This is post #9 from the 30 Day Personal Finance Challenge: Boost Your Financial Health with a Daily Tip!
David Bruno, an author, and entrepreneur was troubled with the excessive consumerism in America. He worried about its effect on his own life.
Everywhere we look, we have stuff. We are overwhelmed! – David Bruno
To address his concern, he started a Simple Living project – the “100 Things Challenge”. David got rid of all his possessions except for 100 things and he decided to live for 1 year like this.
He published his 100 things list online and invited others to join him, although he made it clear it was a personal project he was doing for his own benefit.
Simplicity is action. – David Bruno
The 100things project quickly spread on Facebook and among the blogging community. This was the moment I found about it.
Results were almost revolutionary: there is an enormous amounts of freedom and power to be gained when we pursue simplicity in our lives. – David Bruno
I was immediately triggered. Back then I lived in a one-room apartment by myself. I intentionally kept the space semi-empty. It was relatively easy to list everything I had. I counted certain groups of objects as a single item: kitchen utensils, socks, underwear, shoes, cosmetics. All of the rest, I counted individually. I easily reached more than 250 items.
I immediately got rid of the most obvious items. I had an emotional attachment to most of the others. The challenge helped me free myself from old memories, ideas, and disappointments. It was almost as if I cleared the space for new things, people and experiences to come into my life.
With time, I was able to keep the number of possessions low with this simple rule:
If I buy something new, something old must go. – Kate App
It was fun to realize how less I needed to be happy. I stopped my regular shopping sprees – I already had all I needed!
So, are you ready to pursue simplicity in your life with the “100 Things Challenge?”
* You can learn about David’s fight against consumerism from his The 100 Thing Challenge: How I Got Rid of Almost Everything, Remade My Life, and Regained My Soul
