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1 week ago | 
laurafenton.substack.com | Laura Fenton
Last week while trying to wedge something onto the top shelf of our entryway closet I dislodged a brick of compressed potting soil, which hit me square on the forehead. I saw stars, endured a headache for the rest of the day, and then I sported a bruise for several days afterwards. It was inglorious. And it felt like the universe was telling me it was time to declutter—again.
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2 weeks ago | 
laurafenton.substack.com | Laura Fenton
Wishing everyone a Happy May Day (aka International Workers Day). In Small Takes, I ask people who are living small how they make it work. When I asked Tyler Moore, a public school teacher who moonlights as the (@tidydad), if he would answer my questionnaire, I had no idea we were practically neighbors. He and his wife Emily and their three daughters live right near me in Queens. I was also surprised to learn that we had similar experiences with real estate.
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3 weeks ago | 
laurafenton.substack.com | Laura Fenton
No new things. These three words were the name Ashlee Piper gave her personal challenge to shop only secondhand back in 2013. She ended up spending a year and a half not buying anything new. These three words became a wildly popular social media challenge #nonewthings and are now the title of Ashlee’s new book No New Things: A Radically Simple 30-Day Guide to Saving Money, the Planet, and Your Sanity.
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4 weeks ago | 
laurafenton.substack.com | Laura Fenton
New for 2025, Q&A is an advice column of sorts for paid subscribers. Once a month, I answer a reader’s question about living small and invite the community to weigh in with ideas too. Q: After renting our apartment for three years, we recently had the extreme privilege of buying our unit. I had been a lifelong renter. The type who never put holes in walls to hang a thing because I didn’t want to deal with the arguments over security deposits.
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1 month ago | 
laurafenton.substack.com | Laura Fenton |Katie Gatti Tassin
This newsletter’s two-year anniversary slipped by without me noticing. Maybe that’s because other milestones were on my mind. My husband and I just marked ten years of living in our apartment. My book baby is five years old next week. The Little Book of Living Smallcame out on April 7, 2020, which is, of course, tied up in my mind with those scary, early days of the Covid lockdowns (a less happy anniversary).
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1 month ago | 
laurafenton.substack.com | Laura Fenton
New for 2025, Q&A is an advice column of sorts for paid subscribers. Once a month, I answer a reader’s question about living small and invite the community to weigh in with ideas too. Q: Do you have any advice for how to entertain in a small space with a family? Our place is small, so it’s especially hard to figure out how to have friends over without displacing my spouse and child. A: I wanted to answer this question because it’s something I have struggled with too.
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1 month ago | 
laurafenton.substack.com | Laura Fenton
Last week’s Google Trends report indicated that search interest in “decluttering” hit a five year high in 2025, and “minimalism” was a top-trending related search. The trendcasters at Google also noted that “how to start decluttering when overwhelmed” searches rose 800% in the previous week. I was not surprised. However, I was curious about that phrase “decluttering when overwhelmed.” Were these searchers merely being overwhelmed by the clutter?
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2 months ago | 
laurafenton.substack.com | Laura Fenton
With all the talk of “no buy” challenges lately, I decided to compile a list of my favorite ways to improve a small space without buying a thing (or buying very little). Because even if you don't want to buy things this year, you may still want to make your home more beautiful and functional. Part of the secret to reducing your consumption (and changing your habits) is to find other ways to bring you that same satisfaction of a new purchase.
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2 months ago | 
laurafenton.substack.com | Laura Fenton |Paul Krugman |Garrett Bucks
Last week, I announced that 10% of the profits for each month’s paid subscriptions will be donated to a different charitable cause. My first donation went to EarthJustice. In Small Takes, I ask people who are living small how they make it work. This month, I’m introducing you to Merie Subryan, an interior stylist and design consultant, who lives with her husband Alex and two children in a 850-square-foot one bedroom that the family recently converted to two.
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2 months ago | 
laurafenton.substack.com | Vicki Robin |Joe Dominguez |Laura Fenton
Lately, everywhere I look it seems that another writer or influencer is doing a “no buy” year or boycotting Amazon or Target. On the one hand, I applaud these efforts to curb consumption and spend more consciously. I believe that if enough of us are organized, boycott campaigns are a real opportunity to push for change. (They say just 3.5% of a population actively participating in an alternative model can bring a shift in business as usual). But on the other hand?