The '90s Called... Marie Kondo Answered

Despite some momentum in the spring, I sent my tidying guru Marie Kondo on a long summer vacation. I mean who wants to be inside doing anything in summer – let along tidying, as she calls it.

Well guess who's back trying to spark joy in my life? I should say, guess who's back in my head reminding me to keep what sparks joy and toss or donate the rest? Yep. Front and center. Well somewhere in my head anyway.

I purposely left my Labor Day weekend calendar open to force myself to stay home and "do stuff" around the house. Yes, I was interrupted by fun at Sand Valley, a picnic with friends, and an afternoon at the racetrack. Still, intermingled with that was a start of something MK (I'll call her that now that we're bonding) would approve of.

After consulting hubby, the basement was my first target. I realize I am breaking all MK's rules. She wants us to examine categories of items like clothes and books – not go room by room – but the basement gets so humid and yuck in summer, it's just begging for attention.

There's certainly more than one elephant in the room down there – unused stereo, unused weight machine, etc – so I walked down the stairs and started with the sound machine at the left and worked clockwise.

I know. The '90s called. They want their big-ass stereo back. Well they can have it! Oh everyone had to have big one back then. I actually purchased this one 29 years ago this week. I remember because I had just moved into my apartment in Marinette for my first newspaper job and I needed to "furnish" it with something! The radio, double cassette tape deck, and 6-CD changer still work. The phonograph, though, is inconsistent.

As luck would have it, my next-door neighbor was having a garage sale. I texted her a picture and asked, "Do you need a big-ass stereo on your sale?" She said, "Sure!" So I took out the plastic containers of some 50 or so cassettes, unhooked the wires, got a little help from a friend, and hauled it over. "Sell it for what you want or give it away. I'm not hauling it back," I said.

Well, apparently there's a '90s fan born every minute. Someone bought it for $5. And I am so fine with that!

Now, what to do with all the tapes? I worry they've been sitting unused so long that they'll break in any machine. Not that I have another cassette player around. (I don't think.) There was a cardboard box of "cassingles" – yes kids, it was a cassette with a single song on it – that seemed a bit mildewy so I just tossed that whole darn thing. I'm sure MK was dancing somewhere over that major tidying move. No music required. (Or available without the stereo.)

To prove, though, that I've always been a fan of all kinds of music, I did snap a picture of a few of the cassingles before I discarded them.

Quite the mix, right? Definitely the late '80s and early '90s vibe. And I have a slew of mix tapes to prove there's more where that came from. Not to mention the CD tower. (MK should give my extra points for having all those in alphabetical order.)

Hopefully the music will inspire me to move and groove AND move stuff out of the house! Fall cleaning, er de-cluttering, er Kondo-ing, here I come!