How can you live a simple, streamlined, best-of-the-best life? Curate your condo! Edit your apartment! Hone your home! Find that “just right” balance. When you extract and enjoy the best, truest essence of your life, every day can feel like you are on holiday. Trust me, I am “busy” enjoying the good life in my friend Beatriz’s amazingly perfect place in NW Washington and being inspired to write this post.
Of course, we all gravitate towards “facts” that reinforce our own beliefs, and I am an avowed minimalist, but when I walked into my friend’s house (she is out of town) I knew within seconds I had to share my experience with you, dear readers. An elegant yet understated and purposefully streamlined space. An organized home that welcomes, nurtures, pleases and performs.
Wittingly or not, Beatriz is living by the Goldilocks principle. This concept, that something must fall within certain margins, as opposed to reaching extremes is charmingly illustrated in this childhood classic when Goldilocks intuitively chooses her bowl of porrige – neither too hot, too cold, but “just right.” We all know that sweet spot when we find it. It feels so good, isn’t it worth searching for?!
STREAMLINE YOUR SPACE!
Every single piece of furniture, utilitarian tool, towel, home appliance and decorative item in my friend’s home is “just right.”
What do you see? More to the point, what don’t you? Not too many paintings on the wall. Just the right number to focus on and appreciate each one. It’s color. It’s country of origin. It’s appeal. You know when you are in someone else’s space how you have to bang around to find a pot, the right plug, the remote, etc.? Not at ol’ Beatriz’s perfect place. EVERYTHING makes sense. It is the equivalent of domestic ergonomics. Extra pillows? Duh. In drawers built into the bed. One attractive matching set of plates and glasses. Easy access to everything you need to start…and end…your day.
So why do I marvel at and belabor this point? Because I am a professional organizer and know how rare it is to see anybody (at least in America) live by the simple Goldilocks’ principle. Who among us doesn’t have TOO MUCH? Too much stuff? Too many mismatched coffee mugs? Paperwork piles sky high. Clothes using up precious breathing room in our closet, and a garage in which we park everything BUT our cars!
And why do I care and bother to comment? Because when you live with the “just right” amount, everyday life feels “just right” too. Easy. Fewer decisions to make. Less struggle finding things. More time to enjoy your space instead of rearranging it to look good, make room, clean up. You can come and go as you please, and actually live your life instead of constantly fighting clutter, chaos and lack of control over your time and space. Streamline the backdrop of your home. Smooth out the seams of your day-to-day life, and even the mundane can feel like a treat!
And how do you achieve this balance? By quietly seeking a domestic equivalent of homeostasis, the tendency of the body to seek and maintain a condition of balance or equilibrium within its external environment, even when faced with external changes. Observe how you live. Identify what you need to survive and thrive each day. What items support your daily existence? What makes you feel good when you gaze upon it? And what gets in your way and upsets the ecosystem that is your home. Your life. What creates dysfunction, clutter, wasted time, frustration or guilt?
Then, eliminate that which makes negative contributions to your daily routine. For example, old eyeshadow that you have to paw through to get to the new palette you really love. That useless corkscrew. Receipts from 2014 that are stuffed in the top drawer of your desk and don’t deserve to be taking up valuable real estate! Boxes you never bothered to unpack after your last move that now sit in a corner of your otherwise lovely guest room, making you feel guilty every time you have a visitor, but not guilty enough to unpack.
And then KEEP, ORGANIZE and PRIORITIZE that which facilitates your day. Meets your daily requirements and simplifies your activities and routines. Pretend you are going on a trip. What are you going to pack? What do you NEED? What do you USE? What MATTERS?
What is the real essence of your life? Figure that out and you’re halfway home. Eliminate what is covering up that essence (remember, essence is the root of ESSENTIAL). And you too will be living an edited life, a courageous, curated existence that affords you the opportunity to unclutter your day, your space, your heart, and your mind.
When you do, trust me, every day feels a little bit more like a holiday. And who can argue against THAT?