Tuesday, September 20, 2011

losing 100 in 100...

as we are constantly purging and organizing our stuff, coach sal and i have always laughed and said that we are going to write a book one day titled stuff will kill you. (we also want to write a book titled rock paper scissors saved our marriage....but that's a topic for another day.) we both love systems, and everything we own tends to fit into some sort of a system- if not, then it tends to get on our nerves and we do something about it.

so, lately i have been doing a lot of reading about simple living/minimualism and have been inspired by how a lot of people are living with very little.  and living with very little stress.  which is extremely appealing to me.  (check out tiny houses if you want to be *really* inspired!)

100 in 100 is going to be the loss of 100 items in 100 days.  and it will begin on thursday, which means it will end on december 31st, just in time to start 2012 with less stuff.  Which also means less to put away; less to clean; less to worry about; less to store; less decisions to make; less stress!  and to be honest, i went through my kitchen a few weeks ago and purged, and i also have empty shelves.  it is freeing.

i am also going to get two of my three children involved by paying them a dollar for each item they lose (the third child said no way, not doing it...i'll clean out his stuff when he leaves for college next year :o).

and the goal is 100 items over 100 days, not an item a day.  so we will keep track as we go, with a goal in mind!  and i'm going to give items to friends; donate items; and possibly sell items as well.

here are the items that i am purging first...
* clothes
* purses
* shoes
* jewelry/accessories
* scrapbook supplies
* dvds
* cds
* art/craft/school supplies
* paperwork/files

thoughts for my list?  thoughts for my idea?  wanna join me?

7 comments:

Mary J said...

I am ahead of you. I am so tired of having stuff. I will be making my third van load to goodwill tomorrow. I shop there, so I don't mind giving it all to them too! I just add an extra 100 things in there! :)

The Carters said...

I think it's a great idea!! Do you mind if I link your post on my blog?

Kelli said...

I love this idea!! I may copy you! God has been speaking to my heart on this very issue...to spend time on the things of an eternal nature. Relationships are all that matter in this life. Besides we won't take any of our stuff with us when we die, only our loved ones.

Ann said...

please feel free to share and copy! consumerism drives me crazy (i can't believe there are 300 kinds of little boy shirts...just in walmart!!!) and our lives are not made of stuff, but rather consumed by it. this will be fun, i will link to both your blogs, too, shannon and kelli!

Lori said...

I started doing this a couple of years ago and it's great. Definitely necessary when you live in a small space like we do! Once you start, you'll be "finding" all sorts of things to move along to new homes! The other thing I *try* to do is make sure 1 thing leaves before something new comes in the door (it doesn't have to be a purse for a purse, just another way to move things along that we're not using anymore). The biggest challenge has been Mikey; even Sean gets a wild hair every so often and spends the day in his room (his plan is more like 100 in 1 - lol). I have some great books on minimalism...but, in keeping with the idea, they're all on my Kindle! :)
Good luck...ya'll will love it!

Kim said...

DONE! I feel like I'm always dropping off stuff at Goodwill, but even so, it was frighteningly easy to find well over 100 things that we will not miss AT ALL for our yard sale on Saturday. I wrote on facebook that my SOUL feels lighter now! Sometimes, I think God would prefer us to "travel light" on this earth. I'm a lot way from "light," but I'm excited about this opportunity to get closer to that goal!

Courtney said...

Ann.. I want to write a post and link up. I will talk to you about it!