You Can Buy Happiness (and It’s Cheap)

You Can Buy Happiness (and It’s Cheap)

Another great book.

You Can Buy Happiness (and It’s Cheap) How One Woman Radically Simplified Her Life and How You Can Too, by Tammy Strobel.

I have always been interested in the small house movement, so this book was right up my alley.

Tammy takes you through her downsizing process (or as she refers to it, smart-sizing) from working a hectic job and turning to shop for comfort, to living in the tiny-ess of tiny houses with her husband. She explains that it was a slow process, with several downsizing of apartments for them to get to their current living space of  8 feet wide, 16 feet long, and 13.5 feet tall.

The big lesson in her story is that by living with less she found peace and happiness that she didn’t have before. Isn’t that the point? Peace and happiness from within.

Tammy states some facts on page 83. In 1950 the average American home was 983 square feet. By 1970 it was 1,400 square feet and by 2004 it had expanded to 2.300 square feet. I agree with her statements that we have become an over-the-top consumer society. People are looking outward (by buying stuff) for their happiness and then they need a bigger house to store all this stuff.

Tammy decided to radically change her lifestyle and I admire her conviction. I don’t live in a small house. It’s a pretty average size. But, I shop consciously and don’t keep anything I don’t use or love. I do see myself radically downsizing in the future when my kids are no longer living with us. I am starting the discussion with my husband. I’ll never get into a tiny house, but the idea interests me.

What do you think? If you’d like to see and read about Tammy’s tiny house visit her blog RowdyKittens.com.

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Janet Schiesl

Janet Schiesl

Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.

She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.

Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.

Janet Schiesl

Janet Schiesl

Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.

She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.

Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.

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