Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter

Elegance

I remember when my mother got me my first bra. She took me to Barbara Gee’s on Broadway, it was horrifying. The woman behind the counter (Barbara?) said, “Why?” as in, That child doesn’t need a bra. However, my mother bought me two: one beige, one white. And she told me, “Every night, you soak the one you wore that day in the sink and hang it to dry, so you’ll always have one to wear and one drying.” There was a certain elegant simplicity to this way of doing things. I didn’t even need drawer space, just one clip for hanging to dry in the shower. Wear one, wash one. Simple.

I like it when things work like that. Someone gave me some reusable vegetable storage bags and I labeled one “Kale” and one “Romaine.” I constantly empty and refill those two bags. There’s a rhythm to it, everything fits. For the first six months of the pandemic, I had three masks that I rotated through, washing, drip-drying and wearing. Eventually I bought three more, but it was still manageable.

Opulence is abundant, over the top, but elegance is just enough and no more. I strive for elegance.

Where can you streamline? Where do you have too much? So many of us have ten pairs of pants but constantly only wear the same two pairs. What if you just gave away the unloved eight? What if you just kept it really simple?

Everywhere I look there is so much of everything. Pantries are bursting, closets are crammed, file cabinets are jammed. I feel like we need to stop. Breathe. Reevaluate. How did we get here? Do we even want to be here? What do we really need, and how much do we really need?

I don’t want you to starve, or go naked, or even be a minimalist. I just think we could be more elegant if we slowed down, consumed less, considered more. Take stock. Where are you overweighted (sheets? dried beans? moisturizer?). Eliminate the excess so you can see the stuff you want and use, and your life and home will become more simple and elegant; less stressful and cluttered. Who wouldn’t choose simple and elegant over stressful and cluttered?