If you turn to page 158 of the issue, and search diligently, you can even spot a quote from me (hunting for it is like playing a game of Where’s Waldo?). This was my first time being quoted in O, and I was thrilled they thought of me for their big “De-Clutter Your Life!” issue.

For one of the uncluttering stories, Oprah let camera crews into her closet to see how much clutter she had stored on her rods and shelves. Her closet seemed to me to be in decent shape, but she talked frankly about her decisions to keep and purge items with Adam Glassman, O’s creative director:

OPRAH: “I bought a lot of little bags when I thought I was going to be a ‘lady who lunches.’ I’ve never been one, but I’ve always liked the idea and longed for that life. There’s something about dressing up and being ladies–it’s like playing house.”
ADAM: “Fashion can help you create an image, but be honest about your lifestyle. Do you really need yachting clothes when you never set foot on a boat? When buying an item, if you can answer ‘Where am I going in this?’ with at least four legitimate places, you have my blessing.”

One of my favorite features in the issue is a chart on page 153 “The 10 Habits of Highly Organized People.” From the list:

9. FORSEE (AND AVOID) PROBLEMS. You wouldn’t leave the house on a gray day without an umbrella, right? People who appear to sail through life unruffled apply this thinking to every scenario, says [Dorthy] Breininger [president of the Delphi Center for Organization]. Have a cabinet packed with leaning towers of Tupperware? Organized folks will take a few minutes to short-circuit an avalanche before it happens. (In other words, rearranging that cupboard now is easier than chasing after wayward lids as they scatter underneath the fridge.)

There are many great tips to be garnered from the March issue of O. Also, the items that Oprah decided to pitch from her closet are being auctioned on eBay starting March 1, and proceeds with benefit her Leadership Academy.

Instead of reading about my cabin fever, I thought you might enjoy checking out some links that have more valuable insights into uncluttering, organizing, and simple living than I can produce right now. Trust me, this is what is best for all of us:

• “Diary of a Mad Hoarder: Uncluttering Your Life” by Betsy Lowther for the Washington Post Express
• “Downsizing: New-to-D.C. lawyer starts from scratch in small condo” about an amazing 600 sq ft condo by Jura Koncius for the Washington Post. (Be sure to check out the photo gallery.)
• “A Roomy 178 Square Feet” by Penelope Green for The New York Times
• “Cool ideas to streamline your home office” on CNN.com. Select Get Started to make the advice in the image interactive.
• “Is Lindsay Lohan a Celebrity Hoarder?” “Lindsay Lohan Gets Ready to Clean House!” and “Lindsay Lohan Cleans House.” A final video aired in the series showing before and after of Lindsay’s closet, but haven’t been able to find it yet. Anyone?
• “Waste Not” by Monica Ricci
• “Nina Garcia’s Shopping Tips” from Marie Claire magazine
• Finally, “How to organize cats” to put a smile on your face.

More than half a century later, it’s interesting to look back on this article and see which of the futuristic ideas caught on and which ones didn’t. One of the more interesting items that didn’t become a mainstream feature in American homes is the “commuting” table on page 66:

The “commuting” table allows you to set the table in the kitchen and then push it through the wall into the bookshelf-lined dining area. As full-time housekeepers were becoming more rare in the 1950s, I’m sure this was seen as a luxury for Heinlein’s wife. Nowadays, most new homes simply have open kitchen and dining floor plans where no walls exist between the two areas.

Check out the article (be sure to catch the jump from page 69 to 228, and then again to page 230) and learn about Heinlein’s minimalist home that supposedly only took “about an hour” to clean. Then, come back here and tell us your thoughts on this house that was supposed to make life easy.

Thanks to reader Robert R. for leading us to the article.

Barbra Streisand: We really never possess anything — I mean, not forever. We borrow things and then we let them go and be used and shared and enjoyed by the next generation and the next generation. So if you can’t really use something anymore, even though it belonged to you for a long time and you loved it, it’s great to pass it on.

Costumes she wore in movies, furniture from her home, and her piano are some of the things she is putting up for auction. You can find the entire collection on Juliens Auctions.

Purging your life of more than 500 items is a significant decluttering endeavor and I’m impressed to read about it. Uncluttering kudos to Barbra Streisand.

(Image from Juliens Auctions, and a hat tip to reader Katie for directing us to the story.)

We’ve shown Al Gore’s piled space here on Unclutterer before, but the others are new to us. I especially love the video of David Allen’s desk — simple and extremely productive:

Now I’m really curious what all of these famous peoples’ assistant’s desks look like …

Go on and check out the article, and then come back here and share your reactions.

Hannah Montana has an enormous closet with library stacks filled with shoes, belts, and purses, and rotating racks of dresses, tops, and sequined pants. While a fashionista might see the closet and start salivating, my first thought was, “How could I better organize this space?”

A Closet Carousel would definitely be an improvement over the spinning metal racks in Hannah’s wardrobe. Getting rid of all of the clothes she no longer wears would be another good idea (but my assumption is that since she leads a double life, she has more clothing needs than most). And, Simple Division Garment Organizers wouldn’t hurt in such a large collection of clothes.

The pièce de résistance, however, would be a digital wardrobe database with images and descriptions of all of her clothing and accessories. This way, Hannah might be able to pick out what she wants to wear before setting foot into her closet for an evening of party hopping or whatever it is secret rock stars do with their time.

If she has a Mac, she might enjoy the Dress Assistant closet organizing software:

If she is a Windows user, she might like the Victoria Clothes Organizer:

Or, if she wants a custom solution, I’m sure she could whip one up in Access without too much trouble.

For those of us not living the secret rock star life, any and all of these ideas would be overkill. However, it’s still a fun mental exercise. How would you organize a fashionista’s closet?

The reason for this downsizing? From a Salt Lake Tribune article: 

“The Romney children are all grown up with families of their own, and Mitt and [his wife] Ann have more space than they need,” spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said Monday. “So they are simplifying and downsizing.” 

By cutting his property portfolio in half, former Governor Romney has indeed downsized. Holding on to two large properties on each coast of the United States could hardly be considered simple living, though. But it’s a first step.

Like many Americans, we’re always fascinated by which celebrities choose to live simply. Check out our “Celebrities” category to see who is hip to simple living.

“My style is a distillation. I’ve etched out who I am through myriad haircut attempts, outfit attempts, beauty attempts, diet attempts. It’s been an evolution. I’ve let my hair go gray. I wear only black and white. Every year I buy three or four black dresses that I just keep in rotation. I own one pair of blue jeans. I’ve given away all my jewelry, because I don’t wear it.

“The same way that midcentury modern architecture was in the ’50s, I want to be as a human being. New. Different. Challenging the old. Function over frivolity. Clean living. Clean lines.

The article is inspiring, and I recommend giving it a read.

“People are buying fewer CDs every year,” Mendel says. “You don’t want to wait until those sales are finished, before you find a way to run your band.

Mendel isn’t helping CD sales. He admits that he buys his music digitally because “CDs create clutter, and I abhor clutter.”

Maybe Nate would be interested in our post on eliminating CD clutter.

Here’s another rock star who enjoys simple living.

I have one house (in Los Angeles), I drive a Jeep Cherokee, I live very simply. I discovered in life that I have the same joy in divestment as I once got as a young man in acquisition. I have the perfect house. I’m never leaving this house that I’m in. I might trade my Jeep in for some environment-friendly vehicle of some kind. But I’m not into fancy cars. My watch is a Casio. I live very simply, and I’ve discovered that half of the so-called luxuries that people strive for do not provide happiness. My happiness comes from my children, my wife, my house that I love that I live in.

Here at Unclutterer, we like to encourage people to find joy in divestment and discourage needless acquisitions. I’m sure as a young rockstar Mr. Copeland had his fair share of needless acquisitions. It is nice to see he has found joy in simplifying his life.