Spark joy

Filling the Shopping Void

What would you do with your spare time, if shopping were no longer one of your regular hobbies?  Yes there is the gym, the library, local choir, windsurfing, cupcake making and thimble collecting. Thank you, but how does that address the pull of the bright city lights? Living where I do, I am in a privileged position where everything is on my doorstep: rolling countryside, woodland, vibrant towns, and cosmopolitan cities. I am also a ten minute walk away from some luxury retail outlets, interspersed with enticing local shops. Staying away is like attempting to resist the sirens’ call, which is a futile exercise.

Did Your Grandmother Declutter?

I do not remember my Grandmother ever decluttering. In fact, her home was a house of treasures. As children, my sister and I loved to explore every nook and cranny in the beautiful Victorian terrace in London. Anything that was off limits, was usually placed high up on some shelf that was frustratingly just out of our reach. This served to ignite our curiosity all the more and these unattainable prizes became our sacred chalices, teasing us in our dreams and dancing in and out of our thoughts.

Minimalising

Oh my wordicles! Everyone appears to be decluttering, minimalising, scandivising and just generally chucking their lifetime’s accumulation of stuff into the metaphorical and often actual bin - yikes! Surely I will need that incomplete set of twelve cocktail glass stem rings that aunty whoever bought me for my twenty first?