Destiny | Livin' Small

It seems that everyone is jumping on the downsizing bandwagon these days.  Baby boomers spend hundreds of dollars working with organizing experts, whose job it is to deal with people's "stuff" unemotionally.  As she steps gingerly around the mess of papers, tchotchkes, and furniture accumulated over the decades, the organizer delivers the bad news to the anxious homeowner:  "Sixty percent of all this has to go!"

So now that downsizing is chic, and is even a desirable goal if one is to "live smart" in these economic times, it boggles the mind to think that there are still mega-mansions with 18 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms, and 3 rooms used exclusively for wrapping gifts.  Really!  Who needs such excessive indulgence?

Could you be happy living in a 300-square-foot apartment? 

Are you tackling the mammoth task of purging items and papers and clothes from your living quarters?  Well, keep in mind that "livin' small" is a goal that is not only good for "the planet," but ultimately, for your own well-being.

You know you have reached perfection of design not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away. -- Antoine de St. Exupery, French writer (The Little Prince), 1900-1944

Linda Jay is a writer/editor who is completely in love with words.  A publishing professional, she started her career as an advertising copywriter in the Trade Book Department of Little, Brown Publishers in Boston when JFK was president.  She’s written profiles and feature stories for national magazine on topics ranging from artists to multimedia enthusiasts to academics and engineers.  Nowadays, Linda writes marketing copy, website text, blog posts, and high-tech magazine p.r. In addition, she copyedits book manuscripts in genres ranging from business to vampires and zombies, for authors in the U.S. and in other countries.  She also edits and proofreads magazine articles, website email blasts, and print material of all types.