I think that many unclutterers rely on lists — to-do lists, home inventories, calendars, project management timelines — to stay organized. Personally, lists keep me from worrying about forgetting things. I’d rather think about things I’m passionate about instead of having a constant stream of to-dos bouncing around in my brain.

Eco’s thoughts about lists are much more esoteric than mine. I found his interview on the subject matter to be thought-provoking and worth reading. From the interview:

Umberto Eco: The list is the origin of culture. It’s part of the history of art and literature. What does culture want? To make infinity comprehensible. It also wants to create order — not always, but often. And how, as a human being, does one face infinity? How does one attempt to grasp the incomprehensible? Through lists, through catalogs, through collections in museums and through encyclopedias and dictionaries. There is an allure to enumerating how many women Don Giovanni slept with: It was 2,063, at least according to Mozart’s librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte. We also have completely practical lists — the shopping list, the will, the menu — that are also cultural achievements in their own right.

From later in the interview:

Eco: … We have always been fascinated by infinite space, by the endless stars and by galaxies upon galaxies. How does a person feel when looking at the sky? He thinks that he doesn’t have enough tongues to describe what he sees. Nevertheless, people have never stopping describing the sky, simply listing what they see. Lovers are in the same position. They experience a deficiency of language, a lack of words to express their feelings. But do lovers ever stop trying to do so? They create lists: Your eyes are so beautiful, and so is your mouth, and your collarbone … One could go into great detail.

SPIEGEL: Why do we waste so much time trying to complete things that can’t be realistically completed?

Eco: We have a limit, a very discouraging, humiliating limit: death. That’s why we like all the things that we assume have no limits and, therefore, no end. It’s a way of escaping thoughts about death. We like lists because we don’t want to die.

What do you think of Eco’s thoughts on lists? Anyone else surprised by his statements or conclusions? Share your reactions in the comments.

(Thanks go to David Allen and Marginal Revolution for bringing this article to our attention. Image of Umberto Eco from the article.)

What can we do to take cars off the road and help unclog everyone’s commute? Private and public efforts are being made across the country to make our roads less cluttered spaces.

Last Thursday, I got the chance to talk to RideSpring founder, Paul McGrath. RideSpring is an online service that helps employees find ride share opportunities with other employees at the same company. We discussed McGrath’s journey from employee to entrepreneur, in his current pursuit to offer web-based alternative commute solutions.

He got the idea in the mid-1990s when he worked as an electrical engineer for a 200 person company in Scotts Valley, CA. He enjoyed an 8-mile bike ride up a narrow, snaky two-lane highway to and from work most days. On driving days, though, he wanted to ride share. “For the days I wasn’t biking,” says McGrath, “I thought it would be good to find a carpool partner.” Why not socialize with a co-worker during the ride and tread more lightly on the road and save a few dollars on fuel?

But, as many commuters know, finding a carpool buddy isn’t always easy. McGrath sought public carpoolings systems first. While he wouldn’t mind sharing his commute information within his company, he didn’t want to post it on public sites. “I looked for a product within companies but it didn’t exist.” This led him to search for (and eventually create) a solution.

He dove into market research and found that regional services attracted very few users, which dramatically limited good ride-matching opportunities. For example, in the San Francisco Bay Area, frought with highly congested highways, an organization called 511 exists for the public, but fewer than 1% of commuters have signed up for the system.

His research squashed a number of myths about commuters. “It’s a myth that people aren’t willing to leave their cars at home,” say McGrath.

What he discovered is “There’s a shortage of drivers willing to accept passengers, rather than the other way around.”

Another myth he his company is helping to debunk is the notion that carpooling doesn’t work. However, the US Census reports that carpooling for Americans remains the second most popular way to get to work. This is second only to driving alone to work.

After his data collecting, McGrath could see the need to develop an easy-to-use method for commuters.

Rides

McGrath wanted to get cars off the road and make commuting more enjoyable. With his technical background, he launched a web-based system through RideSpring targeted at companies of 500 people or more. When companies subscribe, co-workers can drive to the same company together. The RideSpring system searches possible ride matches through it’s web process that scans zip codes for people riding in their areas across the US.

The statistics are promising. Some of the companies that subscribe to RideSpring show a nearly 60% sign-up rate for the service. People are actually using it.

Rewards

There are intrinsic rewards that come from finding an alternative commute. You get to do your part for the environment, have a good conversation with a coworker, or even get some important work done. With the US Census reporting that 77% of American commuters drive alone, many companies offer financial and other rewards to encourage people to free up road capacity and reduce CO2 omissions. This allows employers to contribute to the environment, reduce the need for new parking lots, and make their employees happier.

McGrath summarizes RideSpring’s services by saying: “What we deliver is effectiveness. We show companies our proven approach to get people signed up. We make it fun and easy to use and employees will actually use it.”

What do you do to unclog your commute? Does your company offer incentives to commuters who carpool or use public transportation? If your company had (has) more than 500 employees, would you consider using a program like RideSpring? Why or why not? Do any of our readers already use this or a similar service?

Sue Brenner is a regular contributor to Unclutterer. She offers her own eZine at www.actionsymphony.com and if you want to hear her voice, she gives free, monthly goal-success tele-seminars.

Online now is a fun interview I sat for with the lovely Danielle LaPorte, who is co-author of the book Style Statement: Live by Your Own Design. Danielle and her partner in all-things stylish, Carrie McCarthy, run a fantastic website that includes a daily question to their readership and interviews with people who they find inspiring. (I’m not sure how I made the list, but I’m truly honored they think so!)

The reason I’m linking to my interview and daily question on Unclutterer is two fold: 1.) The daily question I pose is all about clutter, and I know that many of you have great responses that you can share on their site, and 2.) I really appreciate their Style Statement philosophy. The idea is that the better you know yourself, the better choices you make. And, inevitably, you fill your life with less stuff and more meaning.

Feel welcome to head over there and check out the discussion about clutter. I’ll be following it through the day, and I hope to see you there!

Unclutterer: In your book When Organizing Isn’t Enough, SHED Your Stuff, Change Your Life, you define clutter as “any obsolete object, space, commitment or behavior that weighs you down, distracts you, or depletes your energy.” I believe that most of our readers will agree that objects and spaces are prone to being or collecting clutter, but commitments and behavior may not immediately come to mind as clutter. Can you explain how a behavior or a commitment could be cluttering up one’s life?

Julie: Commitment clutter takes the form of unfinished projects and to-dos, unfulfilled obligations, and cumbersome roles which bog you down, make you feel bad about yourself, de-energize and deplete you. They occupy space in your schedule that would be better used for something else. By behavior clutter, I am referring to bad habits such as perfectionism, procrastination, chronic lateness, mindless escapes, and workaholism. These habits drive us to mindlessly pad our schedules with activities that provide little or no value. Bad habits steal hours every day, not only from actual time lost watching endless hours of TV, or coming up with (yet another) excuse for being late for example, but the energy you spend beating yourself up over it. All of that self-flagellation is clutter too—expending energy, effort and time that could be freed up for something energizing, productive and useful.

Unclutterer: You identify times of transition (retirement, new baby, career change, loss of a parent, etc.) as being moments when the desire to SHED is strong. Do you believe that life transitions are an integral factor in wanting internal and external changes? Why do you think this is the case?

Julie: When we are in transition, we feel a loss of control—and SHEDing allows us to take control where we can—our homes, our stuff, our schedule, our own behavior. Also, we each have a certain amount of stuff and activity that anchors us. Transition, whether internally driven or externally imposed, is a time of movement, we feel the natural need to lighten up, and lift anchor so that we can move forward.

Unclutterer: You address that clutter often comes from the past, but can it ever come from the future? Can unrealized goals or inaccurate self perceptions also be clutter?

Julie: Sure, but when you think about it, these are really connected to old beliefs from the past. They are beliefs or goals we adopted in the past, and which no longer fit.

Unclutterer: In your chapter “When Organizing Isn’t Enough,” you recommend that people set “treasure guidelines” for deciding which objects, behaviors, and activities should stay and which should go. I love the example you provide that likens selecting treasures to choosing photographs for a wedding album. How can a person set his or her specific treasure guidelines?

Julie: Before diving into the pile of clutter, picture your theme, and ask yourself, “If all of this were to go away, what are the one or two things I would want to keep? That really would serve me now and as a meaningful memento of the past?” It is essential to write your list of treasure guidelines on a post-it, or piece of paper, and lay it on top of the pile, or the box, or the folder so that when you actually go through the pile of stuff, you are simply evaluating every item based your list of treasure guidelines. If it’s on the list, you keep it, if it’s not, it goes. And, if it’s something you hadn’t even considered, you go back to your theme, and ask where and how this would serve you moving forward. SHEDing goes very fast once you have established and written out your treasure guidelines.

Unclutterer: At the end of the book, you describe the “30 percent slip” to define the sliding that can take place back into old habits and routines. I like the advice you give to start over again and reassess themes. Would this process also work if someone gets stuck halfway through the SHED process? What might a mid-SHED adjustment look like and how would you recommend the do-over?

Julie: A Mid-SHED feeling of being stuck is really what I refer to as the WALL OF PANIC, where, once you have heaved a bunch of obsolete stuff—you get a little panicked—who am I without that stuff? (Or that role? Or that habit?) The impulse when facing this sudden openness is to either reach back from what you got rid of, or lurch forward to fill the empty space with anything to fill the space—without taking the time to see if it is a fit for you. The solution is to find the courage to stay empty-handed. You need to give yourself a “decision-free” zone, a period of observation where you don’t do anything but get centered with yourself. The best thing you can do right now is take advantage of this unhampered moment to reconnect with the things that you make you, “you,” no matter what—your unique character, experience, strengths, resourcefulness, intelligence, and contribution. In the book, I provide a series of practical and introspective ways to uncover and hold fast to who you are. Your period of observation can last a few days to a few months, and is an exciting opportunity to study and strengthen your confidence, discipline and receptivity to find the best opportunities for yourself as you move forward.

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To learn more about the basics of the book, be sure to read my review of it on Real Simple’s website.

When Gretchen asked if I would sit for an interview, I dropped everything to do it. The topic of the interview isn’t directly related to getting rid of physical clutter, but it definitely touches on the bigger-picture idea of mental clutter that can prohibit a person from being happy. Check out the article if you’re interested!

Today on Real Simple is an insider’s look at hiring a professional organizer. I had the joy of interviewing some power houses in the professional organizing community for this piece, and was blown away by their advice. It is very educational and I recommend you give it a look:

Should You Hire a Professional Organizer?

photo: Tara Striano

Unclutterer: “Inspiring” is a word that often comes to mind when I read your site. The images and articles you present help me to imagine great things for my space. What are your favorite pieces of inspiration you’ve written about on your site?

Holly: I’m very curious and extroverted and I naturally enjoy meeting people, so I have to say interviewing creative men and women who are following their dreams (always inspiring!) along with shop and home tours of decor8 readers are the pieces I really enjoy writing. Mari Eriksson, YippieYeah, Enna, Nest Decorating, and Selina Lake are a few of my recent favorites. I also love to write random decor-related pieces, like Power Poufs, Doily Love, and I Dream of Cake. I like to mix things up, so I don’t adhere to strict schedules and run very few “regular columns” with the exception of Etsy: Take Five Tuesdays and Color Me Mondays. I don’t want to make things too formal, when I wake up in the morning it is then that I decide what I’ll write about. Very little is prepared in advance, it’s all on a whim just as I believe blogging for me should be – creative journaling. It’s a blog afterall, not a magazine.

Unclutterer: How can color be integrated into an organization system?

Holly: Through labeling! Adding fancy hang tags to storage boxes and labeling magazine files with colorful labels is pretty and helpful. (For fancy hang tags, shop Elfrida.) Some like to organize their book spines by color, not the best way to locate your books but it sure is pretty and all the rage right now! Use “day of the week” clips to organize your work, Susy Jack makes some great ones. You can also cover your boring corkboard with a favorite fabric or wrapping paper. Use canvas storage boxes with handles like these from Hable Construction for concealing and storing bottled water in the kitchen. Wire and clothes pegs help to organize photos and cards on a wall or add your favorite wallpaper to empty oatmeal containers to store odds and ends. Try chalkboard paint and colored chalk so you can write your schedule directly on the wall … The list goes on and on. Look at everything you own twice before you donate it to charity — see if it can be used for something other than what it was intended for.

Unclutterer: What is your favorite organization tool? (A tool can be anything that helps you to achieve a more organized life … it doesn’t have to be a tangible object.)

Holly: Finding a schedule that works for you and sticking with it. I am working on practicing what I preach! As fas as advice goes on getting organized, hire out for help if you’re in over your head. I’ve done this in the past and it saved me. Hire a cleaning lady or a personal organizer, even a decorator, if you need to clean the slate and start from scratch. Sometimes you just need another person to step into your space and give you some encouragement and advice. Once they leave, you can get started on maintaining things which, based on my own personal experience, is a lot easier than starting a project on your own.

Unclutterer: Images you post that are representations of the shabby chic even appear to be organized and purposefully dressed. Do you find that good design (of any style) and an uncluttered environment go hand-in-hand?

Holly: Not always, I have visited apartments in Paris that were over-the-top cluttered but somehow worked. I’ve also worked with some of the most brilliant executives in Boston who manage to work successfully despite the layers of endless paperwork and books in their office. They knew where everything was in their paper mountains and that’s all that seemed to matter! An uncluttered environment may not be for everyone, but it’s certainly the best for me. Shabby Chic, Eclectic Bohemian, Mid-Century Modern, Hollywood Regency, they are by no means minimalistic, but the key is that everything you see in photos from your favorite magazines is styled to perfection. All items are arranged well, so clutter isn’t termed clutter anymore if it’s pulled together according to a theme on a mantel or credenza. It’s only clutter if it’s thrown around without any thought put into its placement or has no practical reason for being there. Having less isn’t always the goal in some of these styles, having less clutter is.

Unclutterer: A lot of our readers are parents who are looking for ways to keep their kid clutter at bay, but still make their homes a place where their children feel comfortable. Do you have any suggestions for these readers?

Holly: I’m not a mother but I am a daughter and from experience as a child — please parents let the kids be kids. I can’t stress how important it is to allow them the space needed to be creative and explore their inner artist. It’s also important to train them to be organized, but not to be so concerned with perfection that it stomps out their creativity. Carve out spaces in the home where the kids can make a mess – a play area in a living room, a nook in the kitchen, or if you have space, an entire playroom. Of course, their bedroom should be where they play, so most of their toys and such should be kept in their bedroom. Make clean-up time fun — have mini contests (see who can clean up first), or create charts with chores and boxes where they can check off what they’ve done that week — the end of week the chart is reviewed and if all the chores were taken care of then the child is awarded with a trip to the zoo, park, or something else where the parent can spend time with them. When it was time to clean in my house, my mother made it fun. She’d play music and sing – just like Cinderella! It was so cute but it motivated me to get involved.

Unclutterer: Of all of the jobs that you could have, why have you chosen to blog about interior design? What is it you love about this subject?

Holly: I didn’t select blogging as a job, I think it selected me! I started blogging before design blogs were running ads and became a source of income or a hot new business. When I started blogging, I only knew about a few blogs (3 total) and that was it. It was an exciting way for me to catalog the finds I sourced for my design clients back then, and it grew into being a source for design aficionados all over the world to tap into. It’s exciting and though I earn a living through blogging now, I don’t consider it a job. It’s still my creative outlet where I can be myself and enjoy the company of other creative types online and for me, that’s all that matters.

One of my diversions has been to look for creative ways to use old things in new ways. For example, I’ve discovered an artist who takes old costume jewelry that people never wear, modernizes and reworks it, and creates stylish, fashionable, new pieces of jewelry. Since outdated, costume jewelry is the majority of what I inherited when my maternal grandmother passed away, I find this process brilliant.

I wanted to learn more, so I contacted Sara Bradstreet, the artist I discovered who most deeply captivated my attention, for an interview. Thank you, Sara, for talking with me. (The necklace pictured on the right is a broach she trasnformed.)

Unclutterer: What inspired you to become an artist who brings new life to old jewelry?

Sara: I wanted to create art with little waste and satisfy my desire to sniff out the diamond in the rough. With jewelry, there is little waste. I use most elements of the piece. Sometimes, I will buy a not-so-attractive necklace just for the clasp, or a bag of buttons for the few rhinestone buttons at the bottom–even things as random as old silverwear find their way into my collection. I find much beauty and integrity in old things and hate to see beautiful gems in a dumpster.

Unclutterer: What types of pieces are best for this type of transformation?

Sara: There is a lot of room for variety here. Sometimes the most random pieces, when re-oriented with others, make the most interesting. I look for pieces that, with a little manipulation and solder, can turn from a broach into a pendant or cuff link into a clasp. I like to use only quality silver and gold–I’m not into green necks–and use my sense of touch to bend and scratch and, oddly enough, I will even smell it to see if it is metal or simply painted plastic. I am not afraid to alter a collector’s item and am often feared by collectors.

Unclutterer: What should people consider before having their older jewelry reinvented?

Sara: Well, the jewelry won’t be the same anymore. The good news is that it will be out of your jewelry box, or that random box under your bed, and hopefully, around your neck. I hesitate to use pieces that have extreme sentimental value and like clients to be somewhat detached from the broach being simply a broach, but an element of something larger that will be worn again. When creating custom pieces for clients, I like to have a variety of pieces, multiple chains, found objects, etc. I may not use all of the different elements, but the more I have to chose from, the merrier.

Unclutterer: Some of our readers might be distraught with the idea of repurposing their grandmother’s broach. What would you say to people with such hesitations?

Sara: I believe that what I do helps people to remember and, in ways, celebrate those who have passed away.

I agree with Sara that wearing and getting use from your jewelry is much more worthwhile than hoarding it in a box where it doesn’t see daylight. Also, if you decide that you aren’t interested in reinventing your old jewelry, but are still looking for ways for it to cease being clutter in your home, consider donating your pieces to artists like Sara.

Heller: Mr. Jobs, it’s not easy to get you to sit for an interview, so I’ll make this short. Why do you always wear blue jeans and a black turtleneck?

The question’s never answered in the “interview,” but in the comments Heller suggests that Jobs understands that he is part of the Apple brand and therefore brands himself consistently whenever he’s acting officially. I think that might well be part of it, but here’s a recent photo of Jobs at one of his kids’ soccer matches — he’s wearing jeans, a mock turtleneck, and presumably white New Balance shoes. So it seems he always dresses like that.

To me this seems totally consistent with Jobs the minimalist. If you adopt a uniform, you won’t waste any time each day deciding what to wear. (According to Jeff Goldblum’s character in The Fly, this is what Albert Einstein did.) You also save time purchasing your wardrobe, and you reduce the space it needs. This is something we’ve covered before here although in the form of a reduced wardrobe, not a uniform. Now, before this starts sounding like a “Extreme Minimalism Monday” post, let me say that the one itsy bitsy drawback of this approach is that your wardrobe will be completely boring. Additionally, to pull this off you probably have to be a bit of an eccentric who’d comfortable in his own skin.

That said, I’ve got a bit of a uniform myself. I swear I’ve been wearing this since college, before I even knew who Steve Jobs was. If you ever see me in my off hours there’s a 90 percent chance you’ll find me in jeans, black fitted T-shirt, and black low-top converse. This iconic look is what The Gap was created for and one they heavily promote. (I wonder how much this has to do with the fact that Steve Jobs was once on The Gap’s board of directors.) I’m on a virtual conveyor belt of black Gap or H&M t-shirts, Guess “Cliff” jeans, and black Chuck Taylors. Incredibly comfortable, cool enough for James Dean, and so simple.

Questions for discussion: Am I insane? Or is this not a bad idea? Could a woman pull this off? Do you have a uniform?

Peter Walsh recently took time out of his busy schedule to participate in an interview with Unclutterer.com. His answers are informative and motivational, and we hope that you find them as wonderfully inspiring as we do.

Unclutterer: In your book It’s All Too Much!, you indicate that you have walked away from projects when people value their possessions over their relationships. Isn’t this type of unhealthy prioritization at the root of most people’s clutter problems?

Peter Walsh: Clutter comes in many forms and the reasons why people hold onto it is similarly complex. There are two main types of clutter: Memory Clutter – which reminds one of an important person, or achievement or event from the past – and I-Might-Need-It-One-Day Clutter – this is the stuff held onto in preparation for all possible futures that one might encounter. Keeping things from the past or sensible planning for the future are great things – it’s when the objects take over that there’s a problem. With many of the people I encounter, their primary relationship is with their stuff. Instead of owning their stuff, their stuff owns them. This clearly is not only unhealthy but also a real stumbling block to happiness and a fulfilling life. If your stuff is causing problems in your life or relationships it’s time to do something about it!

Unclutterer: Do you have any difficulties conveying the visual impact of clutter on your XM radio show?

Peter Walsh: When dealing with clutter it’s almost never about ‘the stuff’. The clutter represents something else going on in people’s lives – trauma, fear, disappointment, lost dreams, unfulfilled expectations, anger, poor communication …. the list goes on and one. For this reason, if you focus on the clutter you will never declutter or get organized. Although it’s a little counterintuitive, the XM radio show is the perfect place to talk about and explore the issues that lead to and perpetuate clutter. The visual aspect of the clutter may be compelling but it’s the telling of the story of the clutter that helps change people – radio is perfect for that.

Unclutterer: Do you ever worry that viewers of your television show (Clean Sweep) might feel they can justify their clutter problems because they aren’t as dramatic as the show’s participants?

Peter Walsh: I think there’s a little part in all of us that likes to watch reality shows and know that someone is more cluttered, or more confused, or more in debt or more whatever than we are. We can then tell ourselves that we aren’t really as bad as we might think. The huge success of the shows I have done about clutter stem from the fact, I believe, that clutter is a much larger problem in this country than anyone realizes or admits. We can all see ourselves in them. It’s my belief that more than 65% of American homes have clutter problems. It’s for this reason that I don’t think there is too much justification taking place with my viewers – just a sense that we’re all in the same boat and need to do something about it!

Unclutterer: Have you ever walked into a home where children are present and thought things were so bad you should probably just call social services?

Peter Walsh: The reason I am invited into homes is because the family has reached a point where they feel overwhelmed and hopeless. They have decided that they need to take action and make changes to overcome the clutter problems they have and address the impact that it’s having on their family. I am there to help, not judge. That said, I’ve seen some serious clutter problems that have involved children. However, in every case, the family has made huge strides in addressing the issues that have created the clutter and really transformed their living spaces. By the time we’ve finished, every home I have worked in has been a much better place to live for the whole family. By providing assistance, some tough love and a little basic training the need to call in the authorities has been averted.

Unclutterer: What steps do you take to insure that your clients won’t revert to their old clutter-hoarding ways after you’ve worked with them? Any tips to help people stay on track?

Peter Walsh: As odd as it sounds, I don’t focus on the clutter when I help families declutter. The stuff is a distraction to potential success. The first step in addressing clutter in a home is to help the family define the vision they have for the life they want – what do they want their lives, their home, their rooms and living spaces to look like, to feel like and to function. This is the starting point in the process. If you work from this point, the chances of permanent change are significant and almost guaranteed. It’s not about the stuff; it’s about what you want from your life and how you will make that dream a reality. Long-lasting change is possible – I see it every day. That said, the single most important maintenance tip is to respect the limits that your physical space places on you and, once those limits are reached, you must remove an item from your home before you can add a similar item – one in, one out. It’s simple and it works.

Unclutterer: Do particular hobbies encourage clutter? Are we at war with scrapbooking? Rollerblading?

Peter Walsh: Clutter is created when we stop honoring and respecting ourselves, our families, what we own and where we live. There is a myth that with things comes happiness and so, logically, we think that with more things comes more happiness. It’s just not true. We somehow forget that if you continue to bring things into your home, and never remove things, no matter how large a house you have, it will eventually be overflowing with stuff. Set limits and establish routines for disposing of or purging what you own and don’t use. Any hobby can get out of control and, while scrapbooking can be a huge clutter culprit, it’s paperwork, clothing and kids’ toys that are more often the problems.

Unclutterer: Your book It’s All Too Much! is peppered with the sentences that begin with the words: “In this country…” Is clutter a larger problem in the United States than in the rest of the world?

Peter Walsh: We live in a very affluent country. Things are relatively cheap and credit is easy to get. We are all caught into what I call an orgy of consumption. If one is good, two is better. Let’s supersize that! This out of-control consumption is evident everywhere from the size of our homes and our cars to the obesity of our population. We are also caught into the ‘promise’ that comes with what we buy – buy these jeans, your butt will look smaller or buy this cookwear, you’ll make better dinners or buy this car, you’ll look more successful. The promise is alluring and we fall for it time and time again. Clutter is a problem in the western world particular but we Americans have really made an artform of it.

Unclutterer: How can a person promote a clutter-free lifestyle to his or her family and friends without coming off as some kind of sanctimonious neatfreak?

Peter Walsh: It’s not about the stuff – it’s about the life you wish to live. Sanctimonious neatfreaks are unbearable and are usually caught up in their own self-importance. It’s important to remember that what you own and where and how you live is a reflection of the person you are. A clutter-free, organized life is about living in a way that helps create your best possible life – happy, stress-free, creative, motivated and enriching. Happiness can’t be found in the quantity of stuff we own, it’s in the quality of relationships that we form. What we own should foster that life, not be a hurdle to it.

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.