Living a Simpler Life

Home organization can seem like an unending battle, and you are never the victor. Maybe it is time for you to embrace the “more is not always better” concept and start living with less. There is now a push to simplify instead of buying larger and larger homes to fill.

If you live in an older home you may have more than once marveled at the size of the closets. They are so small, where did people use to keep things?! You may have asked this more than once while searching for somewhere to store your latest acquisition. The truth is people use to make do with much less.

For example, they had two pairs of shoes, an everyday pair and a Sunday pair. How many shoes are in your closet? Is it not unusual for people to have 80 plus pairs of shoes. Think that sounds like a lot? Count your shoes. Take the challenge. I don’t doubt you will hit 40 pair much faster than you thought.

You may not be ready to pair down to two pairs of shoes, but think how much easier home organization will be if you can cut even ten pairs of shoes out of your closet.

Living with Less, How to Begin:

Declutter. This step is hard for a lot of us. We worry that we will need something once we get rid of it, or maybe you just need an extra push to get you started.

Call in a professional organizer. Whether you need someone to help get you started and set up a plan for you to follow, or someone to walk you through the entire process a professional organizer can be a great resource.

Try this trick. Fill a box with items you know you should part with, but are afraid you will miss or suddenly need. Tape the box closed. Once it’s sealed write a date on it, if you’re really nervous give yourself a year. When your date comes up and the box is still sealed donate it. Don’t open it first! You haven’t needed those things in the past year don’t let yourself be convinced you need them now.

Shop with a list. Living with less means acquiring less. There are so many stores, not to mention online shopping, to lure us back into filling up our spaces. It’s a store’s job to get you to leave with more than you meant to buy when you arrived, make it your job to buy only what you need.

Live like you’re on vacation. When you go on vacation you make do with far less than you keep around you in your everyday life. Try to create that same easy feeling in your day-to-day life. Keep things around you that are comfortable and necessities!

Remember smaller homes use to be the norm. For many years the average American home was around 1000 square feet. It wasn’t until after the 1960s that we started believing that we simply NEEDED more space than that to live well. This belief took off and by the year 2000 our average homes were 2000 plus square feet. More than double in size.

In recent years an emphasis has returned to smart home design over HUGE home design. While you may find some of the “mini” homes currently available on the market a bit extreme, we can all learn lessons of living with less from people choosing this environmentally friendly lifestyle.

Why Should I Live with Less:

• Having less stuff means you spend less time on home organization and otherwise managing your things.


This means you have more time to spend on the things you want to be doing and with the people you love. What would you rather spend your time on, enjoying hobbies and visiting with interesting people or dusting and organizing things?


Smaller homes also equal less maintenance time.

• You’ll save money. By becoming less of a consumer you are obviously spending less money! Reducing the size of your home also means reducing the size of your bills. You can cut down on both heating and cooling bills.

Start winning the battle with home organization by living with less. You’ll feel happier and likely more fulfilled living a simpler life.