Looking around my room I see more and more things, big and small, that I hardly use. Ranging from a pocket knife (I use only one, I have six) to a guitar which I haven’t played on in something like a year and a half. Now it’s hard to part with a musical instrument but why do I keep so many pocket knives?
You could think it’s a good thing to have a backup. “I’ll just keep this for now, just in case I ever need it.” But more often than not, we toss the items we kept years on because it wasn’t useful after all. My mother in law is the perfect example. The old TV and broken washing machine are still in her home and I’m sure she will never use any part of them ever again. The kitchen drawers are crammed with bottle openers, corkscrews, garlic presses and other things you really only need one of. Why do we keep all these things, why do we live with so much clutter around us. For me the answer to that is having little faith in what you have, even if it’s subconscious. “What is this bottle openers breaks or I loose it?”
After reading Rolf Pott’s Vagabonding I’ve more and more come to like the idea of living out of a backpack. Being able to move around without dragging along all that stuff. But it would mean some serious decluttering. My biggest problem would be I can’t part with my book collection. Well, so far for the “living out of a backpack”… I’ve got hundreds of books. With this in mind I started searching for something different and that’s whee the 100-items challenge comes in.
This challenge I first heard of through Leo Babauta seems just about perfect for my urge to declutter. Simply put, you get rid of everything you own save 100 items. Books count as a single “collection” so that’s only one item. But still, one hundred items isn’t all that much. Just looking at what I take along to college:
- Backpack
- Laptop
- Pen
- Pencil
- Notebook
- Keys
- Wallet
- Phone
- Pocket knife
- Motorcycle
We didn’t even get to my clothing yet or the leather wallet in my jacket containing the registration papers of my motorcycle yet. The list above is 10 items, that’s already 10% of everything. If we break down the content of the wallet it gets even worse.
So is this 100 items challenge doable? Of course it is! It just takes some proper planning and a healthy dose of self-exploration. That it, exploring the self and wondering why you keep certain things, why you have all this clutter. Let’s get stared…
…and here we are again, at the mainstay of this blog. Where do we begin. I could copy and paste Leo’s view on things, and for the sake of it I will give the short version of his view:
- First, take inventory
- Next, mark the must-keep stuff
- Then, the borderline stuff
- Get rid of the rest
But there is a huge problem there. What exactly is must-keep. In an ideal world one could realize that we come into this world with nothing, and we leave it with nothing. All our possessions are just things we just have for a certain time. Can we really call things ours in that perspective? In the western world this just wouldn’t work. We need certain things. Clothing, money, transport, creature comforts. (and in my case books.) So what exactly are the must-keep items. Again here I borrow from Leo. He states the must-keeps as items you know you are going to keep. Your laptop, your iPod perhaps, the small stone egg your father gave you.
If you have only one of everything, would you know where it was? Would you make sure it was in a perfect working order?
Ask yourself what the things are you must keep and ask yourself why you keep something. The 100 items can be done as soon as you realize that you don’t really need all the stuff you think you need. Take things slow, one item at a time, one step at a time.
I did a revisit on this blogpost on 02-23-2010, looking deeper into problems with taking up this challenge.
Check it out here
Such a tempting thought. But for those of rural living, self sufficiency leaning, self employed its not going to work. I some cases by paring down all you do is outsource. We grow and store food. It takes stuff and space. Animals, gardens, fire wood, building and upkeep of structures…. the country list goes on. On the other hand we can stay at home for weeks, if need be.
I think that for the average person this should be more than possible. While some people, as EJ mentioned, won’t be able to comply due to necessity, I think this would do average people a lot of good. Especially people who get to attached to their things or heed their hording compulsions.
I don’t think I can do it right away, but I think I would like to try doing this myself some time soon. …come to think of it though I’m not certain I have more than 100 items now…
I unfortunately haven’t had the opportunity (yet) to see Fight Club or read the book of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk, but I have heard some excellent quotations- most by the character Tyler Durden.
Anyways, one of my favorites is “the things you own end up owning you”. I found a lot of meaning in this, and I’m working to become less attached to things and more attached to intangible assets such as relationships, experiences, and knowledge. It’s definitely not easy though, living in the heavy-materialistic US.
What a great challenge! I have to say, I could not do that though. 100 things only – there is no way…even with books counting as 1 thing. (I love books – especially early 1900′s)
You are right, just the “essentials” make up 10% of the 100 things.
I bet if I went through my purse, I’d have another 20-30 items easy.
Although I will be the first to admit that I do need to de-clutter. I keep meaning to do so, to donate items to battered women, to take the childrens books to smaller children since my own kids are past those books – I just haven’t got to it.
It’s a nice thought, but I just don’t think I could do it.
Hello! Great blog you have here!
I’m in the process of paring down my extensive collection of ‘stuff’ for my new adventure, which involves moving to and living in a new country every four months. As a build-up, I’m getting rid of everything I own that can’t fit within my carry-on backpack or my laptop bag.
As you can imagine, this doesn’t leave much, and like you, I am an avid booky; having worked at a bookstore for 5 years allowed me to build up a collection of hundreds and hundreds of beloved tomes.
That being said, I’ve begun the massive sale, and I’ve found that it’s not as difficult to let go of my book collection as I thought. A big part of why it hasn’t been quite so torturous is because I realized that the value of books is not the expensive binding or paper they are printed on, but rather the information inside. And fortunately, we live in a time where almost any book that’s ever been printed can be had in digital format.
I have to apps on my iPhone, Stanza and Amazon’s Kindle app, both which allow me to read eBooks comfortably on the small screen. Stanza is great for paging through free eBooks you come across, and for the expired-copyright fare at places like Project Gutenberg. The Kindle app is fantastic for newer books…I downloaded and read Vagabonding a few days ago, followed by Grindhopping and Pygmy (the last isn’t a productivity book, but is by Chuck Palahniuk, who’s book Fight Club came up in one of the comments above!).
Long story short, I say try parting with some of your book collection and see how you feel. I get a thrill each time I sell or give away a beloved book because I know someone else will soon get just as much out of it as I did, but I will still have access to it should I need it (online).
Good luck with your endeavors, and I’ll keep reading to find out how things are progressing!
I think it actually goes beyond being owned by things. Epictetus said this: “First you enslave yourself to objects, then to people” Presumably, to the people who ultimately control the objects you have enslaved yourself to, i.e. the other end of your chain.
Thank you for this quote from Epictetus. :) Those Stoics never cease to amaze me.
Books = 1? Hate to argue that, but I don’t think so!
Books are my bane at this point, too! So far, I am in the process of clearing out and choosing through the 1000+ books I have in my collection.
It is so very painful to me, as I have taken the time (not to mention the money) to choose them for my needs. I am only keeping what my children have chosen for themselves and precious books handed down to me from my grandfather that were in the early 20th century. I will also keep those that define me, and still weed through them further, though it feels like self-amputation!
I realised that it is very selfish of me to keep this
trove of knowledge just for my family. I have found several foster parents for my ‘babies’ in study centers and a pre-school (for the children’s books I had been keeping while my youngest has already grown to 10!) An architect friend has offered to adopt any stray design books and magazines I am letting go of since she uses it for design research.
I am letting my ‘babies’ go out and do their job – educate other people and kindle ideas and creativity.
However, I do hate to admit, if we were not faced with the prospect of having to live in a much, much smaller house, I would not even have dreamed of doing this at all!
Why are you interested in the 100 things?
I try to cut down on (buying, new) stuff to lighten my ecological footprint. It seems to me that getting rid of used books and buying new, need to be updated electronics (iPhone, Stanza and Amazon’s Kindle) is a way to go “smaller” but not necessarily “lighter”.
Your thoughts?
There are severals ways to view this.
On the one hand consuming/staying updated results in a bigger footprint. On the other hand newer things (cars in particular) are better for the enviroment and so you get a smaller footprint.
Reducing the number of items you have also reduces the amount of storage space you need. This way you can live smaller, which is always better for the enviroment as well. (Less central heating for instance)
This being said I don’t feel the need to update. See my “ode to the old” blogpost.
My personal reasons to be interested are getting rid of attachements and being more mobile. I don’t want things to have power over me so I’d better get rid of them. Also, I aspire to become location independant and that’s something that won’t work if you own en entire house full of stuff.
I like minimalist living, I’ve written about the benefits of minimalist living before. A few of them are easy cleaning, and less stress.
I do believe that reducing my posessions to 100 things will reduce my footprint, but this is not my main motivation.
I hope this does answer some of your questions, if not please do stay in touch and we can discuss this further.
I have read your challenge. As for books, movies and music I have discovered the computer to be a godsend! I do most of my reading digitally these days, all of my music is digital, and I am slowly converting what videos I have to a smaller digital format.
With a computer, I have not only managed to eliminate a television, stereo, books, video players and game machines, but items like a phone as well with Magicjack.
I don’t know if I will ever be able to meet your 100 item challenge, but thinning down and outsourcing life more is a wonderful project!
I’ve succeeded in this–in fact, I’ve superseded it. I own a total of 76 things. I just moved into a 6′ x 10′ house which I built myself on a trailer. I honestly love it.
The hardest thing was selling my massive book collection. It wasn’t hard to let go of the bestsellers and such that’d I’d picked up over the last ten years, but the books from 1800′s/early 1900′s hurt so very badly, I once even convinced myself to keep them in my car but knew I should sell them.
I use the Sony eReader now. Cell phone. Laptop doubles as TV. Mp3 player w/FM radio. Small solar charger for small gadgets/hand crank charger for winter time.
Monthly electric bill = $6 – $8 in winter, $20 – $30 in summer (AC!)
I use a wood burner in winter for heat, since at least one tree is blown over each summer here, cook food on the porch with a small grill, get water from well/rain, burn my paper trash in stove, recycle cans/plastics, use compost toilet–
Basically, I can afford (accommodation-wise) to live off a minimum-wage paycheck of working one day a month.
I love it.
Barry, you are my hero!
I read your utility charges to my little girl and she sat there open mouthed for a moment, then made the comment – “With bills like that Mommy, you wouldn’t have to work so much! Can we do that?”
So now my daughter is coming onto the simplicity bandwagon in hopes that Mom will be able to work less and spend more time with her.
Thank you for such an inspiring post! Time to put some more things on Freecycle!
The only time I lived with less than one hundred items is when I lived on Cozumel for almost a year. It was very hard at the beginning, missing all the things, stuff, social life, family, friends and bluff from big city. Here I was surrounded by a beautiful ocean, simple natives and exuberant nature, everything so simple but real. I had not TV, no computer, not even many books… just my bed, a table, a radio and a telephone to keep me in touch with the world. The weather was so hot that a pair of shorts, t-shirts and sandals was enough. At that time I happened to read “The Alquimist” which between my lifestyle on the island and the story of the book made me realized and appreciate simplicity. It has been the only time in my life that I have had time to reflect, to talk to myself, to think, to breath, to listen and look around and see the locals smiling, the kids laughing and playing on the streets with old broken toys, the dogs barking and the sound of the ocean all around me. It was my only and true simple life…. So meaningful!!
Now, after many years from that experience, I am back to the city, have a husband, couple of kids, house, vehicle, books, magazines, toys, bicycle, TV, laptop, cell phone, ipod, clothes, a good job, friends, family, social life, traffic, pollution etc,etc,etc. Not that I dislike it but I really believe that unless one isolate from this materialistic society, it’s hard to live with only 100 items. It’s like living on a candy shop afterall!
Adios!