current cleaning project, it seemed an appropriate choice. 

Apparently, I didn’t read the book description very closely when I bought it. All along, I thought it was about attacking the clutter around us and streamlining our environment. It’s not. This book focuses more on how one’s thoughts and actions create “clutter” that keeps them from losing weight. 

I realize that’s actually an important issue, but having spent the lion’s share of my adult life learning about – and trying out – countless “proven weight loss plans,” I found nothing in this book that was new to me. I was sorely tempted to ditch it about halfway through, but there wasn’t enough time to pick a different book and get it read by the end of the month. 

As much as I enjoyed the author back when he was on the TV show Clean Sweep, reading his book was sheer drudgery. Near the end, however, it did offer some unexpected entertainment that elicited an audible “Are you freaking kidding me?” while my eyes rolled back in my head. It was a section in which he listed ideas for food substitutions that would help keep a dieter on track. Believe me, I totally support subbing in healthier food choices, but I couldn’t help but laugh out loud when he suggested that, instead of nachos, you should eat carrots and hummus. CARROTS AND HUMMUS! 

Seriously? In what universe is that an acceptable swap? My palate would be highly offended if I tried to pull such a stunt. Fortunately for my taste buds, there’s very little chance of that ever happening.

Oh…and that book by Peter Walsh? It did eventually assist me in my organizational endeavors because I donated it to Goodwill. One more piece of clutter gone!