Lessons From Living With One Suitcase

Ok, let’s talk about some wardrobe wisdom! Actually I wanted to start pouring my heart out over New York, but Vero with her post about style today prompted me to write this one. Honestly, I have been thinking of writing it since I came back from Norway – after 3 months there with only one suitcase. But the inspiration kicked in only now (thank you, Vero!).

This summer I went to Norway for two summer months which turned out to be three months, and very diverse ones. I packed well to be prepared for what a «Norwegian summer» may bring. Two pairs of jeans and a hoodie, a rain jacket, some cardigans, a pair of sneakers, because this is just how summer in Norway can be (and it was. Greeting me with cold and rain). I also threw in a pile of t-shirts, three pair of sandals (why three? I still don’t know why, I never used them all), a summer dress and a pair of shorts.

What I wasn’t prepared for is that we spontaneously had to stay one month more, which was September. And September took us very fast from a mild autumn to almost winter. September in Oslo was suddenly colder than December in Barcelona. And I had to do some urgent shopping. A light winter jacket, a beanie and gloves were just essential for survival. I also had to buy two sweaters since I had none. And my biggest problem was jeans. I was tired of using all the same jeans over three months, and my man said: «Just go buy some new». Haha, if he only knew that finding your perfect jeans is like finding your perfect man. Nothing is as difficult as shopping for jeans, agree?

from winter in New York

through the sunny autumn

into the summer of Florida

Home: Place for Everything

The good thing about changing a flat is that one can start creating the new space just as one wishes. From the blank page. When I moved in with my husband, his flat was already set, so I had to carve out small spaces for my changes and things. When we moved now to Barcelona, the flat was empty, with very few pieces of furniture (I even had to sleep on the floor the first weeks). So we had to spend some time and money visiting all the interior stores (instead of drinking sangria and eating tapas, like most of my friends thought I was doing :)). The upside of it was that I had more freedom in creating our home this time.

Now, after all stress and mess, I feel content with some results and want to share the corners I like. This one is from my side of the bedroom. It is a sunny room with the big French windows, which are also doors to the balcony. It is so great to wake up and see the sunlight beaming through. And in the evening I like to light a candle and unwind with a book. I close the door and feel like it is my secret garden. Where there is place for my books, my dreams, my jewelry, my inspiration – the place for everything.

The Quality of Life

Decluttering teaches me some basic wisdom. Going through old things, getting rid of many of them (including some postcards and notes from friends, which is a heart-ripping activity) the old idea downs on me. We spend so much of our life worrying about things and money – but in the end of the day it’s people that matter.

We spend our lives working hard for money, buying stuff, accumulating things – and then we discover that we need to declutter, to get rid of much in order to get a better quality of life. Time flies. We may stress over various aspects, focus on different areas of our life. But at certain times we cast a look over all our possessions and realize that all that hardship and stress was unnecessary. As someone reminded, on their deathbed people don’t ask for their diplomas, trophies or things – they want to be surrounded by the people that matter to them.

Somewhere on the subway I have seen a commercial for the storage services, and it had this tagline: “The more you live, the more space you need”. It referred to different kinds of people, sport enthusiasts, parents, nonconformists, who collect things and need extra space to store them. Something felt wrong with this tagline. And then my man expressed this for me: “This sentence is wrong. The more you live – the less space you should need”. Right!

Lessons of Simple Living

The past month has seen us doing the job of fixing our home. More of it here. At the same time, it has been a good practice of simple living. As we had to get rid of most of the personal things and hide away some stuff, I found myself in a dream minimalistic setting. Here is what I have learnt so far :))

Home: Minimalistic Hygge

I have started telling the story of us planning to sell our flat. Now let me present the results of our hard work (cleaning, fixing and painting). I especially enjoyed the part of being a stylist :)) I got use for all my Scandinavian inspiration and went for the modern color scheme of light pink and eucalyptus green with some black and white details. Let’s see how it turned out to be!

An Attempt at Minimalism

When I worked in the Danish design store of jewelry and living, I liked telling the story behind the product because the story makes it more personal. I would often tell my customers: “When it comes to such things as jewelry, we want it to have meaning: either they are a gift from somebody dear, a heritage, or they have a story you can connect to”. I was not making things up, this has become my own truth too. I would say: “With clothes, I can go and buy some cheap t-shirt and throw it away next summer. With jewelry, I want it to last many years and have some special memory every time I use it. This is why I like when my necklace is a gift, even if I could buy it myself. And it is ok to give presents to yourself too, if you want to mark an occasion that is special for you. It is also ok when they cost some money – choosing and thinking over is all the part of the process. You would not want some cheap thing – it would not have the same value for you over time”.

I have come to realize that my relationship with things has changed. A lot. Growing up in a very turbulent time in Ukraine, right after the collapse of Soviet Union, I was not spoiled by things. I remember wearing my mom’s shirts and my dad’s flared jeans (I was kinda hippie and loved the 70s style). I remember shopping at second hand. My jewelry was self-made necklaces and friendship bracelets which fitted with the eccentric style of my hippie friends. While my girl peers were busy with make-up, pretty clothes and boyfriends, I couldn’t care less about it. I focused on studying and dreamt about getting into the Moscow university, filling my time and fancy with rock’n’roll music, the Beatles, drawing and making up stories with my friend. I was a typical dreamer.