"Less is More"

I am constantly trying to adhere to the William Morris quote:

“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”

With two small children and a husband that’s mildly afraid to throw anything away, this often proves difficult. And in the interest of full disclosure, I really enjoying shopping (the clearance table at Anthropologie is my downfall) and therefore frequently come home with things I don’t really need or love.

I’ve spent a lot of time lately thinking about how to live with less. A while back, my friend Kim posted something to her blog that really resonated with me, so I printed it and tucked it in my wallet for especially tempting moments:

“Americans accumulate a lot of stuff. Our homes tend to be stuffed with knick-knacks; our closets are overflowing; our garages often house boxes rather than cars. It’s just part of our culture... I’ve never been to the home of a European who had the masses of stuff that their American counterpart would have. It’s not an issue of wealth – it’s more philosophical. They are not impulsive shoppers like we are and they don’t feel the need to have the variety and volumes of stuff that we do. I think our car buying makes it clearer: An American family would more likely have three $20,000 cars than one $60,000 car. A European family is just the opposite. In America, a Mercedes is a status symbol. In Europe, it’s a taxi.”

It’s inspired me more than once to put whatever I have in my hand back on the shelf and walk out of the store. Progress…