Many of the women I know can all relate to having a partner who has been manipulative, controlling, and abusive. Some of them are willing to share their stories with me, which I’ll share here. While they may never forgive or forget, I do hope that sharing their stories can help my friends take another… Read more

Right before Christmas 2017, I started a new job in the marketing department at a greenhouse. Aside from an aloe plant and a snake plant that magically stayed alive through several moves and years of neglect at my mother’s house, I really wasn’t super experienced with plants. A boss once gave me potted purple shamrocks… Read more

I have a tendency to go gung-ho into a new project or organization style only to falter and give up on it a few months later. For instance, I bought a 90-day goal setting planner for $30. Were I to use it annually I would be committing $120 a year to planners. I gave up on this… Read more

It should come as a surprise to no one that I’ve used moving out of my marital home and into my own apartment as another period of decluttering and transition. This time, I am really getting down to business. I’ve sold off items I wasn’t using, given things away entirely, and focused on creating a… Read more

I believe that survivors of abuse tend to find each other. Or maybe it’s that emotional and psychological abuse is such a common side effect of society’s masculine ills that many of the women I know can all relate to having a partner who has been manipulative, controlling, and/or downright abusive. Some of them are… Read more

Heading into a grocery store cafe to do some work before my afternoon plans, I was worried about seeing my mother. As I’ve described before, I cut contact with my mom over 18 months ago and have only seen her twice, when my stepfather died. The process of cutting her off has involved dreams, therapy, and… Read more

Part of being minimalist is discarding what you don’t find useful or beautiful. However, it’s a very privileged position to be able to discard something functional just because you don’t quite love it with unbridled joy. So we usually hang onto the functionally imperfect items that aren’t totally our style, because sometimes you can’t afford… Read more