少即多
酷銳話題
作者：By Graham Hill
Did you know that we Americans have about three times the amount of space we did 50 years ago？ Three times. So you’d think， with all this extra space， we’d have plenty of room for all our stuff， right？ Nope. There’s a new industry in town， a 22-billion-dollar-2.2-billion-square-foot industry， that of personal storage. So we’ve got triple the space， so we’ve become such good shoppers that we need even more space.
So where does this lead？ Lots of credit card debt， huge environmental footprints， and perhaps， not coincidentally， our happiness levels flat-line over the same 50 years.
Well I’m here to suggest there’s a better way， that less might actually equal more.
So I started a project called “Life Edited” at to further this conversation and to find some great solutions in this area. First up：
1）crowd sourcing my 420 ft2 apartment in Manhattan. I wanted it all： home office， sit-down dinner for 10， room for guests， and all my kitesurfing gear. With over 300 entries from around the world， I got it， my own little jewel box. By buying a space that was 420 ft2 instead of 600， immediately I’m saving 200 grand. Smaller space is going to make for smaller utilities， save some more money there， but also a smaller footprint. And because it’s really designed around an edited set of possessions， my favorite stuff， and really designed for me， I’m really excited to be there.
So how can you live little？ First of all， you have to edit ruthlessly. We’ve got to clear the arteries of our lives. That shirt， that I haven’t worn in years； it’s time for me to let it go. We need to think before we buy； ask ourselves， “Is that really gonna make me happier， truly？” By all means， we should buy and own some great stuff. But we want stuff that we’re gonna love for years， not just stuff.