100 Things (squared) Challenge

Yes, it's been a while since I posted. I'll start playing catch up here. . .

James showed me a link to blog post about a 100 Things Challenge last week, and it’s been percolating since then. (I’ll find the link and add it later.)

We haven’t strictly followed the 100-mile limit for food in a similar locavore challenge, but we do eat quite a bit from local sources. Our favorite meals often include a 100-foot element. There’s a special delight in looking out the window at the vines that held dinner just an hour earlier. (Although Tori prefers to sit with her back to the window so she can’t see the vines “watching her” as she eats their "baby" beans.)

James and I discussed the 100-Things challenge, and pretty much dismissed it at that point. I think it’s going to require some real modification for us, before we can handle the adjustments to that much simplicity. Shoots, we probably have over 3000 books alone in this house, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find the number closer to twice that---and that’s after we’ve been culling books a bit at a time for almost two years (since we painted the upstairs winter before last).

I’m thinking that, in the interest of awareness, we start by listing what we have and sorting it into categories. (I’m hoping that we’ll choose to release many items before they even make it to a list.)

I was only partially joking when I sent James an email suggesting that we start with a maximum of 100 lists of 100 items, but everything goes on one of the lists. That would give us a total of 10,000 items in the house, and that would include everything: books, financial papers (100 items should cover that, although it might need one list for taxes and one for other records), people’s clothes, tools, household and kitchen items, etc. We’ll just break the lists down into sub-categories as finely distinguished as necessary to get the total that we need in that category down below 101 items. My hope is that, as we move along this path, we’ll continue eliminating items and will be able to combine the lists in the future.

Yes, I know, this is just another piece of evidence that we’re teetering on the edge of certifiable lunacy. Would you accept that this started as a way to make a game that I could enjoy out of the idea of getting rid of stuff? Those of you who know me very well at all are familiar with my tendency to pack rat. However much progress I’ve made in the last few years, I have a long way to go (as evidenced by the fact that just getting the household down to 10,000 items is going to be an improvement!). And I’m not the only one in the house with this affliction!

I don’t really see us getting to a place where we have less than 200 items in our house, even when the kids are gone and we’ve really simplified our lives. But we are moving toward a much simpler lifestyle, and don’t want to be putting more energy (time, money, thought) into maintaining stuff that we really don’t need.

Thought challenge: Start a list of what you really need to live comfortably. . . a plate, a bowl, a cup, knife/fork/spoon, napkin, towel, pillow (or 2 . . . plus a Bucky!), sheets (how do you count those? Individually? As a set?), journal, pen, brush, toothbrush, washcloth or shower scrubby, then the consumables-soap, toothpaste, etc.-how do you count those????, clothing (I have 75 things on hangers in my closet right now-with laundry to be done-and that doesn’t count the hangers! And I counted each suit skirt + jacket as one item!), etc. Have fun! And feel free to post your own version/additions to this list.