A self-help guru named Marie Kondo has come under fire for her philosophy regarding clutter and possessions. Basically, she's in favor of getting rid of everything you don't really need - the "need" part being the element with which people seem to take issue. The main idea of her theory is to get rid of things that don't bring you joy. Turns out, a LOT of things give me joy.

I have WAAAYY too much stuff. Our basement more closely resembles the warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark than anything else. A big part of my problem is that I'm extremely susceptible to the collecting bug. In my teens it was baseball cards, beer cans, and stamps; these days, the urge runs more toward board games and miniature figurines - none of which take up very little space. I'm not the only one in this house that falls prey to this same bug: the cats have more toys than they could use in a lifetime - if only they'd stop knocking things under the refrigerator!