100 Things

My boss and I went to coffee the other day and she told me about this movement she read about in the New York Times called the 100 things challenge, a grass roots kind of effort. Get your personal belongings down to 100 things. Now I would call my boss a minamalist already and even for her getting her personal belongings down to 100 things would probably be hard but if any one could do it she could. I'm continually stopping her from throwing things out at the office because yes we do need to keep those files for more than a month. My first thought to this movement is: Right! I probably have a hundred things in my purse and tote bag I carry around with me all the time, not to mention what I carry around in my car. We do live in earthquake country you know. You never know when you're going to have to be in survival mode. My purse might just save my life.

The contents of my purse and tote bag I carry with me daily. Yikes!

After pondering the concept for a couple of days it's actually very intriquing and maybe even alluring. Think about how you feel when you stay at a nice hotel. You have your essentials with you; clothes, makeup, phone, maybe a book or magazine. But you love the feeling of that clean crisp hotel room, you just want to stay there forever and go out to eat every night and explore the area you're in. You might not even have a car with you so you have to think of different ways of getting around. You don't have the burden of all this stuff to keep clean and buy and be responsible for.

This concept prompted me to make a list of 100 personal items that were essential to me. What happened when I started making the list was I started making new rules and categories of stuff on my list. My art stuff was a whole category, camera stuff, kitchen stuff was a category, medicine and first aid was a category, personal grooming, furtniture, photo albums, doll collection, my sea glass collection, my art on the wall, all my Giant's clothing counts as one thing, my books, my yoga props...sigh not an easy task.

We are very emotionally attached to our stuff. But what do we really need? As you get older you find you don't need as much. You realize you aren't going to live forever in this physical existence and you just don't need some of this stuff. You start downsizing. I keep finding things I'm just not that attached to anymore. As for those boxes of stuff in the garage that I may someday use in a new place; when I pull them down and look through them, it's either rotted or out of style or I think, "What the heck was I saving this for?"

This 100 thing challenge is an interesting exercise to look at things differently. A way to get that vacation kind of feeling all of the time. Maybe it's a way of pinpointing what your life purpose really is. What is most important in this second half of my life? How do I want to live it? What "things" do I really need to be happy? Do I need things to be happy? How much more money would I have if I lived in a much smaller place?

If we didn't have to house all our stuff, we might be able to spend our time and money on traveling or going to yoga retreats or eating out at nice places. This coming from a photographer, artist, memorablila keeper, antiques hunter and collector of many things. I hate getting rid of stuff. I still have my Barbie's and baby dolls hidden somewhere under the stairs. I still have that full set of 80's mauve and sea foam china we got as a wedding present...hmmmm I think my kids may need some new dishes and my granddaughter may need some new toys. I know I have to clean my purse out. It's a start.

What 100 personal things could you get your stuff down to? Up to the challenge?