My Life, My Journey

I don’t know who Dave Bruno is, whether he is well known, widely read, or what, but there was mention of his 100 Things challenge in Time Magazine, and it intrigued me, so I looked it up online and found Dave Brunos’s 100 Things Challenge site. Since the accumulation of “stuff” is one of the major issues facing us environmentally and spiritually (in my humble opinion), I want to take his challenge to heart. I don’t expect actually to get down to 100 things - my life is too complex for that right now, but I see this as a way to begin to downsize, and and to jump start a process of simpler living.

I have pasted information right from his sight below and put it in italics. I am going to put a small post for each of my 100 things as i settle on them. But since he lays down the rules, I thought I would post them.

Again, the following is Dave Bruno talking - follow the hyperlink above.

100 Thing Challenge

The 100 Thing Challenge is my little way to personalize my efforts to “Challenge Stuff” and fight consumerism.

Goal: By November 12, 2008 I will only have 100 personal things. I will live with only 100 personal things for one full year, until November 12, 2009.

Rules: Remember, this is my 100 Thing Challenge. I get to set the rules and decide when a rule can be stretched or outright broken. Basically I’m going by the spirit of the challenge not the letter of the 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 - though apparently not silverware, 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 am going to keep up in the garage two small plastic storage containers for memorabilia. Some things would be wrong to get rid of for the sake of the 100 Thing Challenge. In an earlier post I gave the example of the Bible my grandfather took with him to WWII, which my father took with him to Vietnam. But, the storage containers will be small and come November 12, 2008, I will not open them for one year.




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. I am considering getting my (not my wife’s or my kids’) books down to 100. But it’s not a focus of the 100 Thing Challenge.




4. Woodworking Tools - Some day I’d like to do more woodworking. Right now life is too busy (blogging, among other things, takes time). I don’t have a lot of tools because I have a minimalist approach and mostly want to use traditional hand tools. But for now, I’m keeping them and not counting them as part of the 100 Thing Challenge.




5. Marklin Trains - I have a small collection of Marklin Z gage trains. This is kind of a personal thing. My father sold his collection of Marklin trains and I cannot bring myself to do the same. I should probably just see a therapist and then make good money on eBay. But for now I’m going to keep them but not open the box for a year.




6. And finally, 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.