My first book baby turns 3 today! (They grow up so fast.)
Happy birthday to Clutter: An Untidy History, which popped out into the world Sept. 1, 2020. Three years and three editions later, it's earned out its advance and is still finding readers. (Clutter’s always with us.) I hope it won't be an only child too much longer, but I sure am grateful for it.
Thank you to everyone who bought it, read it, listened to it, borrowed it, shared it, posted about it, or otherwise supported it (and its author). I heart all of you, maximalists and minimalists alike. May all your things spark joy.
(Psst: If you want to pick up a copy, go for the paperback. It’s got fewer typos and a shiny afterword that wraps up the story, though of course the story of clutter is never-ending.)
I have more to say about how my relationship to and strategies for clutter have changed in the last few years, but I’ll save that for another installment. Before I sign off, though, I want to recommend this article by my friend Alexandra Lange on home-design manuals that have stood the test of time. Some of my favorite research for Clutter: An Untidy History involved Victorian household manuals, so I found the piece fascinating. “The lesson is that there is a design manual for every taste, and your taste doesn’t have to change with the times,” Alexandra writes. Amen.
I’ve ordered a copy of one of the classics she mentions: The Not So Big House Book by Sarah Susanka, which came out in 1998. Alexandra says that it “walks readers through design choices that allow them to create a house that is intimate and tailored to their needs, spending on materials rather than square footage.” To this rowhouse-dweller, that sounds like a living space worth creating and keeping clutter-free.
Cheers,
Jen