Eliminate crap. The 100 Things Challenge

What is “The 100 Things Challenge”? Let me quote from Zen Habits:

“Could you cut your personal possessions down to 100 things?

Last week, in my Haiku Productivity post, I mentioned blogger Dave Bruno’s 100 thing challenge. It’s actually a challenge that I’ve seen in years past on other forums (see the rucksack guy’s 101 things – with photos), but Dave’s version is that he’s trying to cut his personal possessions down to 100 items.

Things not included:

• Stuff that’s shared between him and other family members.
• Non-personal stuff, like dishes, cleaning supplies, etc.
• Books.
• Tools.
• Collections count as one item.”

by Zen Habits

I’ve always hated having too much stuff around. It’s a hassle to keep things organized and most of the time you just keep reorganizing things that you haven’t actually used for years.

Think about it. When was the last time you wore that forgotten shirt that sits in your closet or looked into your nightstand drawers. The fact is that we tend to collect stuff with the mindset that we MAY need those things some day.

The 100 things challenge makes you go through your stuff and re-evaluate what you ACTUALLY need to have and what you use on a daily basis. It also helps to cut down on consumerism. For each new item you’ll want to buy, you’ll need to sacrifice one previous item. So in that way it puts things in perspective and makes you understand what you really value the most.

So that’s why I’ve started the 100 things challenge for myself. I can already imagine it will be difficult to give up on some things, but I truly believe that once one can get pass the desire to own stuff (as it’s common to our society) only then can he or she grow mentally.

Alright, wish me luck. Next post will be the list of 100 things I’ll keep and some of the stuff I’ll give away. Anyone fancy joining me? : )