100 Thing Challenge: Part I

Just the other day I stumbled upon this great little blog. Its titled "A Guy Named Dave " http://guynameddave.com  Dave, the blog's author, started a movement known as the "100 Thing Challenge". Its really two blogs, one about the challenge and one about his pursuit of a simpler, more fulfilling life (sound familiar?). Basically, Dave decided to try and live with just 100 personal items. Read his blog and you'll see that he doesn't actually live with just 100 items. There are exceptions (like items shared by his family), some "items" are really groups (like socks and underwear are counted as one item). But the point is, he makes an honest effort to live with far less stuff. Check it out.
I am always looking for inspiration and I have been inspired by the 100 Thing Challenge. At first, it seemed simple. Its important to have a concrete measurement of success when striving towards any goal. "Owning less stuff" is a hard goal to achieve. I like the idea of having an actual number to aim for. Then I started thinking about all the stuff I owned. How far do I take this? Its easy enough to be honest about all the clothes I own that I really don't wear, but how many pairs of pants should I keep? Books are a healthy habit. Is it bad to own so many? Are my cell phone, computer, and camera really necessary? What about things that help me lessen my ecological footprint, like hankies and reusable shopping bags? Should those count in my 100 items? And don't even get me started on the "baby gear" (although I will admit that 4 strollers is probably 3 too many). If I stick to only the things that belong to me (my husband has not yet chosen to participate), and don't count shared family/household items (such as the furniture), and don't count things that are essential (such as car seats) that is still an amazing amount of "stuff" that fills my home. So how to include those items that belong to the entire family? (Fortunately my children are still too young to have a say in this little project.)

I have begun to appreciate just how difficult this challenge really is.

I hadn't even started and already it was beginning to seem impossible, unreasonable, unnecessary. Why limit ourselves to an arbitrary number? If we value and use everything we own, why not keep it? Then I thought about all the money we have spent in the past few months on "organization and storage". How we think about needing a bigger house, a bigger car, a larger garage/storage area. I need to at least try.

The key to achieving such an overwhelming project is to take it one little step at a time. So I am not going to worry about all of our stuff. I am going to start with my closet and then move on to my kids' closets. We really don't need so many clothes and the large pile of shoes by the door drives me nuts. Honestly, if you have a pile of clothes on the floor because there is no where to hang them, you have too many. Then I will just slowly start working my way through my personal items.  Starting now, I am going to try not to buy any more stuff. Have you ever tried to have a day where you didn't spend any money? Try it, you may be surprised at how hard it is.

I think I'll start with a list of what I own, that will help put it in perspective. Stay tuned.....Better yet, join me! I'd love to hear about your pursuit of a less cluttered life!