Do you own your stuff -- or does it own you?

A recent post by software developer/blogger/VC Paul Graham is making the rounds, and is well worth a read. Graham's thesis: not only do we all have too much "stuff," but that stuff actually saps our energy: 

...Unless you're extremely organized, a house full of stuff can be very depressing. A cluttered room saps one's spirits.  One reason, obviously, is that there's less room for people in a room full of stuff.  But there's more going on than that.  I think humans constantly scan their environment to build a mental model of what's around them.  And the harder a scene is to parse, the less energy you have left for conscious thoughts.  A cluttered room is literally exhausting.

Sure, this isn't necessary a new idea. George Carlin nailed this 25 years ago, when he declared: "That's all your house is: a place to keep your stuff. If you didn't have so much stuff, you wouldn't need a house. You could just walk around all the time." Still, Graham's post is worth a read, if only as a reminder that, before you click that "Buy" button or hand over that cash, you may not really need all that stuff.