apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

i'd have to go home and count how many things i do have to begin with...wow

I don't think this is all that impressive...there are too many caveats. If he has a wife and children who are not participating, they still have stuff and it's still in the house. If he gets to keep "personal memorabilia" in stored boxes, how does that not count toward the 100 things? (And I love that the bible is used as the example, implying that some things are too sacred to give up, which dilutes the spirit of the project).

If you seriously declutter, you'll find out having only 100 personal things is easy!!

What's particularly interesting is realizing *how much* stuff one actually has.

Moving every year, or twice a year, makes purging easier than it would be for a packrat like me -- but I don't think I'd throw everything away simply to meet an arbitrary number.

I think in theory this is a good idea, but it would work best if executed by someone living on their own. That way everything counts.

I think furniture should count too. Everything that you would have to move should count. However, I do think that sets of things should count as 1. As in 1 set of cutlery and 1 set of dishes.

But good for him for doing this to maintain his personal belongings. It's easy to let that stuff expand beyond belief when you've got a family to take care of.

We went on a binge in 2006 and 2007 to sell or give away unneeded items. What stayed, other then furniture and clothing, had to either be stored in a way that was easy to sort and pack.

For instance, beauty items are kept in containers with like items (all pedicure and manicure goodies are in a divided storage box box, same with hair care, small beauty appliances, etc.) that can be just put into a box with the towels towels and bathroom scale and voila, that room is ready to move.

The motivation was to be able to move in stress free weekend if we needed too. Now I'm working on paring down my wardrobe to essentials - that's hard. Anyone who can get down to 100 things will be my new icon of minimalism.

Michael W. - I got the impression the Bible he's storing away was more "memoribilia"-related.

An old family Bible will often contain the Birth, Death, and Marriage records of the entire family. If it's generations old it becomes quite significant to a family's history. I don't think anyone's trying to make a specific spiritual implication, but it certainly isn't within the rights of one person to purge a family heirloom.

I think it's pretty impressive when you consider one shirt = one item. My work wardrobe alone would probably take up a good quarter of the 100 by itself. I'm sure I'm well over 100 items in books alone.

I probably could do it, but I don't want to. I've done a good job at getting rid of unneeded things, and I don't bring a lot into my home. I rarely buy stuff these days anyway. However, if I have to move out of province, I might reconsider.

Dusa - yeah, you're right, I just think it should be counted among the 100...if it's something he can't live without, why shouldn't it count?

What about books? just there I would have well over 100. And I get rid of read, not going to read ect. books every few months.
I like the minimalist idea, but these 'rules' just seem to me like a reason to start a blog and get interest. If you want to get ride of unwanted stuff I prefer the 'Do I use it?' and 'Do I love it?' rule, if you can call it a rule.

I recently moved and realized the amount of stuff I owned (80 boxes not counting furniture). The movers thought I was a family of four. In my defense, I use everything I own (lots of project stuff), store it all neatly and am trying to pare down. But it's tough. Good for him for attempting to simplify his surroundings.

I think it would be far more impressive if there weren't so many loopholes for me. So many items just "doesn't count" so he can't really say he's getting himself down to 100 items. And while I get that it's his project and he can count the items however he wants, It just doesn't seem like this huge thing to me when so much stuff just doesn't count.

I did this once for 3 years, 9 months, but I had way less than 100 items. I had 2 suits, a couple pair of jeans, a couple blouses, underwear, and my Waterford ashtray. I remember keeping 4 framed pieces, and that's it. I was starting a new company 25 years ago, before the internet or fax, and lived in a motorhome traveling the country building my business. I didn't miss one thing.

This fall I plan to have an estate sale, while I'm still alive, and sell all my possessions. I'm keeping the Waterford crystal and Wedgwood china, the sterling, the jewelry, (the list keeps getting longer), but everything else goes.

I am looking forward to a much simpler life. I was inspired by my best friend, who build a new 7000 square foot house FOR HER STUFF. She lives in maybe 1000 square feet. I was on that road till she did that. Not anymore.

I remember that feeling of having so few possessions. It is a very freeing, and a wonderful feeling, at least for me.

It's not my style, but I have plenty of friends whom having 100 things would be excessive for. It ends up really not being that difficult, and you end up spending a lot more of your life concentrating on your friends and relationships, and of course, sharing.

If I followed his caveats and exempted all media (magazines, movies, music, books), hygiene, communal property, and so on as well as grouping things into categories that collectively count as 1 item, then I think I would have less than 100 personal items already. My list:

1 iPod w/ iPod cables, case, and headphones
1 iPod Dock
1 Macbook with charger and travel case
1 cell phone with charger
1 jewelry travel pouch
1 make-up case {3"x8.5"x6.5"}
1 canvas messenger bag
1 carry-on size REI luggage w/ small detachable backpack
1 purse, white
1 purse, green
1 bag for library books
4 reusable grocery bags
1 pair of ballet flats
1 pair of knee high boots
1 pair of strappy heels
1 pair of pumps
1 pair of slip on shoes
1 pair of flip flops
1 pair of running shoes
5 shirts
3 skirts
2 pants
1 shorts
1 passport
1 wallet
1 box of stationary
1 wooden box of stamps & ink {2 drawers, 8 1/4" W x 13" L x 6 3/4" H}
1 letter opener
1 wooden ruler
2 tintin fountain pens w/refills
1 calligraphy pen w/refills
4 ball point pens
1 moleskin notepad
1 bulging moleskin journal
1 moleskin D.C. guidebook
4 file boxes of love letters, slips of paper, and journals

joss - I counted 53 :-)) I have more than 100 especially if I count camping equipment, sewing and knitting supplies but it all fits into my tiny apartment with no clutter anywhere but in the storage closest (in the apartment so very convenient).
Interesting idea but I don't need to do it to believe it possible.

joss- I think its interesting to see your list. You have a lot of writing supplies, so I'm guessing that must be very important to you. Still, I can only imagine that if I limited myself to only 100 items, a letter opener would not be one of them. oh well. different strokes, I guess.

I agree with Michael W., et al. I blogged as much recently, as well. It seems that there are too many holes -- things are too easily shoved aside as "non-things." Kinda fishy.

Can video games be a category?

Bums don't get their due credit. Everything they own fits in a shopping cart, and everything they need is in the streets. Family? They're in the cart. Bedding? Extra durable corrugated pulp in mocha and ultra-green recycled paper-based sheets. Underwear? Why count them as a set if you don't really even need 'em? The world is their backyard and if they ever tire of the world, packing is a breeze. Bums expose Dave Bruno for the consumer whore that he is, taking the easy route to decluttering his life.

As someone who is a compulsive clutter-clearer, I like this guy's idea in theory. But the tone of his site is just so hypocritical. He doesn't want to part with his stuff, that's what all the negotiating and rule-bending is about. He's doing this as some sort of weird self-sacrifice. Or maybe to attract attention for his business publish Christian audio books?

I live in a small space with minimal stuff because it makes my life better. It takes effort to maintain, but it's no sacrifice.

People in dorms and barracks live with fewer than 100 things all the time.

To me, if you're going to arbitrarily use a number like 100, exemptions are cheating. Can't he give up a shirt to keep the Bible on the list? That is an item.

This is awesome. He's not counting his library either, and I'd have to make the same exception (since i have hundreds of books) and I'd also have to make an allowance for my art supplies . . . other than that I think this could be totally doable! May just have to start on this this weekend.

I can't understand why everyone is blogging about this guy. It's all hype with no substance. If he needs to keep so many things, why call it 100 things? Why not 1000? I guess that's a less impressive-sounding figure. I mean how is everyone being hoodwinked by this? "I'm only going to own 100 things" excluding pretty much everything I own? Totally nonsensical.

Regardless of all his loopholes, just the thought of decluttering is a great idea. I have been trying to do this little by little at home. Unfortunately, I have a lot of stuff. My focus is stuff that I haven't used in the past year and what doesn't fit me. Then I will focus on what what I haven't used in the past 5 months. Hopefully, I can donate a good portion and have a tax write-off! :-)

It IS totally nonsensical. My list was easy* because of his rules. If I really condense it, I only own 4 things: electronics, clothes, luggage, and writing stuff.

I'm more interested in the guy in Australia who's selling everything except his wallet, passport, and the clothes on his back -and even then, how long before he accumulates an equal amount of replacements? I'd like a sustainable, no b.s. list of 100 things.

*although I realized afterwards that I forgot underwear 1, socks 1, and yoga stuff ( 1 or 6 depending on how you count 1 mat, 3 tops, and 2 pants)

I think of the volume of my things in terms of how many boxes it would require for me to move it all (exempting furniture which won't fit into boxes). Right now I'm down to 10 apple boxes...which means I got rid of WAY too many books last time I took a donation to the library.

I have three cats... would they count? Or would the 3 cats, the littler box, poopscoop, litter, waterbowls, food, food bowls, cat toys, and anything having to do with them be counted as one?

Maybe my cats should each declutter to 100 things.

Where did that bed come from?

Hilarious segue / excuse to post that pic, but I do like the bed.

wao, I would have to count shoes as one category... I mean all pairs of shoes as one item... make up as one item (in one make-up case), sames as jewelry and purses... I think I may not be ready for this challenge yet...

My dad always says that you should never own more than you can fit in a car.

It's not a rule he has followed since college, mind you.

I'm with others who feel there are too many exceptions. It renders the idea of cutting back to "100 things" completely pointless. It's not 100 things.

The other problem is that the number is so arbitrary. Why 100? Why not 50 or 106? There's no logic to the choices being made. It's better to simply keep in mind what you use, need, and love and get rid of the stuff that is simply taking up space rather than apply a meaningless number (and in this case, with the loopholes, it's totally meaningless).

Long before this current interest in the subject, we've been talking about the "100 item challenge" on various voluntary simplicity forums. Like for a good two, three years or so.

I've had a while to think about and concluded I have no interest in living with 100 items or less. It's an arbitary number and paring down to that level of simplicity is a step I don't want to take.

I've done a lot of purging in the last two years. I've moved from a 1600sf three bedroom two story house to a 700sf 1br condo. In that move I sold or donated whole rooms of furniture. Half my books. Yarn, fabric and other craft supplies in whole garbage bagfuls. slashed my wardrobe in half. I had a lot more stuff than was good for me or healthy. Even since the move, I've gotten rid of stuff that I now realize that i didn't need to bring with me. I stick to a one in one out policy (I buy a dress, I sell or donate one I already had). I'm happier with uncluttered digs I now occupy.

But would I be happier with even less stuff? I could, if I had to, live out of a suitcase for a while. Anyone could if forced to. Or with nothing but the clothes on your back. I doubt it. At what point do the diminishing returns of decluttering start kicking in? Probably at different points for different people, but for me it's probably about right where I'm at.

Because the things I've kept do have value to me. More than that, having a variety of things does have value to me. I get really bored having to wear the same thing week in, week out. I have about 35 dresses (note, I wear almost nothing else, so I only have one pair of jeans, no dress pants). I'm happy to be able to pull a dress I didn't wear last week out of the closet. They all hang nicely in my (rather small) closet, so why shouldn't I keep them all if it suits me? I do keep in mind the impact of buying new clothes, so a lot of what I have is thrifted, vintage, sewn by myself or other small designers, etc. The dozen or so prints and original paintings I have from local artists or etsy artists give me beautiful things to look at while supporting the people working hard to make art accessible.

I'm not for mindless consumption, going to the big box store and filling a cart every weekend, but nor will I feel like I have to limit myself to some arbitrarily small number of items in order to feel like I've decluttered enough.

I agree with all those that say this is rubbish because of too many loopholes

I would simply call my house my storage space and thus not have to get rid of anything - then I'l just count the number of items I have on me right this minute - definitely less than 100 - easy!

My own personal decluttering hero is my good friend who moved across the country after her divorce. She could've afforded a moving truck, but she decided that if she couldn't fit it into her pickup truck, which she'd covered with a camper shell, it wasn't going with her. She sold, gave away, and donated everything else, and since putting her new home together, has pretty much stuck to those basics.

I'd be much more impressed if he were paring down to 100 items in each category. 100 items of clothing, even including individual socks and underwear. 100 items in the kitchen. 100 items in the office. 100 books total. 100 design elements (artwork, knick-knacks) and furniture. That would be much more realistic, much more honest, and much more workable for most people. In fact, I think I might try it myself.

i find it a great way of getting an idea of what you really need and want. as he says, it is his challenge, so he gets to set (and overturn) the rules. it is always easy to dismiss something like this, but it is far less easy to try and really do it.
i find that as i am getting older, i try to get rid of more and more stuff. and everytime i get rid of something (mostly by giving it away, or selling it on ebay) i am glad i did.

This reminds me of bringing up to my very well-traveled godfather the club(s?) of people who've visited a hundred countries, and asking him how many he'd visited. He said, 'I have no idea....Keeping count is not the point, anyway.'

When I was just out of college and living in NYC, I had way less than 100 things. I shared a small apartment with four roomates and I didn't even have a closet to call my own. I lived that way for several years, and now I have no idea how I did it. I have three whole closets to my name now, and it's not enough to store all my stuff. I've seriously pared down every time I moved too.

I think the 100 things project is just a framework to figure out how many things you can do without. That's something I'm still working on.