The 100 Thing Challenge

Change in plans.  Normally I check in with the Butterfly Effect Challenge on Mondays.  I will check in tomorrow on that subject, and then resume the regularly scheduled updates next Monday.  I’ve started something new that I wanted to begin on the first day of this workweek.  Please follow along below. 

Ok, new challenge!  Yes, I’m still working on the Butterfly Effects challenge, and thanks to my efforts at Simplifying my life, I’m inspired to make a new challenge, this one lasting one year. 

Inspired by A Guy Named Dave, Leo Babauta at Mnmlist, The Rucksack Guy (who’s blog seems to have disappeared),  Fawn and a handful of other posters at the Simple Living Discussion Boards and several others that are escaping my memory, I am going to attempt the 100 Thing Challenge – Living my life with 100 personal items. 

As a recovering consumerist, I’m trying this because it will stretch my comfort zone far beyond what I’m used to and it forces me to challenge my space.  It may fail, it may not, but I’m going to do the best to enjoy the process. 

I’m going about things a bit differently than Dave.  He got his possessions down to 100 at the start of his one year challenge and went from there.  This is a terrific way to go about it, but I am trying something different.  I’m boxing stuff up, storing it away, and as I need it, I will pull it out and add it to the list.  This is particularly effective for clothing, which is the one category of stuff that I fear may make this experiment fail.

Living in a four season climate in a city like Buffalo, New York that is known for its extreme winters, offset by not-so-well-known hot summers (with temps sometimes reaching the 90’s) we have many reasons for different types of clothing.  Ya’ can’t shovel five feet of snow in shorts and flip flops. That’s a completely different challenge…one that’s usually precipitated by male friends and copious amounts of Lager. 

I figure that I can hit all four Seasons for clothing by making this challenge last one year. 

I’m also a musician, so I’m concerned about all the gear, though I admit that there are many pieces of gear that I haven’t used in the past year already.  Typically it’s just me and my acoustic guitar.  This too, may be a trouble spot for the experiment.

Since it’s my challenge, I’ll take A Guy Named Dave’s lead and set up my own rules.  You’ll notice that, by checking the links above, everyone’s rules differ. 

1.  I do not count items that are shared with my family of five.  It’s not up to me to impose my will upon them and I fear, as it is, that my wife may be lurking in the shadows to beat me with a stick for latching on to another crazy Charley idea.  This means that kitchen utensils, televisions, furniture, the dining room table, washer, dryer, the Minivan, luggage, the bed, etc, are not counted (though I may have to count the bed should my wife evict me from it thanks to this and I have to buy my own).
2. I do not count tools, for the same reason as above, and additionally because many of the tools were given to us by family, including my wife’s father who is no longer with us.  I don’t have a lot of tools and I’m not particularly handy (understatement) but we did just go through the process of putting together three cribs, a couple pack n’ plays and some swings for the babies, and having to borrow a hammer and screwdriver every time you need it makes you an annoying neighbor (or friend, or family member).
3. Like Dave, some items are counted as groups, i.e. socks and underwear.  Though I’ve considered the “no underwear” challenge my Mom threatened to ground me (I am 36, but still, she’s Mom), so…I guess we’ll let that one go for now.  My brother, true story, has all but eliminated the need for socks, but I can’t seem to get there.  Additionally, with three baby triplets coming home from the hospital very soon, I don’t want to force any more laundry woes on my poor wife by having to wash one pair of underwear and socks daily.  Were I the laundry doer, I would consider it, but my incompetency has, for the most part, caused my laundry privileges to be revoked.  Besides which, it’s kinda’ disgusting to have only one pair of underwear and one pair of socks.
4. Gifts are allowed, but I have to make a trade for something on my list that is like for like.  For example, if someone buys me a work shirt, it has to replace one of the other work shirts on the list.    With that being said, I’m discouraging gifts.  My preference is that the money spent goes towards the babies instead, preferably for their 529 Plans.  I need for nothing when I have a wonderful family and many modern conveniences. 
5. Memorabilia, though I don’t have much, does not count.  I don’t have many pictures but those I do have will get passed down to succeeding generations to do as they wish. 
6. It doesn’t include the stuff that is kept at work.  I’m expected to have and use certain tools at work and they are separate and distinct from my personal life.  Were I to leave my employment, none of that would come with me as it doesn’t belong to me. 
7. It doesn’t count consumables like toiletries. Though the toothbrush and razor make the list.  My grooming routine is decidedly lo-fi though I currently sport a goatee that needs regular trimming.  I’ve thought of shaving it for this but then the consequences would be severe (please see reference above to wife, in shadows, with big stick).
8. I don’t count inventory.  As a writer and musician I have books and CD’s that I sell at gigs.  It’s business inventory and if I didn’t have it, there wouldn’t be any business.  If I counted it, this Challenge would be over immediately.
9. Books.  I do not count books.  I don’t read much fiction, I have less than ten of these, but I have a few dozen non-fiction books on hand that are constant sources for blogging.  I’ve heard the rational that I should give them to the library and then I can go check them out whenever I wish.  Of all the hundreds of books I’ve donated to the library over the years I’ve never seen a single one that was kept by the library.  They sell them for a buck or less to raise money.  Plus, nearly every one I’ve linked to above also excludes books.  With that being said, I am still considering radically simplifying my book collection.

So, why am I doing this?  Other than to slay the consumerist monster within me, I hope that not fussing over stuff gives me more time to do the things I love, like spending time with my family, writing, and playing music.  It kills me to spend hours upon hours cleaning and organizing my home.  If I can take care of 20% of that (I, being one out of five people who live here) then that’s more time we can enjoy spending with one another.

I’m also hoping that my experiment may help serve as an example for my children some day as I’ll self-publish an eBook about it for them and for anyone else who is interested, if it’s a success.  No, I don't expect them to become modern day monks but they can hopefully learn to appreciate what they have without always yearning for more.  If it’s not successful, well no harm except for having suffered through writing about it (and I suppose to all of you who read it).

In theory, if I can get through a year without touching the stuff that remains in storage, I should be able to pass it along to those who can better find purpose with it. 

There is no reason it can’t be a success except for my own inability to stave off instant gratification.  There are billions of people in the world who get by with far less than 100 items…including shared family items.   And please don’t take this as a judgment upon any of you who read this.  You have to be wired a bit different to want to attempt this and it is a deeply personal thing.  If you’re not interested in this, I can completely respect that.

Feel free to join in with me, if you’d like.  No pressure, your challenge, your time-table, your rules.   It doesn’t even have to be 100 Items. 

I will be checking in with progress, as often as weekly at first as my list of 100 Items gets built, but perhaps monthly once I get the ball rolling. 

The challenge begins today, September 21^st, 2009 and ends, September 21^st 2010.