Could You Live With Only 100 Things?

I just read about a couple in Oregon who decided to rid themselves of “things”. They literally only own 100 things. They threw out junk, donated clothes, and gave away furniture and appliances. They left their lovely two bedroom apartment and now rent a small, 400 square foot studio. In fact they have no debts – no mortgage, credit card bills, or school loans. They only have four plates and four forks and four knives which they use instead of storing 12 place settings of wedding china they never used. They use one bottle of shampoo. They each have two sweaters. They ride their bikes everywhere. They can get away with the bike riding because they live in Davis, California (yes where Davis Girl lives). The only other place I’ve ever seen that is that bike friendly is Amsterdam.

Right, so this article really got me thinking about my “stuff” and “things” I own. What would I get rid of and what would I deem a necessity and try to find a place for in my 100 things. Only being about to have 100 things would be a great way to finally get me to clean out my junk basket. Owning 100 things would also mean I could make Boyfriend get rid of the surfboard that is under my bed. (Yes, Boyfriend has a surfboard that he has never used because we live NO WHERE NEAR THE F-ING BEACH!!!) I could throw out some old makeup and nail polish and boyfriend could toss the 100s of match books he grabs at every restaurant we go to. My house would be cleaner and less cluttered. I might be okay that in the entire home we only have one same closet, if we only have 100 things.

So, here’s my issue though, I like my stuff. My first big problem in only owning 100 things would be my book collection. I own, in my house, over 100 books (probably more like 200 or 300) and if I sat down and went through them I could probably only find like 15 to get rid of… 30 if you held a gun to my head. I love my books. They are my friends and each one holds memories of the first time I read them and the first time I finished a great read. I have books I’ve been reading since childhood that remind me of my mom and my sister because they would both read out loud to me. I still own my favorite History and American Studies books from college that I can’t get rid of. I’d much rather display my favorite books from my favorite classes than my degree. I have books friends have given me and books Boyfriend has bought me. Getting rid of my books or donating my books would be the hardest part.

Then there are the things I own that yes, are useless and no, I don’t need them to survive, but I like them. Pedro, my plant, is one of these. Pedro doesn’t do anything. He just stands (well kinda leans) in his pot by the TV all day every day. But I like him. I like looking at him. I like watering him. I like watching him grow. My plant makes me happy and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I also like my collection of teas. Boyfriend and I both drink tea (mostly in the winter) and we have ourselves a nice little collection that we keep in a basket above the oven. We have black tea and white tea and breakfast tea and peach tea and green tea and even cucumber tea. Could we live with only owning one type of tea? Yes. Could we live without tea? Yes. But do I want to? No. Another thing, well things, I would have a hard time parting with are my blankets and pillows. Do we need to sleep with six pillows? No. But I like my pillow situation. I like having fluffy pillows to sit up in bed while I read. I like the flat ones when I’m actually sleeping. We have a very nice duvet Boyfriend’s Sister got for us, but I can’t sleep without the blue blanket my mom bought me at IKEA when I moved into my first apartment because it gets nice and cold. Seriously if you just count what I’ve mentioned in this paragraph I’m already up to 15 things!

Other unnecessary things I would want to keep…
My photos in frames
My plug in neon flamingo
My regular washcloths and my exfoliate washcloth and my bubble bath
My computer, my mouse, my charger, and the extension cord that plugs it all into the wall
My kitchen table and two chairs (which we were just given to us from Boyfriend’s Mom)
My Crockpot, my food processor, my three cutting boards, and my recipe box

What about underwear! The article talked about the couple each having two pairs of shoes, one for warm weather and one for cold weather. They each own a jacket and a sweater, but what about underwear? Do they only own two pairs of panties and boxers? Does that mean they wash clothes every other day? Or did they use 14 of their 100 items to have a week’s worth of under garments?

Also, do you think they always have 100 things in the house or do you think they try to keep it at like 95 or 97 just in case of an emergency? Like when the woman has to buy tampons. Or maybe one of them gets sick and needs some NyQuil. Can you imagine spending all day at work congested and sick only then to have to ride your bike to the drugstore on your way home to then get home and have to get rid of something so you can bring your bottle of decongestant into the house. “Honey, I know you want that box of tissues, but if you want to step through these doors, you better throw out a pair of socks.” Then you have to wonder if the box of tissues counts as one thing or 150 things.

In fact, forget just underwear, what about clothes in general. Just sitting here typing this I have on shoes (which I’ll count the pair as just 1 thing), pants, shirt, sweater, scarf, bra, underwear, ring, watch, bracelet, rubber band, and earrings. 12 things! This means that my outfit would consist of over 10% of everything I owned.

Conclusion, we don’t live in cold war communist Russia, I’m going to keep my things.

What things could y’all totally not live without or do you think you could do the 100 item household?