Blog - Alison's Notebook

Old wooden jewelry box open on a kitchen table with tangled necklaces, clip-on earrings, a gold brooch, and reading glasses on a towel.

My Mother’s Costume Jewelry: What I Wear, What I Gave Away, and What Went to a New Home

My mother’s jewelry box sat on the top shelf of my closet for almost three years (longer than I’d like to admit). I brought it home the month we emptied …

A woman in her 60s smiling softly at an overstuffed hall closet, holding an old lamp from her first apartment

How to Declutter a House You’ve Lived in for 40 Years (When You’re Not Moving Anywhere)

A few weeks ago, I opened our hall closet to find an umbrella. I didn’t find the umbrella. But I found just about everything else. There were the kids’ old …

A 12-Week Fall and Winter Decluttering Plan for Women Over 70

The first cool morning of fall always catches me by surprise. This week, I pulled on my old gray sweater, poured my coffee, and looked around the kitchen. And I …

A woman in her 60s rolling a small cart of half-full donation bags toward her front door without lifting them

How to Get Clutter Out of the House When You Can’t Carry Heavy Bags

Last spring, I had a very good decluttering week. I cleared out the hall closet. I sorted two kitchen cabinets. I went through a whole dresser full of clothes. By …

A woman in her 80s sitting at her kitchen table calmly sorting one small drawer with a cup of coffee beside her

Decluttering for Women Over 80: A Gentler Way to Lighten Your Home

When my mother was 84, I stopped by her house one afternoon with a bag of groceries. I called out hello. No answer. I found her in the hallway, standing …

10 Plus Size Women Style Mistakes (Flatter Your Shape Now)

Ten plus size women style mistakes that show up as we grow older, each with a simple fix. Flatter your shape, mostly with clothes you already own.

An older woman in a robe holding a mug of coffee at a nearly bare kitchen counter, calm and content

Decluttering in My 60s Changed What Luxury Means to Me

Last Tuesday, I was standing in my kitchen with my morning coffee. (My husband makes it for me every day, bless him.) I wiped down the counter. It took about …

An older woman holding a heavy inherited set of serving dishes with a thoughtful look, an open china cabinet behind her

The Day I Stopped Calling Things an Heirloom

I stood in my dining room holding a heavy set of serving dishes, the ones my grandmother passed to my mother, and my mother passed to me. I’d carried them …

Woman in her late seventies with silver hair wearing a camel coat over a cream knit with a jewel-tone scarf on a bright winter day.

Winter 2026 Fashion Trends To Keep You Warm And Classy

Winter 2026 fashion trends worth wearing after 50: the warm colors, coats, textures, and knits that flatter, keep you cozy, and mostly come from your closet.

An older woman sitting on a closet floor holding an open shoebox of old handwritten love letters found while decluttering

The Letters My Husband and I Wrote Before Email

I was clearing out the top shelf of our bedroom closet, the one I can barely reach, when my hand landed on an old shoebox I didn’t recognize. I pulled …