Post #19 – “R” – Rock Your Room(s) and Be Richer by Craving Less

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.