Not every domestic art thrills me, believe it or not. I have always loathed doing the dishes. No idea why, I can just think of 20 other things I’d rather do first. So I’m not sure why it took me 35 years to figure out that paring down to just the dishes that we need and use most often could provide ambition and save me time overall. I know how I think, if there are only four bowls in the house, then I am motivated to wash said bowl immediately after use rather than setting it aside, confident of the ready availability of other bowls, and eventually ending up with a sink full of dishes that I really, really don’t want to do and the more dishes there are, the less I want to do them.

So I’ve been packing up the unnecessary dishes for the next trip to Value Village and it’s been very satisfying to watch them go. Even more satisfying is seeing my dish cupboard looking less cluttered in a small kitchen where every inch of space is precious.

I think I may need to approach every room in the house this way. I’ve taken many loads of things to Value Village over the past year, but I still feel like there are plenty of places I could make cuts that would most likely make my life easier and my house less cluttered. It’s a winnowing process that seemingly takes several passes.