100 Things

Minimalism is gaining popularity on the internet.  There are blogs dedicated to living with as few items as possible, and a trend of narrowing down your possessions to 100 things. This is an achievable reality thanks to a few things (books, plates) not being counted as “things.”

I will never be a minimalist. I come from a strong pack rat heritage (though my mother has made leaps and bounds in the past 5 years at unearthing the basement). But reading these lists has made me think perhaps I could stand to pare it down a little.

Rather than cut down to 100 things, I have decided to get rid of 100 things. Given the amount of stuff I have crammed into our 1000 square foot condo it’s unlikely that ditching 100 items would actually make a noticeable dent. But I feel it’s a worthy challenge.

I found the following items in my immediate vicinity which I really don’t need to hang on to:

1. A stuffed kiwi key chain (my keys are on a bottle opener that says “die in a fire” on it)
2. A miniature plastic “book” containing a notepad and tiny pen
3. A stuffed GIR key chain (don’t panic, I have another one)
4. A board game I have played only once
5. Three VHS cassettes (I contend these each count as one item) which are readily available on DVD. I haven’t owned a VHS player in years.
6. A bread machine
7. An extra kitchen timer
8. A TV-B-Gone (fun as it is, I don’t really go places with TVs I wish to turn off)
9. An envelope moistener I have never used
10. A pair of Chuck Taylors I bought in 2000. They are full of holes and uncomfortable to wear.
11. A pair of pants I have never worn which don’t fit. I lost the receipt, but they were only $5 so it’s not a big loss.
12. A pair of pants which have never fit me well. Also $5
13. A size 6 pair of jeans. I caved and rescued them. They’re expensive jeans!
14. Six books (four paperback, two hardcover). I thought about listing them on PaperBackSwap, but with my Nook I really have no desire for printed books. The books are Freakonomics, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Stranger in a Strange Land, Job: A Comedy of Justice, Anansi Boys and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

With the exception of the chucks, which I threw in the trash with just a bit of a dramatic pout, everything else is headed to Goodwill (or NYC Resistor where appropriate).

20 items down, 80 to go.