About My Values

These are my values for making a home. Some are lifted directly from my general list of values; others are specific to the process of buying, decorating, and maintaining a home. The bullets explain what they mean in real life.

 

To bring myself joy

•  Not stressing too much
•  Having a house I like to be in

To bring my guests and loved ones joy

•  Making my guests feel welcome and comfortable
•  Having enough room to make sure I feel comfortable when guests are there

To minimize my negative impact on the earth’s biological and environmental systems

•   To buy as few new-made goods as possible, focusing on what I already own and what I can buy second-hand
•   When I do buy new-made goods, to buy them out of sustainable materials
•   To buy local when possible

To avoid causing pain when possible

•   To buy American-made goods or goods I know were not made in a sweatshop

To live my life without reference to what other people want from me or think I should be

•  To have a home that is pleasing to me, even if what pleases me is out-of-fashion

To have things I can move and care for myself

•  To buy small furniture instead of big, bulky items that require movers

To live within my means financially

These values do not contradict themselves on paper. But in real life, it’s a balancing act. I can often balance two but not three.

For example, I will need to buy furniture and appliances for my new house, and this means I will have to balance my values about money (living within my means), ethics (buying sustainably and humanely produced goods), and happiness (bringing myself joy). I can save money to buy great pieces, but in the meantime I’ll be living in a stark space that does not make me happy. I can buy great pieces now, but then I’ll be in debt to a credit card company. Finally, I could buy cheap pieces for instant gratification, but then I might be buying goods made in sweatshops.

I don’t believe there’s one right answer. And even if there is, I don’t believe it’s important for me to get the perfect answer every time. I do believe it’s important for me to think about each decision and to make my choices consciously and deliberately. That is what this blog is about. It’s a space to share the balancing act with you.

It’s not important that we be perfect. It’s important that we recognize we are all in this together.