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100 Fewer Things

I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions. I don’t have anything against resolutions, I’ve just never found them particularly motivating. But this year, I’m making an exception. This general idea has been brewing in my mind for a little while but I’ve never gotten it off the ground. The start of a new year seems like a perfect time. And I guess that’s exactly why people do find them motivating. Here’s my idea to declutter my life:

I have too much crap. Too much clothes, too many books, too much electronics that’s outdated or that I never use and likely will never use, sports stuff that’s tucked away in a bin and hasn’t seen a drop of sweat in years, papers and documents that were obsolete in 2009. I’ve kept it all because it’s easier to keep it than to decide to get rid of it. Every so often, I do little purges and cart off a couple bags or boxes of stuff to Goodwill or take the shredder to a pile of documents. But I only ever scratch the surface – if I have any doubt or fear that I’ll regret throwing or giving something away, it goes right back in it’s special place. Not this time.

This time, I’m setting a goal. And making a little game out of it. I’m getting rid of 100 things – giving away, throwing away or selling 100 things I currently own. And I’m doing it by February 28.

One hundred seems like a nice round number. I really have no idea whether that’s too many or too few. If it’s too many, then I’ll suck it up and make some hard decisions. If it’s too few, then maybe I’ll go for 125. Two months may seem like a long time to get this done, but some things that I want to sell might take a little time and also, I’m not in that much of a rush.

I’ve thought about some rules (yes, rules, because rules make games more fun):

• First, it has to be something that I own. Returning a library book doesn’t count. Neither does returning the unwanted Costco box of K cups that has been sitting by our front door for a few too many weeks.
• Second, it can’t be something that I should have thrown away but just haven’t. Like the pile of junk mail sitting on our kitchen counter that I’ve been ignoring. That’s just trash. On the other hand, there’s plenty of crap in our file cabinet that I’ve intentionally kept  but really belongs in the trash.
• Third, I’ll have to figure out how to count some things. And some of that will just be determined on the fly. I know that a pair of shoes counts as one thing, not two. A stack of old bank statements or a pile of paperwork from old vet visits for the boys also collectively counts as one thing. But what about old CDs and DVDs? I think it makes sense to count those individually.
• Fourth, I’m not going to count the bag of clothes that I put aside a few weeks ago to go to Goodwill. I will bring that to Goodwill soon but since that stuff was already effectively “gone” before I started this game, it doesn’t count.
• Finally, since the goal is to have 100 fewer things, anything I acquire (buy, gifts, etc.) gets counted against what I’ve gotten rid of. I don’t think this will be much of a problem actually since I haven’t been in much of an acquiring mood recently, but it should make me a bit more conscious about what I add to our home.

I’m going to take pictures of everything and will periodically post updates on the blog. Here’s a photo of items 1-22. This was all easy stuff – shirts (11), shoes (4 pairs), old papers from the file cabinet (4 piles) and some random junk (3). There are another 10-15 things I already have in mind. It’ll get harder from there I’m sure.

Since I decided to do this, I’ve found some interesting resources about de-cluttering online. Most of those seem focused on counting the number of things the person owns (100 or 288 or 51). I’m not particularly interested in doing that. I don’t really care how many things I own, I just want to have less. Get rid of the excess and trim the fat.

Happy New Year!