New Year’s Day may be a mere month and a day away, but I need to take serious action now. There’s something I’ve been meaning to do for years, and haven’t really gotten around to it... a dastardly demon which, if I can banish once and for all, promises to change my life and my family’s life for the better forever.

Since I already quit smoking years ago (my annual girls’ weekend notwithstanding), and my plan to drop those last 10 pounds is too mundane to mention, this year I have upped the Resolution ante to go beyond my body and mind and extend into my immediate environment.

I am going to declutter my house. And I’m not going to wait till January. I’m going to do it now. One room a week, maybe two. By New Year’s Day, I’ll be ready to take on 2009 with a more feng-shui-like, zen-eriffic, streamlined essence. I expect that once my house is in hand, my inner clutter will dissipate as well. At least, that’s the idea.

Because I seriously cannot take it anymore. I am completely overwhelmed by Stuff. Stupid, useless, crappy stuff. Baby clothes and puzzle pieces and mugs and blankets and picture frames and stickers and paper and plastic and so much dollar-store pollution wrought upon me by my well-meaning mother that I fear she may have singlehandedly been supporting the Chinese economy for years.

I will have no mercy. I will throw it all out, give it all away, donate it, decrease it, never think about it again. We will survive without all this odious Stuff because we have each other and that is what is important. I refuse to be attached to anything besides my kids and my husband.

In this matter, I resolve to have more resolve. By this time next month, every surface will be clear and every toy in its place. And I will be happy and carefree and unencumbered by the weight of the world...