I read a fascinating article from the Center for the New American Dream on The Art of "Making Do." The author, in her late 30s, and her family had moved to the U.S. from Barcelona six months ago. Recently, her 8-year-old daughter participated her school's science fair. The daughter chose to research and study ladybugs, and she and the author put together a display for the science fair by using materials they had available in their home.

If you're looking for another reason to live with less, how about this: A 2014 study in the Journal of Consumer Research found that people who lived in cluttered environments were more likely to overspend than those who lived in uncluttered spaces. The studies' findings concluded that cluttered environments decrease self-control and increase the likelihood of impulse spending.

My clients had two junk drawers in their kitchen, one in their bedroom, and two in their office - that’s five total. In each those junk drawers was absolute chaos! Since they could never find what they needed when rifling through the drawers, they were constantly running to the store to buy various items.