The Joy of Less, a Minimalist Living Guide Read Online Free PDF

(cute as they may be) clutter up your cabinets and drawers.
    Gifts, on the other hand, require a different game plan. I’ve found it best to accept them graciously, without going overboard on the gratitude (because if you make a big fuss, you’re sure to receive something similar next year). Yet that leaves a dilemma: what should you do with gifts you don’t want? We certainly don’t want to shove them in drawers, or the backs of our closets—we’re trying to declutter, after all!
    The solution is simple: never let them settle in. Keep a donation box outside of your living space (like in the basement), and stash unwanted stuff in there immediately. When it’s full, cart it to your favorite local charity. The time delay between receiving the item and donating it (while waiting to fill the box), can actually work in your favor. For example: if Aunt Maude visits in the intervening months, you can quickly retrieve those bookends she gave you and set them out for display. Photographing the gift also works wonders: if it’s a tchotchke, snap a shot of it on your mantelpiece; if it’s a sweater or scarf, put it on and pose for a picture. Send the photo to the gift giver, and the item to charity, and happiness will reign all around.
    In order to be a good gatekeeper, you have to think of your house as sacred space, not storage space. You’re under no obligation to provide a home to every stray object that crosses your path. When one tries to sneak or charm its way in, remember that you have the power to deny entrance. If the item won’t add value to your life in terms of function or beauty, hang out the “Sorry, No Vacancy” sign. A simple refusal up front will save you tons of decluttering down the road!

PHILOSOPHY
 

7
Embrace space

 
    I hope you like quotes, because I’m starting this chapter with another one of my favorites: “Music is the space between the notes.” My interpretation of composer Claude Debussy’s words: beauty requires a certain amount of emptiness to be appreciated—otherwise, you have only chaos and cacophony.
    For our purposes, we’ll put a minimalist twist on this idea and say, “Life is the space between our things.” Too much clutter can stifle our creativity, and make our lives discordant. Conversely, the more space we have, the more beautifully and harmoniously we can live.
    Space: it’s not anything, really, but we never seem to have enough of it. The lack of it distresses us to no end; in fact, we’d do almost anything to have more space in our houses, more space in our closets, and more space in our garages. We remember having larger amounts of it sometime in the past, and its disappearance is cause for concern. We look around with puzzled expressions and wonder, “Where did all our space go?”
    We have fond memories of how it looked the first day we moved into our homes; oh, all that glorious space! But what happened? It’s not nearly as impressive as we remember it. Well, our space didn’t go anywhere. It’s still right there where we left it. The space didn’t change; our priorities did. We focused so much of our attention on stuff that we completely forgot about the space. We lost sight of the fact that the two are mutually exclusive: that for each new thing we bring into our homes, a little bit of space disappears. The problem: we put more value on our stuff than on our space.
    Here’s the good news: space may be easy to lose, but it’s just as easy to reclaim. Get rid of an item, and voilà! Space! Get rid of another item, and voilà! More space! This is fun! Soon, all those little spaces add up to a big space, and we can actually move around again. Take advantage of all that newfound space and do a little happy dance!
    What we need to keep in mind (and which is way too easy to forget) is that the amount of stuff we’re able to own is limited by the amount of space we have to contain it. It’s simple physics. No amount of stuffing, scrunching, pushing, or