With 2012 around the corner, resolutions may be creeping up on you. Rather than think up what you can acquire, why not consider what you can unload? Wisebread recently featured Kentin Wait's post, "Clutter-Free: The Zero-Accumulation Household," where the less is more mantra reigns. Waits writes about what happens to most of us when we purchase a new item. We go through an adjustment period, trying to figure out how to integrate it into our everyday lives. When the item doesn't get folded into the routine or simply doesn't work, we put it aside for a rainy day, and then buy a better version of what we already have. Hence the growth of personal inventory. Succumbing to the urge to store runs strong in American households.

According to writer and designer Graham Hill, featured on TED, American families have about three times the amount of space our grandparents had 50 years ago. But our stuff still doesn't fit, evidenced by the fact that we support a $22 billion dollar storage industry sprawling over 2.2 billion square feet. Hill believes that now is the time to edit our lives, give up the extraneous, and make room for the really good stuff.

<p>o Edit ruthlessly (and think before you buy) -- if you haven't worn a shirt in years, throw it out or give it away; acquire stuff you really need and want.
o Think small -- life/work spaces don't have to be big to be functional.
o Think multifunctional -- utilize household items and furniture that multitask.<span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none">