De-cluttering, minimalism, and “The 100 Thing” Challenge.

From an early age we are battered by the efforts of marketers and advertisers to persuade us to buy, buy, buy.  We are induced to purchase items that we don’t really need, to purchase something that costs more than we can really afford to spend (or need to spend), and then buy some more of whatever we purchased in the first place – this year’s model.

We purchase books instead of borrowing them from a library, we purchase CD’s when, in reality we might only like one track on them, we purchase two items instead of one because we’re being given, we’re told, “a special price”.  Western society is a consumer society – that’s what it’s evolved to become.  That’s well and good from the perspective of it being a democracy – people are free to do what they feel they must – but it’s my choice to withdraw from that consumer society.

This isn’t just something I’ve recently worked out or discovered. It’s 30-something years since I first pushed back against the commercialism of Christmas (for example).

Just over a year ago I had these feelings reinforced in general by articles on Dave Bruno’s blog, and, in particular, by his “100 Thing Challenge“.

Similarly, over a year ago now, I first came across various blogs describing living simply – in particular, living a small houses – tiny houses in fact. For example, the likes of: “Tiny House Design“, “Tiny House Blog“, and “The Tiny Life” .

More recently I subscribed to various blogs which embraced minimalism as a lifestyle – something I’ve thought about for some years now. Some examples: “Mnmlist“, “Miss Minimalist“, and “Becoming Minimalist“.

And so it came to pass …

All of these influences finally came together a week or so ago when it struck me that there’s no time like the present, that the time to act was now. So, over the past week, I’ve been actively “de-cluttering”.  I’ve been identifying those belongings that I’ve no longer want (their time has past), those things that I though that I wanted but may not have used for several years or longer, and those items which have become orphans (eg power packs for long since broken electronics, video cassettes, and out-of-date technical manuals, cassette tape Walkman).

I’ve now made three trips to the recycling/landfill depot and made my deposits.  I’ll sell some remaining belongings (if I can).

I’ve now made a first pass list of “things” as per Dave Bruno’s “100 Thing Challenge”.  This list is a work-in-progress and will over the coming days and weeks be refined and reduced.  I’m not counting shared household items such as furniture, refrigerator, beds and linen, etc. And I am counting my remaining book collection as one item, my audio CD collection as one item, etc.

There are currently 110 items on the list with a further 30 items identified as being candidates for removal.  And do I really need 14 pairs of socks

As Dave says, it’s not a hard and fast list and the rules can be defined by me, but it’s a starting point, and a means to an end,  At the end of it, I’ll be in a good position to begin the rest of my life as a non-consumer.  I’ll think more about those items that I’ll purchase, and require more justification to myself before I purchase something.  This isn’t about not spending money, it’s more about not wasting money and not consuming for the sake of it, and it’s about purchasing quality not quantity.

Onwards …