After a move to the suburbs, a reckoning By Jennifer Ghymn Before my daughter came along, my husband and I were city folk living in tiny, 500-square-feet apartments. We only had room for the basics, and if something was purchased, then something else had to go. Having less clutter allowed us to make the most
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Creating a capsule wardrobe can help support everything from reduced waste to women’s rights By Brittany Barbato After years of budget-shopping for work clothes at Salvation Army and Goodwill, I looked into the mix-and-match jungle in my closet one morning and thought: I have nothing to wear. I decided I needed to purge. Clothes flew left
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Forget the doodads. This is all you need to create beautiful meals. By Christina Pirello I hate gadgets. I’m glad that’s off my chest. From garlic presses to citrus juicers, I have little use for any of it. Give me a chef knife and a cutting board and I’m all set. Every time I see a
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Illustration by James Olstein Running in Circle interview by Heather Shayne Blakeslee For the last few decades, scholar and author Juliet Schor has been studying Americans: the way that we work, play and spend. She’s made her life’s work of understanding the economic and cultural forces that mold us—as well as what makes us happy,
MoreIllustration by James Olstein Buy Nothing, Gain Everything by Susan Corcoran About two years ago, I realized that every time I walked into my apartment I felt anxious and unfulfilled. Things I didn’t use were everywhere. I was always questioning why I had so much when it caused me nothing but stress. I first tried
MoreLetting Go of Sentimental Items by Joshua Fields Millburn My mother died in 2009. She lived a thousand miles away, and it was my responsibility to vacate her apartment in Florida. It was a small, one-bedroom place, but it was packed wall-to-wall with her belongings. Mom had great taste (she could have been an interior
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Krista Pleger enjoys her clutter-free apartment. A table in the Bella Vista apartment of Susan Corcoran. The shared bathroom space of Art Museum resident Krista Pfleger. Krista’s sink is on the right. Aaron Bitler’s sparse sanctuary. The light-filled, West Philadelphia bedroom of Ayse Unver. Aaron Bitler’s closet of wardrobe essentials. Susan Corcoran’s living room furnishings.
MoreEnough is Enough by Heather Shayne Blakeslee I very briefly nannied for a couple on the upper West Side of Manhattan—let’s call them Sarah and John. I once listened to them argue in front of me, in French, over the welfare of a child’s hat that had been purchased in Paris. It was maybe eight
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