Author Archives: Claire

About Claire

I’m a writer, declutterer, and lover of fabric, furniture and books (oh, and my laptop!) I especially like to write about decluttering and debt-free living.

The Furniture Hunt Begins

By Claire Posted in downsizing, Personal, Small-House Living Tagged , , ,

I know I said I wouldn’t start looking for smaller scale furniture right away, but apparently, I lied. Today, I couldn’t resist the temptation to take a peek into one furniture store that I have to drive past to get groceries.

Oh my gosh. Last time, I noted that there are tons of small sofas for sale online. Well, there were none in this store. Only ginormous sofas. Even the loveseats were big. And I saw a sectional sofa that was so long in both directions that it would not fit in our living room unless we let it completely block the front door.

I can see this is going to be harder than I thought. Many of the small sofas I saw online were not of the highest quality. They often call them apartment sofas, I suppose because people use them to fit into apartments, which tend to be on the small side. But such people often move frequently so they aren’t looking for quality, long-lasting furniture. However, I am.

With the Christmas tree up, we’re more cramped in the living room than usual. This has only increased my motivation to find good-quality, small-scale furniture for our living room. However, I suspect this might take a while.

Small-Scale Furniture

By Claire Posted in downsizing, Small-House Living Tagged , , , ,

In Secrets of Small-House Living, I share information about how to furnish a small house. Among other ideas, you should have furniture that is scaled for small rooms.

Since we lived in very large houses for many years, all of our furniture was appropriately sized (i.e. large) for those houses. When we got here, we had to give up a lot of furniture, but kept our very favorite pieces, which were still too large for our new, small home.

Being sentimental, and not being made of money, we chose to keep what we had instead of buying new, smaller furniture. For eight years, we’ve been living with our old furniture. But I’m getting tired of feeling cramped, and we need more seating for visitors, like our rapidly growing grandchildren. So I’m starting to look at new furniture.

We still love what we have. I’m thinking maybe we could make a rec room area in our basement and use it there. My husband isn’t so sure. I’m not even sure. The only thing I’ve learned so far is that modern furniture is more streamlined than what we have, and it’s become a lot easier to find sofas that are less than 75” wide, which is good for a small living room.

With the holidays looming, I probably won’t do any more furniture shopping until January. Stay tuned!

Black Friday Lessons

By Claire Posted in Clutter, Personal, Small-House Living Tagged , , , , ,

I never got into the Black Friday excitement when it first cropped up years ago, probably because I don’t like crowds. But once it moved online, I learned that it could be quite a temptation for me.

Case in point: this Thanksgiving, it was just us at home for dinner because illness was running rampant through our extended family. So once the turkey was in the oven, I was free to sit and shop the Black Friday fabric sales in the comfort of my recliner.

I actually spent two hours looking at fabric, picking out my favorites and then, later, talking myself out of them. There was a needed purchase that I planned on making, and I did so at 20% off due to the Black Friday sale, but that was all I bought.

It was quite a struggle, I can tell you. Each fabric that appealed to me came with its own idea: this would make a cute top, that would make such a nice dress, and on and on. Who knows how many tabs I had open?

But I had to be strict with myself, because I know me. I’ve written about “I Was Gonna,” and how that gets us creative types into trouble. Well, every one of those potential purchases might have eventually ended up on the “I Was Gonna” list. I know this because of my track record, and because I already have several large pieces of fabric waiting their turn to become clothing. I really don’t need more.

The fabric I did buy is needed to finish a project; that’s OK. But starting new projects? Not until those fabrics currently in line become actually finished clothing. Otherwise I end up with a sewing room full of clutter, which is exactly what I don’t want.

Oh, Marie….

By Claire Posted in Clutter, Simpler Living Tagged , ,

Decluttering guru Marie Kondo became so famous for promoting decluttering that she ended up posing on the red carpet at this year’s Oscars. But the woman known for her decluttering books and Netflix show just made a huge mistake: she opened up an online shop so she can sell high-priced clutter.

Of course, capitalizing on your fame by coming up with a related product line is an American tradition. Just think of how much money people like Martha Stewart, Ree Drummond and Paula Deen have made by turning their fame into additional fortune.

But here’s the thing: they weren’t decluttering gurus. They became popular for other talents, and parlayed those talents into stuff they can sell to their fans for a big payback. But when your whole shtick is getting rid of stuff, how do you justify selling stuff back to your fans, and high-priced stuff at that?

You can’t. There is no justification. Ms. Kondo is going against everything she has promoted in her books and Netflix show. I suspect she will regret this move.