Do people really live the way it looks like they do in magazines? Of course not. You’ve watched enough HGTV to know that.

Still, while I’m not going to be one of those countless, cold-hearted “organizers” who tells you to purge in yes-no-maybe piles, getting rid of everything you own and shopping for all new stuff in the Chiasso catalog can be so appealing—and cathartic. Too drastic, even for you? Then take a more incremental approach:

1. Edit wisely.  Take an inventory of your current treasures, as well as new things you want to buy. If you think of your home as your clothes closet, you’ll realize there’s good sense in not wearing everything you own at one time. You like to mix things up constantly, don’t you? So, think of chairs and tables as tops/shirts, tables as pants/skirts. Sofas are like your favorite dresses/suits/jackets—statement  pieces—and wall/table art is like shoes and jewelry—the accessories you change out the most. Lighting? It’s like underwear. Very important. Unless—no, I’m not going to go there. Have fun recombining and temporarily closing the door on some stuff and putting on the others. You can always take “new” things out again.

1. Execute feng shui lite. Does the way you arrange a room really improve the flow of chi (energy)? Does clutter block that chi? I’d like to think yes. So, taking the chicken-soup-for-a-cold approach, try it. It can’t hurt.

1. Eliminate what you can and then some. Ever packed for a trip, then realized, hopefully before the taxi to the airport arrived, that you’ve waaaaaaaaay overpacked? Well, your home is that suitcase, and someday soon that zipper’s gonna break and it won’t be pretty.