On Monday night I met Peter Walsh, the organization guru from the TLC show Clean Sweep. No, it wasn't a secret hot date, Peter was promoting his new book It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff.

I scored a seat in the second row because I arrived well over an hour before the event. Like your average stalker.

If you haven't seen the show, you should check it out. Peter reins in the chaos of people's clutter (with the help of a designer and Eric the hunky carpenter) and helps them look at the reasons why they hang onto it. He claims that people normally cling to possessions out of a need to keep living in the past (Grandma gave me that broken cello) or be prepared for the future (I may need the anteater cage one day).

Not that I think the DH and I have a lot of stuff when compared to some members of my family. Shoot, some of them read this blog so I really can't go naming names...but they know who they are. It's during times like the search for the dining room table that we realize how much stuff we have been saving because of great memories or those uncertain future needs.

A few daring individuals in the crowd asked Peter some questions regarding their own or a "friend's" clutter dilemma. He was hilarious, telling some people to throw it out and others to make their own decisions about what's important.

"If it's stuffed into a garbage bag and under a bed, it can't be called a collection."

He's so right. And now I have yet another book about clutterbusting on the bookshelf.

At least this one is signed. ;)