Material girl

"Look at this stuff. Isn't it neat? Wouldn't you think my collection's complete?" Ariel the mermaid was just beginning her collection of interesting things. For some people, "things" can go a little overboard.

My mom recently got me hooked on a show called "Clean House." The Clean House team goes to insanely cluttered homes like this one to make the owners sell some of their most prized possessions. The proceeds are matched (up to a thousand dollars) and the money goes to make the house clean and beautiful. In the last few episodes, I watched as people hugged their Harley Davidson T-shirt collection, their giant cigarette-shaped lamp, their presents from last Christmas and their late Uncle Bob's broken jukebox. Even when the outcome of selling their "foolishness" benefits their future living space, home-owners are almost always reluctant to part with their precious things.

Things. Sayings and Bible verses seem to flood into my head. "You can't take it with you." "Old things pass away." Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." I keep wondering what I would really do if the Clean House team came to my home. Would they be prying my precious things from my hands--begging me to sell so that I'd have a great space to live in by the end of the show? If Ariel's statue of Prince Eric was not destroyed, would she have gone after the real thing?

Tune in next Wednesday at 10/9c on the Style channel to see another transformation.