What more does a girl need than a pile of books and a bowl of chocolate? Let’s talk about what we’ve been reading and feeding our inner chocoholics.

Decluttering at the Speed of Life

It is a well known fact that my husband did not marry me because of my housekeeping. To be clear, the health department isn’t going to come after us anytime soon, but neither is my home photo shoot ready. (And yes, I did actually have a friend whose house always looked like Better Homes and Gardens would be knocking on the door any moment. No idea how she did that.)

Usually, I’m totally fine with the lived-in look, as in fact, we actually do live in the house. But occasionally the mess level starts to get to me.

While the dirt does make me nuts after a while and deep cleaning is an occasional necessity, it’s the day to day clutter that makes it hard for me to even breath sometimes. The trouble is, that I grew up in a family that was influenced by Depression era grandparents who never threw anything away. So I never had a good perspective on how not to feel guilty getting rid of stuff.

So, when Decluttering at the Speed of Life came up on Amazon Prime Reading (which is a free curated library of kindle books available for Amazon Prime members) I decided it wouldn’t hurt to give it a read.

Turns out it was a really good choice. What the author provides isn’t a ‘system’ or ‘organizational plan’ (organization is definitely not a problem here!) but a way of thinking about clutter. In specific I really found her Decluttering Questions really helpful. (1) Where does it belong? (2) If it doesn’t have a specific home, where will you look for it when you need it? (3) Will you remember you have one when you need it?

They are pretty simple, but I found them really helpful for me. I also love her take on finding limits on what you keep.

So, if you find yourself in the midst of New Years Cleaning, you might want to give this one a peek. When I checked recently, it was still available in Prime Reading.

Just so you know, links below are Amazon associate links, so if you buy anything through them, I will get a couple of pennies from that.

The Wizard’s Butler

I really enjoy fantasy and science fiction. Recently, my husband had me reading some of his urban fantasy favorites. He has great taste, hands down–I read like 12 of them in less than a month I think–but I’ve gotten a little burned out on ultra highstakes, action-packed urban fantasy adventures.

So when I came across The Wizard’s Butler I was pretty excited. My son’s love this author and highly recommended his other books to me, so I gave this one a shot and I loved it.

It’s full of likeable characters who you want to spend time with. The stakes are there, but not end of the world, no explosions, bombs or gunfire. Not that those things are bad, but I wanted something gentle, and this book was gentle. That does not mean boring by any means though! I really enjoyed it.

So if you’re looking for a fantasy read to help you unwind before bed, this one is a great choice.

Free book promotions!

In case you’ve got some space on your bookshelves, you can find some fun, free books in these promotions. I’m reading The Black Egg from the Dragons & Lore Collection and The English Teacher’s Diary at the moment with a couple of others on the TBR pile.

What have you been reading? Do you have any books to reccomend? Shre them in the comments.