How many possessions do you need?

cepheus

This family donated their stuff, got rid of their cars and downsized to a 400-square foot studio and whittled possessions down to 100 items.

They work less, they're out of debt, they have more time and money to spend on vacations, and they're just plain happier.

http://environment.change.org/blog/view/life_with_100_possessions_or_less_catches_on

I'm not sure how they count possessions, but I would get very bored without a computer and books at least, although some of these could be loaned. I could probably do without many things through!

paulwf

I'm not sure reducing items is eco friendly or makes you happier in itself. Without kitchen utensils I'd have to buy pre packaged ready meals, without extra clothing I'd have to put the heating on, if I had to give up tools I'd have to buy new instead of repair.

If they mean "frivolous consumer goods" then fair enough, but if they mean 100 items in total it wouldn't be very helpful. At least with a computer you can store near unlimited music and books on it.

Barneysmom

I disagree a little bit Paulwf, hope you don't mind. I don't think you'd have to buy more convenience food to eat well.

There are some little terraced houses by me.
When we bought this house in 2001 it was £58,000.
We could've bought one of the terraced ones for £7,000.

Imagine how tiny the repayments would've been on one of the smaller houses......
And we wouldn't be able to store so much stuff we don't really need.
Now the kids have gone we don't need 4 bedrooms, not that we ever did anyway.
The way the market is I think we'll have a hard time selling this one now.

Ben84

I've been lucky enough to have been both exceptionally poor and very wealthy in my life so far, and the transition was interesting. When I was poor I thought a lot about wealth and having stuff, it seemed important. I went from quite often not having any food and being hungry to being able to buy just about anything I wanted, no matter how frivolous. I bought lots of things, mostly junk, and I discovered for myself that having lots of stuff doesn't make me happy.

I was unhappy when I was poor and I was almost equally unhappy, although about some different things, when I was wealthy. We have to decide what makes us happy, and I've discovered that once I have enough food, fuel and live in a good house - by that I don't mean a fancy house, just one in a safe area which is comfortable, adding more money and material things does nothing positive for me.

We might live in a world of material things and certainly need some of them, but it's hugely about how we feel in our minds and that's about doing things we enjoy, having good friends and family and being free to do what we want when we want. I don't want lots of stuff, I want more free time, more space and to have the money free for stuff I do enjoy like travelling or going on courses to learn new stuff.

I own stuff, but a small amount by European standards, and nothing I consider valuable. That's my only real rule, nothing I consider valuable. Possessions are just mill stones. The more you own the less free you are, no matter if you're rich or poor. I threw out most my stuff a couple of years ago and the idea of accumulating lots of things and money, and it felt very good to be able to focus on life mostly rather than stuff. It was a big change in my life, because I'd been very poor until about nine years previously when I became very wealthy, and then about three years ago I had a serious illness that could have killed me, and it all just made me change how I wanted to live. I wanted to be happy, and for the first time ever, since about 2008, when I quit my job and took a serious pay cut to go do something I always wanted to do, and got rid of all that over-priced junk and moved house, I've been very happy almost every day since. I did have to confront that I'd used being poor as an excuse for being unhappy, and that that my preconceived ideas about wealth, and for that matter ideas about what was important in life, were just plain wrong. Advertising and consumer pressure inspired ideas had been guiding my life, so it was no wonder I was never happy.

I still get a lot of pressure from family and old friends to worry about money and try to gather lots of stuff. They just don't understand it, they think I'm poor because I never really buy anything. I just don't want or need it any more. They keep telling me to 'enjoy myself', 'go shopping', to 'treat myself' to something - even if it's totally useless junk! I asked everyone not to buy me Christmas or birthday presents any more because I just don't need anything material any more. That I've gone from very unhappy to very happy seems to have passed some of them by entirely and they just focus on the fact I have less money and stuff. They cannot seem to accept that given the choice, as I was, I decided that I didn't want expensive stuff and lots of money.

cepheus

Ben84

Ditto!

paulwf

Barneysmom wrote: »

I disagree a little bit Paulwf, hope you don't mind. I don't think you'd have to buy more convenience food to eat well.

I don't mind at all I'm not at all into kitchen gadgets (I hate those 20 piece knife sets with a passion) but you do need quite a bit of equipment if you want to cook from scratch.

For example a chopping board, 8" cooks knife, bread knife, paring knife, large and small frying pan, 3 x saucepans, colander, wooden spoon.

That's 10 items out of your alloted 100 and I've barely scratched the surface. Remember each person needs a bowl, plate, knife, fork, spoon and mug usually.

You could perhaps get by with communal living, e.g. a group of 10 where each person shared 10 kitchen items so you have 100 items shared overall.

PasturesNew

I gave up everything about 3 years ago. Then accumulated some stuff that I needed (while living in a 250 square foot studio). That stuff's now in storage and I pretty much live with my PC, phone, one bag, couple of pairs of shoes, 2 pairs of jeans, one job interview outfit, couple of cardigans ... and a few other bits/bobs.

The question is, what is 100 items when people say they have 100 items (the woman in the article). I have a comb... I guess that's one. I have a purse, is that one? I guess so. You can end up with 100 tiny/trivial things. One deodorant? Is that one of the 100? Probably 20 pairs of knickers I wonder if that's 20 items ...!

A_Phoenix_of_Tangerine

PasturesNew wrote: »

I gave up everything about 3 years ago. Then accumulated some stuff that I needed (while living in a 250 square foot studio). That stuff's now in storage and I pretty much live with my PC, phone, one bag, couple of pairs of shoes, 2 pairs of jeans, one job interview outfit, couple of cardigans ... and a few other bits/bobs.

The question is, what is 100 items when people say they have 100 items (the woman in the article). I have a comb... I guess that's one. I have a purse, is that one? I guess so. You can end up with 100 tiny/trivial things. One deodorant? Is that one of the 100? Probably 20 pairs of knickers I wonder if that's 20 items ...!

Indeed! And think of the socks! A week's supply would put you back 14 items (if you counted each of them, rather than in pairs) for each person! :eek::rotfl:

Ben84: thank you for your post, I'm feeling quite inspired :beer:

bigpaws23

Fascinating concept. I don't think I could pare down to 100 items, nor perhaps, would I want to. But certainly having less 'stuff' to take care of, keep organised, clean and tidy is VERY appealing. Alas I live with a natural hoarder

Poosmate

Is one pair of knickers counted as two items then? lol

Poosmate

I have now read the article and also read the story of the Strobels. Apparently Ms Strobel whittled down her "wardrobe and toiletries" down to 100. I was quite disappointed when I read that bit.

Even so, this article does give food for thought. I think I'll make a list of my possessions, putting them into lists, maybe essentials, non essentials, sentimentals, miscellaneous and clutter/junk and then take the top 30 from the first 3 lists and 10 from accross the lists.

I would say, living in a "normal" house, it would be impossible to do if you were counting household stuff because if you're going to count a knife and a fork as individual items, you'd surely have to count a settee and armchairs as individual too.

I guess whittling down possessions to 100 items excluding household items doesn't quite have the same interest value though does it?