People love it when you give your secrets away, and sometimes, if you’re smart about it, they’ll reward you by buying the things you’re selling.

is your home a good housemate?

(Happy Starts at Home: Getting the Life You Want by Changing the Space You've Got, Rebecca West)

Every home is, and should be, unique. Your habits, dreams, family, and hobbies are personal to you, and ideally your space reflects and supports your unique style. There are not rules for setting up your home; it just has to work for you.

(Happy Starts at Home: Getting the Life You Want by Changing the Space You've Got, Rebecca West)

Close your eyes and pretend you are living with a woman — how would you divide the housework?

The secret of creative work is to make a lot and publish a little.

Don't underestimate the power of giving yourself permission to create junk. Most of what you create will be mediocre or bad.

But that's okay. You only have to show people the good stuff. Make 100 things, discard 90, and share the 10 best. Create, create, create. Edit, edit, edit.

What is all that stuff in your home, anyway? Imagine that I said you could buy as many new clothes as you wanted, but you could never, ever take off anything you'd already purchased. In no time you'd be wearing so much clothing that it would be hard to walk. You'd feel hot and irritable, and be unable to do anything well. That's what the stuff in our homes can be like. If we shop and collect, but never decrease or declutter, the accumulation of stuff is a burden.

Every item rents a space in your heart and in your brain. If there is too much stuff, then you have little room for new fun, new love, or new anything. So let's take a look at what is really in your home. Where did all that furniture, decor, and stuff come from? Why is it in your life, and what purpose does it serve? What feeling are associated with each object?

(Happy Starts at Home: Getting the Life You Want by Changing the Space You've Got, Rebecca West)

It's important that we clearly defined what we need from our home so we don't get distracted by what someone else might want if it were their home.

(Happy Starts at Home: Getting the Life You Want by Changing the Space You've Got, Rebecca West)

Nowadays many intelligent young women attempt to establish good homes on mere social and psychological precepts. They turn to well-meaning advice you find in popular magazines. I don't knock it. Much of it is good. However, it never goes far enough. It will leave you stranded every time. If you truly are serious about life, nothing short of Jesus can suffice.

Everything comes out of living with an idea. If I knew how to summon up inspiration, would I give my secret away? -->

Make stuff you love and talk about stuff you love and you'll attract people who love that kind of stuff. It's that simple.

Make stuff you love and talk about stuff you love and you’ll attract people who love that kind of stuff. It’s that simple.

As the concept of home became clearer, women became smaller. For smart, ambitious women with no outlet for their skills except their children, motherhood and homemaking became all-consuming identities. Dalla Costa and James write that women decorate their homes because their homes are the only proof they exist. The same logic could be used for pouring one's life into children. Children become a woman's reason for being, her proof of existence. As if her own existence weren't enough. (Pg 47)

It is important to inject love into the place where you live. It is not healthy to rent an interior designer to create a home for you because it is not good to live in another person's fantasy. People should select for themselves and stamp their own identity on a place. They should mix and match everything to make their own cocktail.

Make stuff you love and talk about stuff you love and you’ll attract people who love that kind of stuff. It’s that simple. Don’t