He sold his Jeep, which at one point held all but three boxes of his possessions. He s now feeling l

Janet Eastman has slept in Portland's different neighborhoods in a floating house, a converted church, a spare bedroom, Dutch Colonial duplex, dorm room and now a swank new apartment at The Janey in the Pearl District.
If someone installs rental car rates a trophy pool, the property next door is instantly transformed into a Disney-like water resort bookended by Spanish galleon cannons rescued at great cost from the depths of the sea. Sadly, I am not making up this story.
Couple that with a primitive urge to be dazzled by novelty, and it s easy to be seduced into acquiring trinkets that may be loved but are not needed, says Los Angeles psychiatrist Peter Whybrow, author of "American Mania: When More Is Not Enough.
I once interviewed a man in Beverly Hills whose adult children wanted him to downsize from his White House-size mansion to a smaller, 25,000-square-foot house. He refused. He said he needed space for his things.
Since I arrived in Portland nine weeks ago and vowed to stay in different dwellings in various neighborhoods, I have slept supremely well in a tiny northeast studio , a northwest spare bedroom , a southwest dorm room and a floating rental car rates guesthouse on a southeast dock.
The year-old Janey sits on a lot where a machine shop used to be. Block by block, freight houses, manufacturing rental car rates facilities and breweries in this area once aptly known as the Northwest Industrial Triangle have been transformed into housing, shops and restaurants.
The reinvented neighborhood is named after Pearl Marie Amhara, an art patron famous for her gardenia scent and parties. Her friend, gallery owner Thomas Augustine, is credited with fittingly calling the district, once seen by many as being a pearl still in its shell, as Pearl s Place, in the 1980s.
My Janey I guide is Aimee Joseph of Gerding Edlen Development , who is gesturing to describe a typical layout: hidden storage here, a desk against a wall there and a table next to the kitchen with scaled-down appliances. Advocates of compact housing say smaller refrigerators encourage rental car rates buying less at a time, which means fresher food and less waste.
And maybe I could hang out with my neighbor. Mike Rautio rental car rates moved into a 475-square-foot studio here in February after escaping two leases at places that cost more than they were worth, he says in hindsight.
Rents for Janey studios range from $1,200 to $1,400 and one-bedroom apartments rental car rates are $1,600 to $1,900, which seems pricy to me. Yet, all 50 apartments rented out in five months, mostly to people new to Portland but well aware of the Pearl District.
He sold his Jeep, which at one point held all but three boxes of his possessions. rental car rates He s now feeling rental car rates liberated from things. But still friends eyeball his studio and ask, Where do you keep all your stuff?
Years ago, when he was in the Army stationed in Kuwait, his stuff was neatly organized in a locker rental car rates next to his bunk. One time, he slept three weeks in a supply closet since he couldn t find temporary housing off base.
Back at home, he watches programs on his computer screen, and his entire music and video holdings are digital. My parents still have stacks of video tapes even though their VHS player quit working, he says, followed by a muffled chuckle.
I think back to my previous homes and all the unused back bedrooms, forgotten closets and empty double garages that I ignored while paying dearly for them. Could I unlike the mansion dweller I interviewed live in a 475-square-foot studio?