Day 189- 100 Thing Challenge

Have you heard of the 100 thing challenge ?

Well this guy named Dave decided on his own little way to personalize his efforts to fight American-style consumerism.

How does he do it ?

The goal of the 100 Thing Challenge is to break free from the confining habits of American-style consumerism. A lot of people around the world feel "stuck in stuff." They feel like their closets and garages are too full of things that don't really make their lives much better. But how to get unstuck?

Reduce (get rid of some of your stuff)

Refuse (to get more new stuff)

Rejigger (your priorities)

He totally believes that living without abundance of personal possessions for an extended period of time is the first step we ought to take - He's  sure you'll never go back. 

You'll spend the rest of your life creating a more valuable life, instead of wasting your money and time on stuff. 

You will be glad. And best of all, the people around you will be blessed by your efforts to prioritize more meaningful pursuits.

***** Here are the original rules of the 100 Thing Challenge*****

1. "Personal Things" means things that are entirely or mostly mine.  Clearly family-shared and household things (e.g. dining room table, piano, bed, plates, etc.) are not considered a personal thing.  Right now my wife and daughters are curious about what I'm up to, but they prefer to observe rather than participate.
2. Memorabilia - I was going to keep a small box of memorabilia. But it turned out that I don't have much. So I'm ditching this idea and just counting a few things.
3. Books - Ah, here's the rub.  We're avid readers in our home.  And even the books I don't read thrice a year look so very attractive as they collect dust on the bookshelves.  And many of my books are kind of work related. Strange as it sounds, I have a lot of history books that relate directly or indirectly to consumerism, and thus help me with the 100 Thing Challenge.
4. A few items are counted in groups.  This includes underwear and socks.  I'm not keeping a lot of either.  We do, though, run a household.  The idea of trying to manage laundry with a few pairs of skivvies and socks is both unrealistic and gross.
5. We are keeping some household tools: hammer, screwdriver, tape measure, etc. Just last week I needed some tools to put up my daughter's gymnastics bar. I'm not using them for anything more than honey-do projects.
6. I've left myself some cushion in case I receive a gift or two over the next year. But hopefully everyone who might give me a gift knows that they shouldn't! Anyway, once I receive a gift, I have 7 days to figure out what to do with it before it counts toward my 100 Thing Challenge. I figure that should be enough time to either graciously lose it or get rid of some other thing.
7. Finally, I can get new things. But I have to always remain under 100 things total. And also if I am "replacing" something, I have to get rid of the original thing first before I get the new thing.

I vow to start my 100 thing challenge on January 1, 2011- it is already in my agenda and it should make things much easier for when I move .!