We are so pleased that after slaving away for a year (2004!) our book is finally getting ready to hit the shops. We have yet to see it in its final form, but we now have access to excerpts that we can share. It doesn't come out until late next month, but we'll post a few excerpts before now and then. Enjoy and get ready to jump into the eight week cure next month (if you haven't already).
Chapter One:
Is Your Home Healthy?
In the first few years that I took on clients, I was surprised by the number of people who were miserable in their homes. I wondered what was going on to cause so much distress.
As I visited more houses and apartments, and began to read books on shelter style and home improvement, I soon realized that most American home dwellers tuning in to home improvement are not simply lacking in style or needing to declutter; they are dealing with sick homes.
Despite good intentions, Americans have not only lost touch with how to create and maintain a healthy home, they have created new diseases such as clutter, disposophobia (the fear of letting go of things),and what I call movie theater and bowling alley syndrome. Like another national health issue, obesity, most of our household issues stem from the fact that we consume too much and work off too little.
As you read this book, I want you to broaden the concept of home and apply to it the same principles we apply to our own bodies. Like the body, the home should be thought of as a living organism. For starters, healthy homes are homes that consume carefully and get regular exercise. After health is established, style and decora- tion come much more easily and can be seen as natural finishing touches. In fact, style and decoration are extensions of a healthy home. You cant have one without the other.
Hypernesting
Today, Americans spend more money on home improvement than ever before. A whopping twenty-five million Americans took on a home improvement project in 2005, spending $150 billion (2 percent of our GNP). Judging from television shows such as Trading Spaces, Design on a Dime, and This Old House, Americans cant seem to get enough. And the demand crosses gender lines: shows such as the tremendously popular Queer Eye for the Straight Guy attract male and female viewers alike, while Debbie Traviss Facelift on both Oxygen and HGTV attracts a growing number of female homeowners wanting to DIY (do it yourself).
Each year brings new magazines as well. The old-school Architectural Digest has been pushed aside by flashier offerings such as Metropolitan Home and Elle Dcor, and they are now being challenged by newcomers with a focus on shopping and affordability, such as Domino, Budget Living, and Bargain Style. All in all, more Americans than ever are fixing up their homesand doing the work themselves. In all of this they are trying to retrieve the feeling of home they have lost. But despite the amount of activity and money spent, most of these efforts end in dissatisfaction, because they only treat the symptomsthey dont provide a cure.
In place of creating a healthy home, we are trying to buy solutions and cram too much into our homes. What was modestly termed cocooning in the 1970s by trend-spotters who saw us spending more recreational time at home has become Hypernesting. Instead of asking ourselves what would really make our home work better, we usually jump to the conclusion that there must be something we can buy to solve our homes challengesa flatter television screen, a closet organizing system, or color-coded photo albums.
But when we take something new into our home, we rarely let go of something else. This is how our home gains weight, grows unhealthy, and begins to nag at us. Not only have we created some new diseases, weve even created new doctors to treat our problem. Professional organizers and home disaster specialists have sprung up only recently, and their job is to help us sort and manage our extra weight.
Most of us arent in need of more organizing; we need to manage our consumption, let go of our stuff, and learn how to restore life to our homes.
I often ask my clients what they imagine their apartment would say to them if it could speak. Samantha, a stockbroker, told me that her home would say, Cant she see that I am dying? Why doesnt she do anything to save me? As she said this, we were sitting in a badly lit, cluttered, unfinished room. Embarrassed, Samantha said that she didnt know where to begin. It was one of the best things I had ever heard a client say. Besides being completely honest, I told her, in using the word begin shed hit upon the main issue. The solution was not about eliminating clutter or lightening a room; it was about beginning to work with her home. I told her that I could show her where to begin. It might feel challenging at first, but her home would love her for it.
No two beginnings are the same. We have different homes and our problems are personal. Even so, I have found that there are two general starting points that correspond to two general types of people. As you think about getting started on your house project, give some thought to which of the two typescool or warmbest describes your approach to your living environment.
Totally excited -- pre-ordered the book a week ago! Alas, I probably can't put off cleaning the house until it arrives...
WOW!
I am SO buying this book.
Congratulations, wonderful insightful writing.
Two copies pre-ordered!!
Any specials offered to ATers for autographed copies?!?!
Congratulations! good idea patrick(the other one), will there be a booksigning event?
Hallelujah someone finally said it out loud about consumtion and our homes. I have a sparce but lovely apt, and as I was getting ready last week for a guest I started feeling bad I didn't have more stuff. I franticly ran around the city looking for "things" to put in my home. I did find a couple nice plant stands but after the 3rd day of shopping I started to wonder why I thought I needed more stuff. I like clean and uncluttered living! I realized my very "decorated" neighbor had infiltrated my head into thinking I needed more stuff. really that's her style...not mine.
if we all did what was good for us instead of what was expected we'd be all the better for it.
WOW!!! What a way to start! I'm definitely getting this book as well.
RS, I can relate. I've spent the past year decluttering, and now my studio is very quiet and spacious, just how I like it. But I don't have a sofa. Which most people think is WEIRD. But I don't NEED one. When I have a friend over, it's for tea and conversation, so we just sit at the table I put by the windows. I also don't have a microwave, a coffee table, a flat-screen TV, an iPod, a cell phone, a dishwasher, or many other consumer goods considered must-haves. I just don't have any use for them.
But I occasionally hear a home-decorating tape play in my head: You need to separate your studio into different "areas" for different "activities" although all you really like to do is read and listen to music (not at same time), you need to be able to seat 20 for those big dinners you have never had any interest in hosting, you must get rid of your LPs even though you enjoy listening to them because everyone says they are clutter. It can be hard to shut it off and remember what works best for me.
I am really looking forward to the "Apartment Therapy" book. I really like the approach taken in the excerpt above.
Jeffery -- I'm not a great decorator or anything like that, but the happiest moment of my home decor life was when I realized that since the only rooms we ever wanted to be in were the ones with the bed, the sofa, and the books, we could skip all the extra rooms, shelve the heck out of things, and call it home.
Although I work primarily at home, I refuse to designate an area for a home office. I don't even have a desk. I work with my laptop on the sofa or in bed or in my favorite chair or, if the work is spread out, at the table we use for crafts, wargaming, and (very rarely) serving meals).
My current Sense of Unease issue is the trend for bedrooms to be like hotels. Part of me likes the aesthetic, but we really need/want those bookshelves in there. And our specific bookshelf configuration needs are met only by Skandia modular systems, which aren't the height of urban elegance.
I'm babbling -- but I agree that it's vital to decorate to support your real life, not someone's magazine vision of appropriateness.
I am jumping on the bandwagon here, and absolutely buying this book. If you post another excerpt, however, could you spell it "excerpt"? Thanks.
Congratulations Maxwell and AT! I'm really excited for you and I hope the book does incredibly well.
I'll definitely be buying onen for myself and probably giving another as a gift to a new homeowner /friend.
Way to go!!!!
So exciting! I enjoyed this peek and am really looking forward to the book. I am so happy I found AT...it continually presents a point of view that makes sense to me.
Fabulous! Congrats! Just pre-ordered from Amazon. Love your blog, and can't wait to read it.
Yes, this is one book I'm really looking forward to.
I'm like Jeffrey in that I don't have a microwave, dishwasher, ipod, blackberry, cellphone. My TV is a 1996 model, my toaster is from 1948, my VCR is from 1995 and I don't have a DVD player. Oh wait, someone just gave me one (still in box). Even my stereo is landfill as we speak. I'm about as low tech as they come and yet there isn't really anything I miss. I get a cathartic release at throwing things away. And even though I'd love to have a bedroom I'm very comfortable in my tiny studio.
I may gain weight but my apt. is on the semi-lean side.
Congrats!
About the consumption point. I can understand doing without a sofa, microwave, a coffee table, a flat-screen TV, an iPod and a dishwasher. But life without a cellphone? I just can't wrap my mind around that possibility :-)
Whenever I mention that I don't have a cell phone I hear "you're lucky!" I'm beginning to agree with them. I don't even answer my phone at home so why would I want to carry one around with me?! I thought I was the last hold out but I see Jeffrey is one as well.
I, too, have preordered the book. Can hardly wait. Perhaps Maxwell could sign bookplates with personal dedications to us? Or is there a book tour in his future?
I dont have a microwave, Ipod, DVD / VCR, Blackberry, dishwasher. i don't have a stero, i have a boombox. i do have 6-year-old cell phone that i keep turned off -- i carry it just in case of emergencies. no digital camera, no PC at home, though for the past 2 years i've been thinking about getting a laptop. maybe I'll make a decision on that in another 2 years... I'd be interested to know how many others are not jumping on the gadget bandwagon.
My Borders gift card balance is patiently waiting for the book to arrive so that my wallet will have one less clutter item.
Anne, out of curiosity I tried a cell phone last fall. My friends were shocked: They called it "The Devil's Instrument"! It was a fun toy, but I quickly got tired of the walkie-talkie factor, and when I did the math, I decided I wasn't using it enough to justify paying for it. Fortunately, California has a 30-day buyer's remorse period for cell phones, so I ended up getting almost all of my money back from T.Mobile.
I have things, just not things that I don't really use or need. I love to listen to music, so I have stereo equipment, CDs, and LPs. I love to read, so I have books. I enjoy watching movies, so I have a TV and a DVD player (kept on a cart in the closet). If I loved to talk on the phone, I might have kept the cell phone.
I admire the thoughts, but it just sounds easier said than done. For example, my husband is into various sports (damn skis take up room!), movies, reading, and music. I'm into different sorts of music, different sorts of books, and plants. And of course we're both into our two cats. and wine. and cooking good food. And we both have to wear suits to work and yet have clothes (and shoes) to wear on the weekend, and going out. Work also requires we have cell phones, and two computers at home and a printer, etc... Add it all up, and I just can't see how we can have a super clean look in a small apartment with a super small kitchen and bedroom. I certainly won't give up richness in my life in order to better enjoy the *appearance* of my home.
But then, I'll freely admit that I'm a design idiot and read this site solely for amusement and edification, not because I can contribute ;)
Ang, "minimal" isn't the whole story. I see the whole decorating thing as a process of figuring out what you need in your environment for your own peace of mind, then doing it well.
We went through a stage of dumping stuff that wasn't important to us -- but in a small apartment, a couple of space-intensive hobbies will make things pretty crowded anyway. We're anything but minimalist -- we just live in a way more suited to our enjoyment than a "traditional" house was.
My other Big Revelation was No More Big Kitchens (and NEVER a kitchen open to the living room!). I love my tiny kitchen, where I can cook an entire meal without moving my feet -- and where there are French doors between me and the living room. Exactly ONE person other than me, my husband, and the building staff has won the right to enter my kitchen.
Ang. - yours is a great point and one that I do attempt to cover in the book. Don't forget that richness can be felt in many ways. Best, Maxwell
wende, totally with you on No More Big Kitchens! Thinking back on all the kitchens of my life, the best was a very small galley kitchen--pivot, pivot, dinner's done. I'm sick of people settling in at my counter, resting chin in hand, and saying, "I just love to watch people cook." The TV is right over there, pal! I feel like I need to make a big show of being a super-sanitary cook, or that my knife skills are up for critique. I would love a closed-off kitchen where I could enjoy what I'm doing, make the mess I need to make, and emerge with the food, which we could then enjoy away from the sight of dirty dishes.
Thank you!
Wende, I agree with your kitchen comments, as well. Particularly, your desire for closing off the kitchen from the living room. Nothing worse than kitchen noise during tv... except TV noise during a meal!
And, I have to put in the obligatory request for a booksigning event. Please!
I'm interested to read the anti-iPod sentiments, because the iPod has been the best tool for decluttering I've ever had. Not only have I loaded my hundreds of CDs onto it -- which meant I could donate the CDs and free up tons of shelf space -- but the iPod let me toss my hulking stereo. I now play all my music from some good speakers (some gorgeous ones from Harmon Kardon) attached to my computer (which of course also has all the iPod music files on it). Maybe the sound system isn't powerful enough for a blowout party -- but it's perfect for everyday listening, which, given the size of my apartment, is really all I care about anyway.
Deat AT folks. Want to know how far reaching your beauticious vibes are? Check this. I got rid of my over abundant home in the burbs and now live a much happier life in my new loft in the heart of Sydney. So many of the lifestyle changes I had to make were inspired by my discovery of AT. I cannot wait to have my pals in the US send me the book. I'm sure it will provide even more common sense ways of living. Now I maintain homes in Sydney, San Fran, and New York. Thanks again for the amazing spark. Well done. Ciao.
anne, i think the point is it's ok to consume just don't stand still move foward. it's ok to buy a flat panel monitor, and give your 1996 tv to charity, don't throw it in a landfill. carson i did the same thing when i bought an apple computer in 2002 i added sound sticks from harmon kardon and loaded my cds then donated all of them. now i down load from the apple music store no muss no fuss and moving foward.
I liked the intro overall, but was mildly put off by the analogy to obesity.
Don't get me wrong. I appreciate the self-discipline, anti-consumption line that Maxwell appears to be pushing--it's my philosophy, too.
But the roots of obesity are much more complex than let on in this home decor comparison. For one thing, the problem is not entirely self-determined. So while Maxwell's affluent clients may suffer from Platinum Card-itis, it's hardly fair to imply that the obese are also simply over-furnishing their, er, pads.
That grouse aside, I'm looking forward to the book.
Can't wait. Will you be selling signed copies on the site? Or do we all have to wait for the book tour for that?
Great "Chapter One"! I would like to have that boo, too.
I think that Hypernesting is just a logical development of the consumerism of our society.
But I hope that somewhere inside the book there has been reached the conclusion that it is interior designer's role the one that is to a great extent decisive about the state of our homes.
But I find it so strange that most of the comments above include the word 'decorating' when considering the improvement of their homes? The word itself is connected with creating more clutter - to decorate our homes we very often buy things just for their look. While the essence of the interior design is to create spaces that are comfortable and planned in the best possible way for the exact person(s).
Great Chapter one! I would like to have this book, too.
Hypernesting is just a logical development of the consumerism of our society. But I am impressed that very often in the comments above the word 'decoration' is used in connection with home improvement - decoration itself includes creation of cluttter. To decorate we usually buy things more for their looks, not for their function. And in fact, it is the interior design that helps improve our homes and create cosy and well planned spaces, rather than decorating.
sorry for repeating - there was a problem with posting and suddenly the three posts appeared at once
Hear, hear Carson! I don't think of my iPod as an indulgent consumerist toy-- its a way to have my large music library and a small, uncluttered NY apartment too. $300 and a 2" x 3" object is a small price to pay for something that has allowed me to dispense with entire pieces of furniture and their contents. Such nice design, too. Isn't this much of what AT is about-- choosing objects wisely to attain a compact, healthy, personalized living environment?
Agree with Carson and naomi and proffer that a flat panel TV serves a similar space saving purpose (albeit without the archving capability of the ipod) that, if you look at the $ per sq ft price of nyc apts, may even be justifiable on cost grounds.
I don't know if anyone here is anti-iPod. My point was that your needs should supercede trends, pressures to buy consumer goods to fit in, and decorating cliches. If an iPod meets your needs, great.
Hmm. Nope, I love the big kitchen/great room approach to life. It creates a better sense of family togetherness, in my experience. Also, I think there's nothing wrong with accumulating junk, so long as it's beautiful junk you love, and it doesn't overwhelm the space. Beautiful junk you USED to love, or junk you love that's an eyesore, well, chuck it! Replace it with something beautiful! This is an interesting thread. Of course, the bottom line is everyone is different and needs different things in their houses to make them "home," but there are a few overarching themes that can apply to everyone. We could all simplify, even if that means just getting rid of Easter dishes when you never have Easter dinner. Not everyone has to chuck the microwave, the TV, and all their furniture. Hah.
I too prefer small kitchens to large, but like them open and not closed. I've lived in apts. with enclosed galley kitchens, and was dumbfounded by how (true to the cliche) guests consistently ended up packed in there, even when I was throwing parties for other people. (It just seemed so ungracious to say "get the hell out of here, go spend time with the guest of honor, and let me cook in peace!") Now I have a little galley kitchen with an island in our main living space (carefully designed to avoid the whole kitchen-island cliche) and it seems like the best of both worlds, efficient yet social. I just try to get as much prep done as possible before guests arrive.
jamie pup--
Now THAT's the kind of justification I can get behind!
My TV is now NOT COST EFFICIENT BY THE SQUARE FOOT.
Yeah, that's it!!! Flat panel, here I come!!! :)
We always liked you for a reason!!
A difficulty I have that I hope the book and the blog address (continue to address) is _how_ to declutter and get rid of objects. I don't mean the psychological process. I am ready to part with a lot of things and would love to do so. I mean the physical process for non-car-owning city dwellers who feel great psychic discomfort at the idea of just trashing it all. Donating many kinds of things (books for instance) is in my experience much easier said than done. Charities don't want your boxes of random paperbacks. And if they could be persuaded to take them, they aren't going to come to your third floor walk-up to pick them up. Clothes can go to the Salvation Army, but getting them there poses challenges when you are talking about a major purge. (Last time I donated 7 garbage bags full--far too much for a cab. I did so when I was moving and thus had already rented a truck, though the Salvation Army part of the adventure did yield me a nasty parking ticket.) Often if you put larger items on the street, someone will just pick them up, but again, it makes me uncomfortable that I am taking a chance that the street-picker-uppers might not beat the garbage collector and thus a perfectly functioning and new lamp that I just don't happen to want (family gift) will become landfill. What about extra pots and pans that we don't need because we have upgraded? What do I do with those? I guess the answers are things I already know and just find too difficult/expensive/time consuming, like renting a car, using craigslist or ebay or freecycle to try to get rid of larger pieces, having a stoop sale, etc., but if anyone has magic bullets to share I would be interested, as it seems to me the physical challenge is far more daunting than the psychological, though the latter seems to get a lot more press.
emnyc--
I agree that its much easier said than done unless you are without worry about filling the landfills with stuff people not only could use but actually want...
I notice Housing Works is missing from your list... they take lots of things (clothing to furniture to tabletop and more), will reimburse for cab fare, and will come pick up larger items.
Oh, and pretty sure they will take boxes of paperbacks.
The only thing I have to add is that your admirable commitment to "finding homes" for things will take multiple trips to some of these places. But don't stray from your path!
And while eBay takes some work, it does move some of the hard-to-get-rid-of stuff. But some things need to be relisted several times before they move. Craigs list annoys me because people want good stuff for pennies, then back out of the deal at the eleventh hour. And CL offers no way that I know of to relist an expired item easily.
I also think AT sponsors two big seasonal "garage sales", no?
emnyc -- Would you believe, I have sold stuff on eBay because mailing one item at a time was less trouble than somehow getting the whole load to Goodwill? A friend did one vast purge and rented a TRUCK to haul stuff to charity.
It's not about anti-consumerism: it's about consuming thoughtfully. Our wireless home network is the greatest thing since sliced artisanal bread for me (vastly improved my productivity), but for a lot of our friends, it's a frou-frou gadget that adds no real value. But I wouldn't spend on sound equipment, which is an utter necessity of civilized living for other people.
looking forward to it. now that i am not single anymore, i can definitely use some decluttering.
Thanks for the Housing Works tip. I was aware of them generally, but not the paperbacks and cabfare specifics. Perhaps this will help me overcome my natural sluggishness. At the very least, I can remind myself that my clutter in part stems from my "admirable commitments" which is somewhat helpful in countering the negative psychic impact of the clutter itself.
emnyc, housing works has several drop-off locations. i also have donated (computers and college-era furniture) to pencilbox, which connects you with new york schools (www.thepencilbox.org).
about the book excerpt, i think a lot of people (including me at moments) go for the quick consumption because the real design needs are so expensive to achieve. in my apt the walls are a messy congealment of 5 decades of paint and stains from the roof, but the cost of redoing them is totally prohibitive, and it's cheaper to get an ipod or a bigger tv (neither of which i have, but you get the point). it took me a long time to realize (with prodding from friends) what i could actually achieve a) on my budget, and b) in my own taste. because i think the other reason for over-consumption is people buying things that fit in with the aesthetic of what's trendy, what their friends like, what they inherited, what they actually like etc.
anyway, i will check out the book and hope it has something to say to poor slobs like me as well as people with three homes in different cities.
rasil - you've definitely hit on something. i'm trying to furnish my place with an eye for space planning and the long term view of useful and pleasing design, but it's so damn hard to do it a piece at a time!
i've finally bit the bullet and have started to dream and plan for a remodel. -maybe i'm crazy, maybe it'll never happen, but i want to plan my space as a whole integrated unit that actually flows and makes sense. the only way i can think it will happen is if i start from scratch and start saving for it. (maybe that's why the t.v. make-overs work so well - they start with a blank slate and move stuff back in)
I love apartment living, but trying to utilize a space with a pre-existing arsenal of pieces, just leads to a build up of clutter - not to mention my husbands aunt who buys us holiday themed ceramic platters each time she visits and pointedly asks where they are each subsequent visit (she's good hearted but please no more stuff!)
I'm planning a major purge, and as car-less-city-dwellers, my husband and I often rent cars/vans with a laundry list of places to go and things to do for that day (so we can cart stuff to my mom's/sister's/in'laws, hit IKEA, Home Depot and charity drop-off's - all of this is carefully planned after a couple weeks of de-cluttering and garbaging and recycling what our building will allow.
I'm also trying to figure out the perfect number of pants and t-shirts and skirts etc to mix and match so that I can reduce my wardrobe clutter (I think it's true -we only wear a small percent of our fashion largesse)or maybe i'll do a karim rashid and wear only one colour of everything -problem solved
I'm really looking forward to the print version of Apartment Therapy - the website is great - I've finally found other people who celebrate the challenge of living in a small space with all of the ups, downs and flaws that come with them!
p.s.
my new secret plan to getting rid of my extra stuff is to cart it all to my sister's house in the suburbs and get her to have a monster garage sale, with any unsold items going to charity, and to put any money made into my reno fund
I agree that it can seem more daunting to donate than just to throw away, which is such a shame. A friend of mine does something I've started to do too: I keep a donation bag in my hall closet all the time and toss things in, whether housewares or clothes, whenever I decide I really don't need them. Whenever the bag is full, I carry it over to my local Goodwill. I probably drop off a bag every two or three months. That way the load never gets too heavy, and it's a good reminder -- every time I open the closet, I see the bag and think: What else can I add to this that I can live without?
The Salvation Amy will usually pick up your stuff if you have a significant amount to donate. Since they are taking it all and not sorting through it at the time, you can usually tuck in a lot of books without anyone noticing.
The way to go -
Pay "made in china " laborers a handsome wage and american consumerisim will fizzle out.
Folks: I think I may be older than most of you (59) and have gone through many phases vsi a vis "stuff". Right now I am a graduate student in a Women's Studies program. The greed of western culture is stullifying - I too watch those decorating programs. I recently saw a couple who renovated their kitchen to the tune of $65,000.00. I have a small kitchen in my condo, like to cook, and renovated it 3 years ago for $9,000.00. I do not miss washing the floor of my former house's larger kitchen!
The upsurge in construction of "trophy" houses is nauseating. I'll posit that they are inhabited by people who don't know a Stravinsky from a Ravel. Habitat for Humanity's founder, Millard Fuller, agrees, and will not build houses larger than 1200 square feet, unless the family in question has a huge number of children.
Every gadget and convenience that we enjoy is at the expense of some Asian, Malaysian, Central or South American, Chinese, Phillipino, or Mexican person working for 20 -30 cents an hour. That's what "development" and "global economy" means. I do not know the answer to this inequity, but I do think less is more.
Marjorie
disposophobia and decluttering vs. landfill crises...
maybe we'd get rid of things more intelligently and readily if you discussed options for getting rid of usable stuff that doesn't need to go to the dump.
in nyc i don't need an organized swap or thrift shop. i leave stuff on the sidewalk away from the trashcans that someone can use that isn't worth taxiing to housing works and the thing is always picked up by some passerby that same day. i've gotten some great things ranging from huge thick wood shelving planks to a 5 foot high paper mache cactus.
Wow, what an interesting conversation going on here. One of the things I've always like about AT is the quality of postings by thoughtful people. I'd like to add my two cents to the decluttering issue. I have found that doing it in batches has worked for me. A few years ago a friend and I just "had it" with our clutter and held a yard sale which was a lot of fun if exhausting. We made some good money. The things that were left over we drove to the manned donation truck in the grocery store parking lot in town (I live in the burbs so this is easy for me to do). Things that we didn't want to haul over we left on the curb of the busy street I lived on at the time. They were all gone by the end of the day. I put "free" signs on everything so it was clear. Someone even took all 10 boxes of books in one stop!
Then after I moved to my current apartment, I started using CraigsList to give stuff away. Like others have mentioned, I have a shelf in my closet that I keep adding to, and then I post things to give away for free, I just leave them on my porch when someone "claims" them. Also on CraigsList there are people looking for things, especially teachers, working parents, and others who are trying to make ends meet and still provide for their kids. I am a believer in karma, so I would rather give away things than hold out for money. God knows that I've been the recipient of things that I needed at the 11th hour from generous friends and family.
This process of decluttering has been a long one for me but I think that's ok, because of the psychological aspect. So many things I ended up selling or giving away were things that I had second thoughts about, so getting rid of it all at once would have been stressful. Like anything else in life we can't expect to get it all done in a day or a weekend (the can do it on decorating shows because they have a large staff of helpers!) but the process is definitely worth it. Kudos to all of you for putting forth the effort!
Maxwell, as usual you are so insightful. You have really hit on what so many fail to realize -- your home is where you spring from. You deserve to have a place you love and feel good in, and that means working with your home to help it to reflect who you are and what you want. You always point out that even though there are individual aspects that can be done quickly, that living in an organized, wonderful space is of course, a process and not a weekend event. Thank you for your commitment, keep up the great work and the wonderful impact you are making for our industry! ~Monica