10 Item Challenge

This weekend we had a garage sale.  It felt SO good to get rid of some of our “stuff” and get paid for it!  We are continuing to minimize our belongings everyday.  I took a bunch of our books yesterday to Half Price Books, and also added more items to Craigslist to try and sell.  We are realizing we don’t NEED much, and a lot of this “stuff” was just sitting around collecting dust.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m participating in the 100 Thing Challenge, and my goal is to have my personal belongings down to 100 items by January.  This is helping my overall goal to minimize and simplify my life. 

To help with all of this minimizing, I decided to create another smaller challenge of my own.  My goal is to only have 10 items in each of these areas.

1. My purse
2. My wallet
3. My bathroom drawer
4. My desk drawer
5. My jewelry box
6. My car

I figure by working on these areas, it will break down my overall goal of 100 things into smaller chunks.  So today I am going to start with my purse.  Here is a current list of what items are in my purse:

1. Wallet (with 10+ items inside)
2. Makeup bag (with 10+ items inside)
3. Camera
4. Sunglasses
5. Reading glasses
6. Wipes
7. Kleenex
8. Gum
9. Cell Phone
10. Pens
11. Phone charger
12. Camera charger
13. Bottle of Advil
14. Allergy medicine
15. Hand lotion
16. 2 bottles of hand sanitizer
17. Mini umbrella
18. Hair bands
19. Glasses cleaning cloth
20. Business cards

Needless to say, my purse is heavy!  And although a lot of this stuff comes in handy sometimes, I do not think I need to carry around so much stuff every single day!

So, for this week I’m going to put only these items back in my purse:

1. Coin purse (with cash, license and debit card)
2. One pen
3. Chapstick
4. Brush/Mirror combo
5. Cell Phone
6. Gum
7. Sunglasses
8. Hand lotion
9. Cell phone charger
10. Camera

And that is it.  I will work on my wallet and then put it back in my purse, but for now I’m going to work with just my coin purse with the essentials.  My wallet will need to be trimmed down quite a bit.  

My shoulder is going to thank me! 

See if there are any areas you want to minimize and try the 10 Item Challenge.  Let me know how it goes!

100 Thing Challenge

Some of you have already read about this 100 Thing Challenge.  If you haven’t, it was created by a man named David Michael Bruno.  He has written books on Consumerism and has a blog at http://guynameddave.typepad.com/david_michael_bruno/.   He will also be writing a book about his experience with the 100 Thing Challenge.

Basically, the 100 Thing Challenge is a challenge that Mr. Bruno proposed to pare down your personal items to only 100 things.  He gave his challenge a time period of one year.  It started last November and ends this November.  If you go to his blog and his post about this challenge http://www.guynameddave.com/100-thing-challenge.html,  you can see the list of things he has now, and all of the things he gave away. 

This challenge only applies to your personal items.  Items that only you use.  So, it doesn’t include furniture in the house, or garden tools, etc.  Anything that the whole family uses does not count.  Underwear and socks, can be counted as one category each…you don’t want to have to count out each pair because obviously we don’t want to have to get down to minimal undergarments.  Also, books are counted as one category as well: library.

I have begun my own 100 Thing Challenge, but I’m not there yet.  I think I may give myself a deadline of  January 1, 2010.  I will try to pare down all of my personal items to 100 things by January 2010 and try to keep it that way for one year.  I’m getting there, I’ve cleaned out my closet a ton.  I almost have it down to only those things I wear, love and feel good in.

I really find this type of stuff interesting.  It really makes you realize how much “stuff” is out there and how so many stores are packed with things we don’t need. 

I was in Target yesterday, and as I’m walking through the aisles I could feel my old self thinking…wow, that’s cool….I could use that.  But then I stopped myself and thought…no, I don’t need any of it.  I came for one item, and they didn’t have it…so I left  empty handed.  If you knew me well, you would know that it is extremely hard for me to leave Target without purchasing at least one thing.  I love that store….well, I loved that store.  I feel very convicted to challenge myself in this area.  To open my eyes to consumerism and how it’s a store’s job and a commercial’s job to make me think I NEED something…when I truly don’t.  There are few things I need, and I have all of them. 

I will keep you updated on my progress…

My Desk

Ahhh….here is what my desk looks like this morning.  I love it.  Not only is my desk cleared off, but my mind is clear because of it.  I decided since one of my “life vision” statements was that my desk was always cleared off, that I would start now.  It was easy and pretty painless.  I just had my “in-box” and some books I use daily, along with my counseling coursework, pens, stapler, tape, etc.  Stuff  that I was able to put away in drawers, on a bookshelf near by, or do away with alltogether.  Now, I only bring onto my desk, the one thing I’m working on at the moment.  I take care of it, put it away, and move onto the next thing I need to do.  It definitely helps me focus better.

I also ran this morning.  So far, I’m doing good with my visions.  Once you think about them, write them down, and then go over them daily…..you start to gravitate towards those goals.  You naturally start acting in ways that move you closer to your goals, because they are clear and they are in sight.  It’s great.  It really does work. 

Give it a try…