But wait... there's less!

When I shared the quote "The first step to getting what you want is getting rid of what you don't" I didn't realise it came from this book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying: A simple, effective way to banish clutter forever . Marie Kondo's mission is to help people experience more joy simply by having fewer things and things that bring you joy. Ms Kondo's clients really do find this to be life-changing. It seems to be as much about mindset as it is about actual tidying techniques. The physical clutter, and often the mental clutter and other factors that go with it, holds us back from achieving what we want. The approach A handy tip for downsizing is the order in which we approach our clutter. She suggests leaving the more sentimental items to last. They take the most time and if we start there we'll lose momentum before we even get going. Her suggested order is clothes, then books, then papers, then miscellany, and mementos last. I struggle with

Yes, jewellery stores pump out the ads around valentine's day - that's no surprise. After all it's a made-up day designed to sell more stuff at higher prices. But this year they seem extra desperate to sell stuff we don't want, with the "You know what to do" campaign. I reckon the sales team are scared by the number of couples that have realised that love is not in physical merchandise but in quality time. So they've made an ad exactly about these people. The message seems to be aimed straight at guys to say "even if you and your partner agree not to waste money on jewellery, you should buy her some anyway". Apparently in a relationship it's important to ignore what your wife or partner says and do what profit-motivated corporations tell you to do. I tend to disagree. If you're interested have a look - it's interesting to see how transparent it is.