MORE is Less or LESS is MORE

everyone always says “less is more”
such a simple phrase that is now a common saying...and yet what is behind those three little words?
when packing less i still wanted one more shirt, one more book...yet i had so much less than when we had our 3 bedroom house full of so much more. how little is less i kept thinking? throw me a bone people i have 3 bags, and i’m still working for less? less has 4 letters and so does more, who made one better than the other? who decides what is less? why is the one thing i still find my self attached to considered “more”. i’m all about this “less thing” yet can i just bring along this one more??

after a week here and settling in it finally clicked.....the over used statement, “less is more”, finally had some real purpose and meaning. although i used it over and over again to encourage myself i never took time to think about it beyond the surface and i lacked the understanding of it’s true significance.......

more can be created and discovered by using and consuming less.

the more you put your mind to having less. the more that comes about.
when more of your surroundings are new and unknown, you have less to want and even need.
more time to think immediately equal less time to move throughout life in a fast unawake motion.
more appreciation and rediscovery of what you have enhances that feeling of wanting less.
more space to breathe and move about freely naturally keeps less coming into the house.
seems like more is conquering less, yet i’ve been pulling for her the whole time!


living in a new environment i am quickly learning how to create more out of less.

let’s use the example of trash.

there is so much MORE to trash. OK --anyone that knows me, knows i’m not afraid of another’s trash becoming another’s treasure- an old chair w/ some love can have a new home and so forth.
But back to the basics-less is more-and here trash is a real issue.
as many have to come to preach and teach you can almost eliminate all trash when you make it LESS.
here there is no garbage pick up, so quickly you think about how to use, recycle or put what you use right back into the earth. without trash pick up, recycling day, and compost bins from lowes.
yet isn’t that how it started? or did i forget to teach my third grade class about when the native americans had trash pick up days?
have we become so spoiled to convenience, that we assume we can do less and have more? why then is it just the “eco friendly” “hippies” “environmentalist” of the world are the ones who have caught on?
i’ll tell you there is no Sierra Club down here, we’re just in it together, because it is the circumstance. so by having less organization more is put on the individual.
yet i look at the states and within society we now have people making millions off the basic concept of being responsible for what you take and consume. people making more off of those not wanting to think about how to dispose less. it’s almost mind blowing.


of course this concept has been explored before leaving the states. i’d like to believe i’m a pretty conscious person. however w/ out someone coming each week to pick up your trash, recycling, just think...what could and would YOU do with the breakdown of your consumption??? i’d like to say i did my best to avoid adding to the landfills at home, but now i can say i’m again working again on ‘less is more’.


so to start the break down of putting less into a trash bag that has no more of a home than an unwanted mosquito.....

plastic is your worst enemy. and i can’t say i have any enemies. unless in a container shape that can be cut and reused as a planter, water pail, soap holder,etc. then the plastic just looms like a creepy guy in a bar you wish would stop staring at you. sure you make the best of it. think oh he’s had a tough life. so use him as a garbage bag, yet then there he is still staring at you. as time passes i don’t feel bad for him but rather think who thought plastic was a good idea? like who thinks it’s a good idea to keep serving a creepy drunk guy at the bar?

vegetables, fruit, organic matter oh...i can’t say enough good things... are your best friends. you wish they would always be around for the good company. You know they continue to enhance the life around you so you savor your time with them. the compost smiles like an old friend at a reunion knowing that every time a new person walks through the door and the party gets bigger...that the energy is only going to create more!

paper is like that solid work partner, it’s always going to be there and as long as you respect it and treat it right there will be a good balance. as time passes you learn so much more about your partner. what once seemed two dimensional and flat, changes as you have less around you more comes out about your partner paper. at times there to help you get things started and at others times simply there to encourage your creative spirit. amazing how much you discover when you don’t just assume it has no purpose or nothing to offer.

aluminum definitely looms and yet blooms. cans and tins have such a hidden beauty when put to a new use. aluminum is your friend from grade school that you see ten years later and looks like for a lack of better words a “knock out”. when covered and kept between the lines, not much is seen. but when revealed and used individually there is so much beauty. lighting up porches, growing gardens, resting paintbrushes, saving change, scooping food, it almost seems after all this time of knowing this person that now they can do just about anything.

glass here is like a sweet gem, a fragile god daughter, a sweet pea. though when in your possession you feel special, you know as you pass it on good things happen. most glass i should say is this special. you have a nice cold coca cola, enjoy every sip and then the pretty glass bottle goes right into a crate to protect her as she travels back to be filled up and bring about another smile to the next person that shares time with her. other glass i like to take just as much pride in by creating a candle holder, mosaic tiles, corking olive oil. there are however those unwanted bottles by the masses that get left out like stray dogs in the alley. those i’m working on, just as i wanted to bring home every stray or lonely pet, i’ve started a collection of the “random” glass that doesn’t have a special comfy spot in a crate. for those i aim to give attention and beauty.

less places to put things, less consumption, less trash =
more thought. more concern for mater. more creative recycling. more uses. more growth. more reusing. more organization. more self reliance. more collective understanding. more back to the basics. more appreciation. more awareness.

that’s that.
score card is for more!!! more is less. less is more.
not sure i’m choosing sides, but me and more are getting along just as well if not better than we were before i left.