Maximize Space in a Small Home

Yesterday I talked about maximizing space in your small garden. If your home is also tiny, you’ll want to keep things neat and organized in there too. But how can you do this if you just don’t have the space? Minimize, minimize. Yes, a small home needs to have less stuff. Evaluate what you really use, and give extra things to charity. Share stuff. Do you really need to own the things that you own? Can you rent them sometimes, or share with a friend who has more space? If some of your objects take up space and aren’t all … Continue reading →

Bringing in the New

Every Christmas Day, I clean my house. From its consistency in my life over the past twenty years, you might think that this is a sort of profound ritual. It is not. Rather, it is the motion of a guilty conscience. You see, we have so much. We probably have too much. Even though we’ve cut down a lot on the gifts that we give and receive, it still feels like a lot to incorporate the new into our lives. It’s also a New Year’s ritual of sorts: evaluating the old in our lives and bringing in a little bit … Continue reading →

Dealing With the “I Wants”

A friend and I were chatting about our kids this morning. We are blessed to live in a lovely neighborhood. This neighborhood is fairly wealthy, which often means that the children have a lot of stuff. We’re somewhat less wealthy than the average, I suspect, given that we live in a smaller townhome. We love where we live, but the standard of living where we live can lead to many “I wants” from the kids. If you’re trying to keep a minimalist home, you’re likely trying to manage the flow of stuff into your home. This might be for environmental … Continue reading →

Saving on Your Work Wardrobe

High ho, high ho, it’s off to work and school we go…. Heading off to thrift stores or swapping clothes with friends is a lot of fun, but what else can you do to save on your work wardrobe this year? Choose basic items so that you don’t feel compelled to buy, buy, buy! Black pants go with any number of different tops. So do white shirts. If you’re staying home with the kids or in a more casual job, jeans are a great standby and go with just about everything. Avoid dry clean and hand wash only items. Have … Continue reading →

Simplify Your Kitchen and Get the Room You Always Wanted

Creating a simple, organized and calm kitchen may be easier than you think. The kitchen is the heart of the home, and having a place of peace where you can gather with your friends and family to create warm filling meals can change the whole atmosphere of your home. If dread walking into your kitchen now because of the pile of dishes, the stack of mail, the sticky countertops, then know that it doesn’t need to be this way. It all starts with simplifying your kitchen in a number of ways that turns it from just a utility room into … Continue reading →

Rethinking Stuff

As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been thinking a lot about ecology and frugality lately. When it comes to the stuff we buy, they intersect very neatly. Buying less stuff is good for nature, and it’s good when you’re trying to keep a minimalist home, too. Now, my home is nowhere near minimalist, but I do try to keep the clutter down. I don’t need stuff. I don’t want stuff. For my recent birthday, the only things I acquired were plants. Those I need (ok, want). I’ve developed a little checklist that I go through in my head … Continue reading →

The Smiley Face Collection

Years ago, when I was single and working full time in an office, I had a smiley face collection. It started out innocently enough, with a poster of various smiley faces that I hung in my cubical to brighten things up and lighten the mood of the office. It was all downhill from there. Once that poster went up, people started giving me things with smiley faces for my desk. I had a smiley face mug, a paper weight that dripped red and blue liquid over smiley face wheels like a water mill, a smiley face pillow, a smiley face … Continue reading →

Magazines and Minimalism

I’ve always loved magazines with their glossy photos of the perfect living room or birthday cake or beach vacation splashed across the cover. They are filled with helpful advice from how to save money at the grocery store to how not to marry the wrong guy. My love of magazines started way back when I was a little girl tagging along with my father when he went to the newsstand in Brooklyn to pick up the paper. Sometimes the evening edition wouldn’t be in, and we had to wait for a few minutes until it arrived. I spent those minutes … Continue reading →

Owning Less is an Uphill Battle

Lately I have been exploring the idea of owning less–really owning less, cutting down our possessions by up to 70 percent, I can see how having less stuff in our lives would give us less stress. There is less to maintain, less to clean, less to spend money on, less to worry about. Then I try to look at reality. For example, this week, my so needs water shoes for a class trip and my daughter needs a gray shirt for a show she is in at school. Two more possessions that need to come in to the house. The … Continue reading →

Thinking about Becoming Minimalist

As our daily lives seem to be becoming more and more hectic, with so much to do and to take care of, I’ve been seriously considering becoming a minimalist. I’m inspired by photos of folks who can fit their entire belongings in just a small part of one room, although stacked up, and others who say that practicing minimalism leaves them free to enjoy the more important things and to enjoy life. I can probably get my husband on board–at least on the surface. There is the fact that he has these huge ancient speakers and an old Apple Newton … Continue reading →