Personality tests, organizing our lives, & Downton returns

This is going to be my only post for the week because I’ve been tied up with the show house (see a sneak peek below), but I’ve had a few things on my mind:

Last weekend a killer estate sale was held in my neighborhood. If you haven’t yet attended one, don’t knock it till you try it (read this post, and this, and this). It isn’t a garage sale where you shop people’s junk; it’s a liquidation of the good things someone treasured. And no, you’re not always buying a dead person’s stuff; oftentimes, the owner has entered assisted living and has limited room for belongings. I’ve never felt any weird spirits or anything at a sale, so there’s that.

Anyway, after buying an absurd amount of lovely things, I came home to a house that looked like an episode of Hoarders. My kids had gone TO TOWN on it while I was gone. And I started looking around and thinking, Why do we have so much stuff anyway? So much of this adds ZERO VALUE to our lives. So I’m committed now to tossing all the things that would earn about an 80 percent, meaning if I scored them on a scale of one to 10, they’d only get an eight (or lower). And at estate sales, I vow to only buy things that are a true 10.

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My son came home the other day and told me he had taken a personality test at school (such a good idea for teachers!). I loved reading his results. The test is available at 16personalities.com, and it’s a Myers-Briggs assessment. After answering 100 questions (takes about 10 minutes), the site provides such thorough descriptions of a personality type, like how you might typically act in relationships, as a parent, as an employee, and more. My son is a Campaigner, and man, is that accurate. I took the test myself (I’m an Advocate) and am fascinated by the results. By the way, I’ve looked into taking a Myers-Briggs test before but only found versions requiring you to pay. This website is free, so you’ve got nothing to lose.

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This is a cute blog, and I subscribe to her newsletter (you can too from her website). I love her idea of creating a family binder where you stash all the things like school schedules and classroom protocols and takeout menus. I am now collecting (or rather, corralling) items to put together our own family binder.

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And lastly, the Downton Abbey movie comes out Sept. 20, and I’m trying hard to watch (again) as many seasons of the PBS series as possible before heading to the theater. Don’t subscribe to Netflix or the like? Lots of libraries have copies of the series available for check out, which is what I’m doing.

I’m also seriously considering dressing in period costume for opening night, which is SO not like me, but I love Downton so. Can’t wait to see my friends again on screen. Cheerio! •