Is neat stuff really better than less stuff....

WSJ.com has an article on our urge to organize our increasingly growing amount of stuff. The premise is that you can control your life by better organization. The same thinking applies to our schedules as well. But that's a separate post. Why the huge growth in the organizing business? Well this quote says it all:

Annual consumer expenditures have almost doubled in the U.S. since 1990 to $8 trillion in 2006, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. "We've been through an orgy of getting, and now there's an orgy of storing," says Perry Reynolds, vice president of marketing at the International Housewares Association in Rosemont, Ill. The Commerce Department's November consumer-spending figures showed that purchases jumped 1.1% over October, the largest increase in 3½ years.

But coupled with this other story in today's WSJ titled "Consumer Bankruptcy Filings Rose 40% in '07" it says even more. Think the two are related just a bit.

There are going to be some rough seas ahead, think that 5000 sq ft McMansion is cheap to heat? Think again, oil just hit a record peak, and heating oil is to follow. If you won't do it for the planet or your children, be a little selfish and start acting for your pocketbook.