How to Break Up With a Set

You have probably been through a break-up or two in your life. Maybe you ended a relationship with a former boyfriend or moved on from a job.

And if you were the one who initiated the break-up, you might have spent some time agonizing over your decision before you finally made the break. You probably thought about how to have the conversation be as kind and respectful as possible, or at least to bring up the least amount of pain.

That's because break-ups can be messy.

They can bring up unexpected emotions. Break-ups invite us to reevaluate who we are, where we are going, and what the unknown future might hold.

But how about stuff in your home?

Have you ever kept something that you didn't really like (or that you never used) simply because it was part of a set?

I know it's not the same as breaking up with your high school sweetheart, but think of that suit hanging in your closet, the one with the jacket that fits perfectly but the pants that have just never quite worked somehow. But you keep both because they are a "set," right?

Or the extra pieces of china that you have not used since you received them as a wedding gift 25 years ago. Again, they stay in the china cabinet because they are part of a set.

Collections can be the same way. You might never even consider letting any of the individual items go, simply because they are part of the set.

But you can break up with a set.

You can keep the jacket, and let the pants go.

You can keep the pieces of china you use and love, and let the lid for the gravy bowl go if you never use it. (Yes, you really can. Even if your grandmother would be shocked.)

You can break up a set of eight water glasses, if all you need is four.

If you have every book on how to knit scarves that has ever been written, but you only actually like two of them, you can get rid of the rest.

It might be easy as pie.

Or it might surprisingly feel like an actual break-up.

But just like you survived the end of your high school romance, you can survive breaking up a set.

Be kind and gentle.

Be loving.

Be respectful.

Don't look back.

You'll be just fine.

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