8 weeks until 2015
Be there at the Marathon finish line in 8 weeks with SimpleSizing accomplishments.
Scroll down to #1 – or just to the last 2 weeks’ assignment: practices and quit.
THIS WEEK’s assignment: ROOM(s) Even if you live in a cave, you have a room.
REMOVE is the #1 thing to do for a room
Remove something. Pick up your stuff. Straighten up. Tidy up – and not just simple clutter. Stylists tell us to take something off before we walk out the door. Take something “off” your rooms too. Then give it away.
Remove/omit entire rooms next time you move. It’s downsizing in a smarter SimpleSize way. A classic under-used room is the dining room, which, in many homes, sits empty 350+ days a year. Think of the price per use; think of the abundant gourmet, organic, fine evenings out you can swap for the price of a dining room’s cost per square foot! For example, look how this wall unit becomes the dining room. My 2015 house goal is removing a couple of upper cabinets to open up and avoid doors; my dishes can go below or just sit counter-top. What furniture can you remove? What room can you do without? More on this when we talk surfaces next week.
Remodelista is a book by Julie Carlson which Cousin Gail gave me for my birthday. An idea it taught me is to treat rooms as a body – change the clothes. It’s like moving – overnight! Some instant changes:
– Move a potted plant to divide a room and create a new area.
– Lean a mirror against the wall to make a small room bigger.
– Interchange tables and desks – or just have one.
– Move a piece of furniture to give it and you a new view.
– Recruit a pile of coffee table books to become the coffee table itself.
MORE “R”s
– RE – The prefix itself is an entire approach to life. The classic environmental phrase is Reduce Reuse Recycle. Restore, re-up, reinvent, renew, repeat, release.
– Revolt! My colleague’s new book is about revolt. Jaye Smith and friends nailed a new idea in Revolutionary Retirement for people eyeing retirement. I suggest at any age we should keep retiring things, habits, routines – anything no longer useful – to shake off old views.
– RTFM – Read The F*cking Manual is an acronym suggested in the book The Laws of Simplicity to urge a simple way to get things done.
– Recipe – Nourishment lies in recipes – for food, for living, Be a recipe developer of your own life. Throw out the old; reinvent; make up new.
– Repetition – Downton Abbey has characters repeat their attire, as people, even rich ones, did/still do. Ken Burns repeats a trusted formula in his documentaries, saying, “Doing the same thing over and over is called style.” Make your repetitive style work for you.
ROI (Return On Investment) A light bulb is one of the greatest returns on investment ever.
Rich – You’re not rich if you crave more.
Comments 1
Hi Carol
I love Reading and Rereading the “R s ”
Well done!!
Talk on Sunday -it has been too long
Love
Anita
Sent from my iPhone Anita Sabatino
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