Less is More

For graduate school, I recently reviewed a book called What’s Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption.  I couldn't have loved, or needed to read, a book more… The whole premise is the recent rise of collaborative consumption, or the move away from ownership in the traditional sense to borrowing/ sharing/ collectivism.

I really can’t do the topic justice in a blog post, but the authors discussed everything from product sharing services, such as Zipcar, to re-distribution services (my personal favorite), like Craigslist, and collective lifestyles, such as LandShare.  All of these services connect people who have a product with others who want to borrow it, buy it, or share it.

Thus, eliminating the waste associated with making a new product as well as the waste associated with throwing away an old one.  To get a great sense of the message, check out this YouTube clip:

For me the bottom line was:  We have too much stuff.  In America, the average home size has gone from 932 square feet in 1950 to over 2,400 square feet in 2005 (over double!) – while the average number of people per home has gone down from 4.5 to 2.6.

I’ve mentioned my recent home goal to start de-cluttering rooms.  But this is also a personal goal… Less consumption and greater appreciation for living within the space we need.

{all images via loving.living.small.}

Part of this effort for me includes looking for great design inspiration for smaller spaces… Can't wait to share more, as I continue to explore!