Reader's Questions: My Story of 'Living Better With Less'

I've been working on creating video for the blog but haven't gotten it to the point I'm happy with it so back to posting!!

Amanda asks "I would be interested in hearing more about how you saw the connection between your 'over-shopping' and the sense of order that you have found. Thanks!"

As you may know, while I'm naturally neat and organized, I'm a shopaholic. And while my over-shopping is under control, I have to work to keep it that way. Here's how I did it...

Before I became a PO, living in my first apt, there was a moment I looked around and thought "All these things I buy are supposed to make me happy, but the reality is they don't. I hate my apt; it doesn't reflect me or how I want to live and I'm embarrassed to have friends over. I hate my wardrobe; I don't have a strong sense of style and even though I have lots of clothes, I have nothing to wear. I hate my bank account; it's drained from buying all these things!"

I realized it's not the AMOUNT of things, it's about having the RIGHT things, so I stopped shopping and started thinking. If I could figure out how I want my apartment to look, feel, and function, then I should only take things into my life that help me accomplish that. That 'things' should be seen as tools to help me live the life I want, and not just stuff or buy or fill up a space.

Once I changed the way I saw the things coming into my life, I buy much less, but I also hardly ever return anything (common practice before) and have very little to give away at the end of the year when doing spring cleaning. I have less but love and use just about everything I have!