simple.

Published in The Post-Star
10/23/05

We make money to buy stuff. We make stuff to earn money. We use the money to ... buy more stuff.

Critics have called this trend "compulsive consumerism," "stuffocation," and "affluenza." For many Americans, it's simply a fact of life. They cope by building bigger homes and renting extra storage space. Some hire professional organizers, a career that didn't even exist until the 1980s.

Others have taken a more radical approach: Just give it all away, and get what you need by sharing.

"In our community, you actually own nothing, you just have the use of what the community has," explained Cecelia Harvey, prioress of the Nuns of New Skete in Cambridge. "It's not that you don't have a closet with clothes in it that you wear, but you're like a steward, not an owner."

That attitude makes it easier to part with possessions, and Harvey said most of the nuns only own things they consider practical. Watches are necessary for their cheesecake-making business, but "you won't find us in minks and jewelry." Most of their clothes are donated.

"One thing that makes our life simpler is that we don't follow trends," she said. "Our mentality is to wear what the common people wear."

At the Common Sense Farm, another religious community in Cambridge, a group called the Twelve Tribes of Israel lives by a similar creed.

"We try to live in harmony with each other and with our surroundings, and meet one another's needs. I don't think it's all that unusual, just practical," said David Woodward, one of the founding members of the group.

The women in the community make most of the clothes they wear, and the men wear their hair in ponytails so they can easily cut it themselves. They support themselves by producing and selling natural body care products, and are planning to open a cafe in downtown Cambridge later this year.

"An economy that's not based on greed is our goal," said Woodward. He helped start the Twelve Tribes in Chattanooga, Tenn., in the early 1970s, motivated by a desire to live like the early Christians described in the gospel of Acts.

Although Twelve Tribes isn't averse to modern culture -- some members have cars, and even cell phones -- they do their shopping out of need rather than impulse. Members pool their personal financial resources, and a bookkeeper doles out money for things like food, clothes and tools. There's no budget for things like TVs and iPods, but Woodward said most of their entertainment "comes in the form of social interactions."

Many people who want to simplify their lives are unwilling or unable to join a religious community. They often seek the services of professional organizers such as Helen Volk, who runs the Albany-based business Beyond Clutter.

Volk said many of her clients want to change their lives by "downsizing or purging" their possessions, but it's not easy.

"A lot of people have too much stuff in their life because they have trouble letting go emotionally," Volk said. "Start with things that don't involve a big sentimental attachment, like things that have an expired date on them."

Even information expires, she points out -- stacks of old magazines and newspapers, for example.

She also suggests living by the rule of "one in, one out," which means getting rid of one thing for every new thing you accumulate.

"To me, the definition of clutter is the stuff we're not using, and if you're not using it, why are you holding on to it?" Volk said. She supports the idea of "conscious consumption," which means understanding "what you're buying, and why you're buying it." Above all, she said, people need to find balance in their lives.

"If you have 1,000 CDs, how many more do you have to have to be happy?" she said. "The answer is, happiness has nothing to do with what you own."