It takes some effort of course, but I like being neat and tidy and clean. When everything -- well almost everything -- has a defined place and inhabits that space meant for it, it makes cleaning itself easier. And if there's something that connects us all, it's our occupation of endlessly cleaning up after ourselves. Not to do so invites chaos.

So I don't like clutter -- who does, if it can be avoided? And it usually can be avoided if we don't collect around ourselves more than we need, particularly keeping in mind our restricted spaces. We're not minimalists by any measure, my husband and I. If anything we err on the opposite side of having too many possessions. But they fit tidily into our living space, and as long as we avoid being too conspicuously packed up with stuff, we like what we have arranged for ourselves.

It wouldn't be too hard for either of us to acquire and accumulate what we don't really need, to excess. We're halfway there as it is. We don't need but a small proportion of all that we have. Human acquisitiveness is alive and well, and always has been. We could do without, but since we don't have to, we choose not to.

Back to the neat and tidy and clean. It's just easier to achieve a balance in life when you can also motivate yourself to continually ensure that you've taken those steps to make your home clutter-free. So that's what we do. There are certain areas of the house, however, where things accumulate. My husband has a penchant for not letting things go. Bits and pieces that can be used, sometime, somewhere for some purpose. And most often he eventually identifies the purpose and uses those bits and pieces.

As for me, I grow fond of things but apart from that I always think it would be wasteful to let things go that still can be used. Which is why I've kept items of clothing that have served me well over the years and deserve a rest, but I don't feel comfortable parting with them. It's obviously something I have to work on.

It's spring, and at this time of year we begin to see signs cropping up everywhere for garage sales or yard sales signifying that people have been rummaging through their belongings, and discarding outgrown or no-longer-useful durables and so they put them up for sale. We do the same thing, but prefer not to sell them; rather we take those things over to the Salvation Army Thrift Shop for them to sell to enable them to get on with their important social welfare programs.

There were a few interesting items in the news lately. About people who hoard. Hoarding is considered a mental pathology; that is, serious hoarding where people stuff so many things in their living spaces there is little room to actually live normally. Moreover, it's dangerous hygienically as well as being a fire hazard. For the most part it's been determined that people who compulsively hoard have other mental problems that perhaps lead to the unbridled collection of all manner of cast-offs.

The obvious benefits of cleansing oneself of the possession of unneeded and dispensable items is the satisfaction achieved when looking around and appreciating the sudden realization that your life has been improved an iota or so by removing things from your intimate surroundings that simply have no legitimate or reasonable place there.