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.

Small Homes: The Right Size

By Claire Posted in Small-House Living Tagged , ,



If you like the idea of living small, of creating your own living space, of keeping down costs or even coming out of a build or renovation debt-free, Small Homes is the book for you.

It’s full of stories about people who used their hopes, dreams and ingenuity to create modest-sized homes (about 300-1200 s/f) for themselves and their families. Some of the homes sit on incredibly beautiful pieces of land, others do not, but all of the homeowners featured in this book worked hard to make affordable, sustainable homes for themselves.

The book makes ample use of photos, which are so valuable in a book like this. Many of the homes appear quite cluttered, which is not my thing, as I live in a small ranch that I try to keep uncluttered by having only what I need and using storage wherever possible (I’ve written a few books on that topic myself). But these homes are so winsome that I can appreciate them despite wishing they had more closed cupboards, or furniture with storage.

Most websites, books and magazines that feature small houses show impossibly expensive fixtures and furniture, completely impractical ideas for the average person. But this book is just the opposite: you’ll find lots of useful ideas that require ingenuity more than dollars. Several of the homeowners in the book outfitted their homes with sturdy furniture they found at garage sales or thrift stores. Some incorporated only things that were given to them. Their homes may not look like something out of Better Homes and Gardens, but they have charm and personality. Most importantly, their low cost lets their owners live the kind of lives they want to live instead of spending their days chained to a cubicle doing work they hate so they can afford to keep up with the Joneses. What encouragement for those of us who prefer freedom over having a big income!

I’ve enjoyed many of Lloyd Kahn’s previous books and highly recommend them, but I think I like Small Homes best because there are just so many clever yet modestly sized homes in this one.

Surviving a Financial Reversal

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

I called a friend today to wish her a happy birthday and found her in a funk. She said it wasn’t so much her age that was bothering her (today she reached the big round number that’s exactly halfway between zero and 100), but that she never dreamed that she would be where she is at this point in her life.

You see, like so many of us, she lost her job several years ago. She had weathered unemployment before; it was common in her industry, and she’d always found another job quickly. But that last job she lost turned out to be her last full-time job in her industry; despite applying for work everywhere and networking whenever possible, she hasn’t found a full-time job that pays anywhere near what she used to make. As a result, she’s been through foreclosure and bankruptcy, and has lived in a series of rental houses and townhouses while trying to make enough money from side jobs to stay afloat and keep her two growing children in food and clothing (she’s a single mom).

One of her comments to me was that she never dreamed she would no longer own a house at 50. I understood completely. I turned 50 the year after my husband had to close down his business and we were forced to sell our family home to stay afloat financially. We didn’t know where to go; we just had to find some place cheaper than our hometown. So we moved to a lovely vacation town four hours away, rented a house near the beach, and began to research what we would do next. That’s how I spent my 50th birthday, far from most of our family and friends, living in a rented house with no idea of where we would go next.

One of the things I shared with my friend is that we’re not alone. Many, many people are casualties of the economic disaster of the past ten years. And while some may have asked for trouble by buying houses they couldn’t really afford or spending all their home equity on vacations and clothes, others, like my husband and me, were debt-free but lost our income through no fault of our own.

Just recently I met a woman whose healthcare-related family business was wiped out as a result of the Affordable Care Act. She and her husband had to sell the gorgeous historic country home they had so painstakingly renovated years earlier and move to a tiny ranch in the closest town. Like my friend and me, she knows what it’s like to lose your home and belongings because of financial reversal.

That said, it does no good to wallow in our misery, even when we meet others in a similar situation (misery does love company, you know). After an initial grieving period, it’s important to move on. No, you didn’t expect this to happen, or to be where you are at this point in time. But stuff happens. And of course, it could be worse. If you and your family are healthy, you’re fortunate indeed.

To recover from a big financial reversal that changes your life, you have to look for the silver lining. I was inspired to write my downsizing eBook after realizing all the good that came out of being forced to sell or donate more than half of our belongings in order to fit into the little ranch house we finally ended up in after being forced to sell our family home.

For years I had been mentally overwhelmed by a basement, garage and house filled with the clutter created by a large family and two home businesses, but never found enough time to deal with all that stuff. Our three moves in four years forced us to do so. As a result we now live with far fewer belongings, yet we’re surrounded by our most valued and useful items without being burdened by clutter.

Better yet, we no longer have the specter of financial ruin hanging over our head. Our income may be much smaller than it was ten years ago, but so are our expenses. What a relief to have reached a point where life seems more manageable!

And as we face our senior years (something my friend is surely doing today), we realize that living with less stuff and less expenses is something that will make life easier as we age. As a bonus, we can already spend more time doing things we like to do because we spend so much less time on the care of a big house and yard. If there’s one thing I know for certain, it’s that time is becoming more precious the older I get.

So my advice for my friend, corny as is sounds, is to make lemonade when life gives you lemons. Instead of lamenting what you once had, or where you thought you would be by now, accept reality and move on. Make the changes you need to make and enjoy the benefits that come with them. Why waste energy thinking about what might have (should have) been when you can be using your energy to enjoy life now? There are good things about your current situation, but you’re going to have to make the effort to find them…..and celebrate them.

Why Procrastinators Should Live in Small Houses

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

I’m a procrastinator.

I’ve been one all my life. It’s a habit I’ve been unable to break, no matter how hard I try.

On a related note, I’m also guilty of excessive optimism. I see things I want to read or make, and I buy them and set them aside for “someday.” My optimism is seen in my belief that I will ever get to the book or project. Usually, I can’t find time for it, or by the time I do, it’s not as appealing as it was when I bought it however many years before.

When we downsized, I had to wave the white flag and admit defeat by giving up many unread books and unfinished (often unstarted) projects. It was hard to admit that I’d blown it, and in a few cases, it was painful to let go of something I still wanted to read or make. But I’ve forgotten most of what I had to give up at that time, so it’s not that big of a deal.

That said, I’m still an optimistic procrastinator, and I still see things I want to read or make. But I don’t buy most of them, simply because I don’t have the room to store them until I get to them.

You see, when we lived in a big house, there were oodles of parking places for these items I thought I was going to need someday. They sat in those spaces collecting dust until I was finally forced to get rid of them when we had to give up the big house and downsize.

Now we live in a very small house, and there’s not a lot of room to store anything. I still buy things that I plan on reading or making, but not very often because there are few places to put them when I get home. As a matter of fact, I’m getting ready to go through everything again to see what else I can give up. Then I’m going to read or make what’s left (and very soon, because this small house won’t let me hang onto everything like I used to). Now I read something and then give it away, or make something and give it as a gift. Should I decide to keep something I’ve read or made, I’ll have to get rid of something else to make room for it.

That’s why I think small houses are the perfect homes for procrastinators. They force us to use things or lose them.

A Small House Should Cost You Less, Not More!

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

At the public library, I saw a book about small house living. It was full of very modern and expensive-looking new small houses with lofts, stone siding, high-end appliances and pricey floors. I felt like the author and publisher were missing the point.

One of the biggest benefits of small-house living is that it keeps your costs down, freeing up your money (so you can stay solvent) and time (so you can do other things instead of working like a dog to pay for an expensive house). Having a small house filled with expensive features requires a certain level of income that an increasing number of people don’t have anymore. So it seems silly to focus on so many showy small houses with inevitably large price tags.

Small houses were once very much in vogue, and can still be found all over the country. Now that small houses are making a comeback, people are realizing that an older, well-built small house in a good neighborhood makes more sense than anything else in the real estate market. Unlike condos, there are no HOA fees or rules. Unlike large homes, there are low utility bills and property taxes.

Some of the houses in that book I saw had fancy stairways with backless steps made of metal. Many existing small houses also have two stories, but I prefer a ranch. It’s a lot easier to move into a one-story house than a two-story house. Also, as I age, I can see that someday, steps will become my nemesis. Many other baby boomers are coming to the same conclusion, so I think ranches will be extremely desirable for the foreseeable future.

In any case, once you age out of the need or desire for a large house, small-house living becomes very attractive, whether you want a basic small house or one of the modern ones like I saw in the library book. It just makes so much sense in the times we live in now.