The 100 Thing Challenge

Yesterday, I finished reading Dave Bruno's The 100 Thing Challenge: How I Got Rid of Almost Everything, Remade My Life, and Regained My Soul.  This book left me feeling thoughtful.  How much stuff does any one person really need to survive in life?

His main point is regarding how consumerism has overtaken society.  We are caught in a vicious cycle of buying "things" and it is never enough.  I agree with that point.  How often have I bought something and only really been slightly satisfied with it?  I bought something that wasn't quite right to fulfill a need I had at the time.  Within a couple of months usually that item isn't even used anymore and I have probably already replaced it with something else that met my needs at that time.

I don't think I am ready for whittling my personal possessions down to 100 items.  However, I do feel ready to purge more of my stuff again.  When we moved out here to Washington from Kansas we packed a whole bunch of stuff that we didn't need but we weren't sure exactly of what we had.  We didn't have time to really go through it before the move.  Once we started unpacking we purged a lot of stuff.  We made a few trips to Goodwill and several items wound up just being trash.  It was a lightening feeling.  We have been here for eight months now and I feel the stuff starting to pile up again.  Once again, we are buying but not getting rid of things.  It's time for a purge!  Maybe it won't be to the extent that it was when we unpacked, but I think we could make a significant amount of space again.

So for now, I would like to set some simple goals for myself regarding possessions:

1. Before I buy an item, I need to think harder about if I really need it or not.
2. If I am replacing something, I need to get rid of the old possession right away.  It does not need to hide on a shelf somewhere to be found months later.
3. I need to evaluate the stuff I have now and consider if I truly need it or not.

I look at our bedroom and while very tidy (trust me it's not perfectly neat) it has clutter.  I was looking at it yesterday and wondering where we were going to put Appleseed.  That might be my first room to purge.  I might even document the process so others can see how it is going.

I have considered what items/products are going to be my downfalls, my temptation so to speak.  Books are number one.  I love books, I love to read books, I love to buy books, I love everything about books.  I think I could get rid of about 35-40% of what I have now though.  I have been trying to utilize the library much more instead of running to Barnes and Noble every time I want a book.  The book I just read I actually borrowed from the library.  My next downfall is clothes.  I have cut my clothes down multiple times and I still have too many!  I'm surprised how good I have been this pregnancy, I really haven't bought that many maternity clothes and if I do buy them it is on as needed basis.  I get in a really bad habit of clearance rack shopping and then coming home with all these clothes that had super deals on them.  I think it's okay to buy new clothes, but I should get rid of some of my old clothes whenever I buy new ones.  The third major downfall I have is lotions, cosmetics, etc.  I love to try new stuff!  The only problem is, I use the product a couple of times and then it goes under the sink with the other forgotten products.

I wonder how much money I could save.......I also wonder if I would really miss what I give up.  For some reason I don't think I will.