The Reverse 100 Thing Challenge

Today I not only have 3 good things…. I have 100 things to write about! I have taken the challenge on be more with less blog and collected 100 items that need to leave the house by end of December. Courtney’s post was so inspiring I decided to join in right away and left a comment which won me the book The 100 Thing Challenge. The book came in the mail yesterday (thank you, Courtney!) and it seems I will finish reading it in just two sittings. 

I can understand the drive behind Dave’s journey but I am happy to say that I have grown up in a society that has not been all that consumerism oriented, at least not until just a decade ago when malls have been starting to grow like mushrooms after rain all around the country. I may easily limit my own desires for material stuff but I do have two girls that I have been spoiling, much to my pleasure and regret. Over the last year or so I have been looking at our place through the eyes of a minimalist and became painfully aware that our home is full of stuff and that moving out without a few months pre-notice would be a mission impossible. Giving away clothes we no longer wear on a regular basis is easy, but what about the rest…? A house with too much space gives us all a perfect excuse to keep things “just in case”, as “momento” etc.

So, these are my 100 things:

• ·         38 books
• ·         12 DVDs
• ·         6 CDs
• ·         3 necklaces
• ·         1 lady bag
• ·         1 promotional tote in pink
• ·         1 backpack, new
• ·         1 backpack for a boy toddler
• ·         1 set of baby phones
• ·         1 toy flute
• ·         1 swing for a toddler
• ·         1 pacifier for measuring temperature, new
• ·         1 set of workbooks for 6 Graders, new
• ·         2 perfumes, originally wrapped
• ·         1 camera, new
• ·         1 mobile phone, new
• ·         1 new children’s Disney camera, new
• ·         1 bag of plush toys
• ·         1 device for measuring air temperature and pressure
• ·         3 wall compositions made of dry flowers, new
• ·         1 set of curtain pegs, new
• ·         1 Nebulizer, never used
• ·         1 puzzle ball, new
• ·         1 Chinese vase
• ·         1 lamp with two shades
• ·         1 chess
• ·         1 book with puzzles, new
• ·         1 simple wooden doll house
•           1 framed stitched painting with flowers 
•           1 hair curler
•           13 pieces of my personal clothing

Books, DVDs and CDs have already been taken to the school library or municipal library yesterday afternoon, making the librarians’ day, and most of my clothing will be given away to people I know and have already given clothes to before. Toys that my girls no longer play with will become other children’s toys at the local kindergarten sometime next week. I put up a few things on the giving site yesterday afternoon and people called in in the morning as soon as my mobile phone number showed up on the site, saving me from another 8 things in just two calls! I do have a couple of things yet to find the recipient for but it seems it has taken me more time to collect the 100 things than it will take to purge them! I feel really light seeing the room free from the pile of stuff I had prepared, and I know I will feel even better after holidays when I do another round. I think 2013 will be just great. Less stuff makes moving on easier.