About two months ago I was looking around my apartment and I couldn’t help but think, “dam, I have a lot of sh*t.” This came not long after seeing The Story of Stuff (I will embed it in a future post) so consumerism and, well…., stuff was on my mind. However, I was not really sure what to do about it. I mean how to you go about reducing the amount of stuff you have. How to pick what stays and what goes?

Well, I figured out what to do after hearing about a guy named Dave (no not me) and his 100 Thing Challenge. Basically, as the title suggests, Dave Bruno is going to whittle down the things he has to 100 and live on 100 things for a year.

Since I am about to move from back home and then head to college, I figure, what better time to reduce the amount to stuff I have?

So, I am joining the 100 Thing Challenge!

Starting on August 28th (the day I move in to the dorms at Saint Mary’s College of Maryland), I am going to live for a year (and hopefully longer, but one step at a time) with only 100 Items.

I am even going to take it one step forward. I am going to whittle down my “things” until I can carry everything I own (minus furniture) down to only what I could carry.

To explain, one the 26th of July I am heading to Tanzania for three weeks. I plan to bring a hiking backpack with my clothes and sleep bag, my backpack with toiletries and my camera bag. So, my goal is to whittle down my stuff until I could pack it all into those three bags.

And I think I can do it. I think I am going to bring everything except a suit, dress shoes, sheets, a pillow and my laptop to Tanzania (basically my clothes, toiletries and camera). What more do I need (not want but need) for the next year of college? And I should be able to fit the items I am not bringing into the three bags mentioned above.

But, that is a long way away. I was going to start taking inventory of what I own tonight, but stopped after the first 200 things. This is going to be quite the project!

So, the way I am going to about this is by sorting all of my stuff into two piles, one for the things I know I am not going to keep and the another for ones I need to decide about. Look for a list of the second list soon!

Special thanks to Dave Bruno for an idea that could very well change the world!