it begins...

Hello Blogosphere (again!)

This time I visit you to write about my experiences of trying to keep it all together in a teeny-tiny space. I'll share tips, products, recipes, thoughts, pet photos and ideas for helping keep their stuff organized and anything else that fits the theme I've set for this space.

I've never been a very organized person, (one visit to my office at work will verify that!) And yet, for some reason, whenever I go camping or travelling I become the most organized person I know. Lucky for me, my husband and I made the leap a few years ago to become full time RV dwellers. Let me make it clear, we are not "trailer trash." Though my house sometimes gets a little messy before a good cleaning happens again, in fact, it's about that time now! We are not forced to live this lifestyle. We chose it and we LOVE it! Hopefully, as I write more here, that will become clearer to anyone who visits.

In July of 2006, we purchased a Fleetwood Pioneer Travel Trailer and moved in. We tried a few spots and settled on a nice park just a 5 min walk from the house we were renting for more than 3 times what we pay now. And that, especially during the current economic climate, is a very good thing!

When we first moved into the trailer, my then 17 year old son was still living with us and going to high school. He did his best to cohabitate, but the challenges in this little space were just too much for a young person to bear, and so he lives somewhere else now. I did do some cool things to try to create a space for him that was his own and I'll share that somewhere down the line.

I will say this: You do not realize how much you need a separate room with an actual door that shuts until you DO NOT have one. So there is a plan to upgrade to a model with a separate room at some point in the not too far future.

We hope to travel the states with our little home one day, but for now we are quite happy to live and work in Santa Barbara, CA where the average temperature year 'round is about 70 degrees. I am not sure I could find a better place to live this lifestyle.

There are definitely days when I wish I had a bigger space, a house, a yard...all the things that go with that...but I had those and while they were nice, they weren't a good fit for me. I feel at home this way. I like the idea of travelling and taking my place and all my stuff with me wherever I go! So come with me and learn how to make the most of a small space, whether you travel, live in a studio apartment, are a fellow RV full-timer or just want to pick up some tips for keeping things from taking over the space you have.

Maybe, just maybe, I'll figure out a way to transfer these skills to my workplace.

Simple Symmetry is about keeping life simple, not overloading yourself with "stuff" and keeping the "stuff" you really do value together and easy to find, use and put away again. It's also going to be a little about just keeping life simple. Stepping out of the rat-race and living authentically. Checking to make sure you're not encumbered by too much "stuff."

This is my vision for this blog. I hope you'll enjoy it and visit often. I will post something at least weekly, but hope to post at least three times a week.