Could you live with just 100 things?
Could you live with just 100 things?
I picked up my latest book club read from the library. It’s called The 100 Thing Challenge, How I Got Rid of Almost Everything, Remade My Life, and Regained My Soul by Dave Bruno.
So far, I am really enjoying it, but wonder how feasible it is. I mean, I live pretty comfortably, with not a lot of excess. I don’t like the chaos that I associate with living with too much stuff. It makes me uncomfortable. Also, I found that I don’t concentrate very well in a chaotic environment. I do like the idea that my space is always ready and waiting for me and others to enjoy. I don’t have to “pick up” or “move things out of the way” to make dinner, sit down and chat with a friend, or even pay the bills.
In chapter 3 of the book, as Dave writes about his thoughts on consumerism he quotes Bill McKibben.
“The very act of acquiring so much stuff has turned us ever more into individuals and ever less into members of a community, isolating us in a way that runs contrary to our most basic instincts.”
This really got me thinking. I have always thought that I organize my space for myself, but now I think that I also organize my space for others too.
It’s almost the end of the school year for my college-aged sons. They and their friends will be hanging out around the house again soon. I love that! After reading The 100 Thing Challenge, I think I also organize to eliminate the chaos so that people (including me) feel welcome. I do believe that when you open up your space (and yourself) new things will happen and with an organized house you will be ready to welcome what comes.
I don’t think that I could take the challenge that Dave Bruno took and succeed, but I am looking forward to reading to the end and seeing what he learned. Here is Dave’s blog if you would like to follow.
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Janet Schiesl
Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.
She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.
Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.
Janet Schiesl
Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.
She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.
Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.