100 Item Challenge 2010

One of my resolutions for 2010 is to participate in my own 100 Item Challenge.  I’ve known a woman on the Simple Living Network who’s been living the better part of a decade with around a hundred items.  She was my original inspiration, of course, David Bruno put the challenge on the map when he was featured in Time Magazine last year. 

I’m not doing this to show how spartan I can be to the world.  I’m a recovering Yankee Capitalist pig, so please save your insults, I will probably delete those comments.  I say this because everyone who I’ve previously seen do this has had its fair share of very negative comments.  Not all Americans are clueless.  This particular American is thankful for the abundance afforded us, but is also tired of participating in the consumer trap where my money and time is traded for stuff.  I also realize that most of the rest of the world was not lucky enough to be born into the same circumstances as I was. 

Really, this exercise is more than just my stand against consumerism.  It’s part of a fundamental shift in thinking, by removing the unessential so I can concentrate on the essential…and that’s the theme of this site too.

So, stepping off the soapbox, I’ve put some rules to my list. 

1.  Books don’t count, though I left three on there that are my most prized ones.  If I had to pack a bag and leave over nite because a hurricane was coming and was guaranteed to total my home, I’d grab those books (after my wife, kids and cats, of course…did I really have to mention that?). 

I’ve donated most of my books over the last year, and only have a couple dozen, half of which I’ve selected to read this year as part of my Education Syllabus.  The other half I am still deciding whether I can come to grips parting with.

Books are most people’s downfall, though I’ve adjusted a bit by adopting the practice of reading Kindle books on my IPOD Touch.  Now if the Droid only had the ability to do this, and access my ITunes music, I could drop the Touch.  But for now, the IPOD has superior apps.

2.  I have a wife and infant triplets.  They are not interested in joining me.  At least I think that’s the case.  When I asked Baby Noah he just cried.  What that means is I don’t count shared items like kitchen stuff, appliances, furniture.  

3.  Underwear and socks are one item each.  We do crazy laundry with bibs and baby stuff.  I can’t manage the household hoping I have underwear for work the next day.  So, I have enough of each for a week, and that’s it.

4.  On the off chance that somebody buys me a tangible gift, I have to either toss something to make room for it, or find a new home for that gift. 

5.  I also don’t include business inventory.  i.e. I have CD’s of my Band and books that I’ve written.  If I counted those, I’d be dead in the water immediately. 

Lots of rules, right?  How about another one….I can add more rules as I think of them. 

In any event, I’m looking forward to seeing how I do with this process and I welcome anyone else who would like to join.  This post will find it’s way into the top navigation in the next week. So if you are a regular visitor to the site, you can find it there.

So what’s up for the future with this?  Well, I have to live all of 2010 with only these items.  I have some thoughts to share on how different circumstances would radically change this list and I’d also like to do a video post in the next couple of weeks of all the stuff on the list…except for the Jeep because it doesn’t fit in my bedroom.  Plus, I’ll be sharing the items that didn’t make the list.

Ok, enough talking, let’s get to the list already…

Personal Stuff (13)

1. Wedding ring
2. Keyring with keys
3. Large Dark Coffee Brown Leather Bag/Briefcase from Saddleback Leather – I love this bag (pictured above from saddlebackleather.com)
4. Samsung NC10 Netbook with charger
5. Swiss Army Knife
6. All-ett Wallet – World’s thinnest wallet
7. Glasses and case
8. Sunglasses and case
9. Sigg water bottle
10. Straight Razor
11. Tooth Brush (is it really a possession?  or a consumable since you should replace in every three months)
12. IPOD Touch – Has my book and music libraries
13. Motorola Droid Cell Phone and leather case

Music Stuff (10)

1. Acoustic Guitar Alvarez MMY1 – Case included
2. Parker Fly Black Electric Guitar – Case included
3. Schechter Devil Series Electric Bass – Case included
4. Line 6 100 Watt Guitar Amp
5. Patch cord
6. Studio headphones
7. Small Tin of Snarling Dog Black Medium Guitar picks – Black Textured.
8. Roland AC90 Small AMP/PA – One speaker on a stand that handles both functions for acoustic guitar and vocal microphone for small solo gigs
9. Line 6 Toneport – for recording demos and podcasts
10. Mic and Mic Stand with cable

Work Wear (20)

1. Sport coat – Brown Corduroy
2. Sport coat – Gray Pinstripe
3. Black pea-coat
4. Underwear (counts as one item)
5. Socks (counts as one item)
6. Black Belt (to hold my pants up, not for Kung Fu)
7. Black Striped Work Pants
8. Olive work pants
9. Black work pants
10. Black Suit and tie
11. Black Dress Shirt
12. White Dress Shirt
13. Blue Dress shirt
14. Green Dress Shirt
15. Purple Dress shirt
16. Black Silk Turtleneck
17. Short sleeve dress shirt – White with brown pattern
18. Short sleeve dress shirt – Tan linen
19. Black Stretch Short sleeve shirt
20. Black Walking Moccasins – J-shoes

Workout Gear (11)

1. Running Shorts – Grey Asics
2. Running Shorts – Black Nike
3. Running tank top – Red Asics
4. Running Shirt – Blue Asics
5. Workout pants – Abercrombie
6. Riding Bike Pants
7. Bathing suit
8. Swim Goggles
9. Sneakers – Nike Air Zoom Elite 4
10. IPOD Nano and earphones – For running races.  I have this because I don’t mind if it gets lost or ruined during a race.
11. Combination Lock – so my shizzle doesn’t get stolen in the pool lockerroom.

Sleep Wear (4)

1. Pajama shorts
2. Pajama pants – heavy green flannel
3. Pajama pants – light blue cotton
4. Slippers

Outdoors-y Wear (7)

1. Carhartt Jacket
2. Ski Jacket – honestly, it snows a lot in Buffalo
3. Winter Hat – A lot, I said
4. Winter scarf – Bunches and bunches
5. Winter gloves – of snow, that is
6. Winter boots – snow
7. Chili’s – kinda like long thermal underwear – Hi there, snow again

Casual Wear (21)

1. Blue Flannel Shirt – St. John’s Bay
2. T-shirt – white Express
3. T-shirt – Art Is Activism
4. T-shirt – Scribe for the Tribe
5. T-shirt – Olive Banana Republic t-shirt
6. T-shirt – Gray Banana Republic
7. T-shirt – Tan Hemp
8. T-shirt – Black Hemp
9. Black Buffalo Sabres long sleeve light casual shirt
10. Jeans – Dark Blue
11. Jeans – Light Blue
12. White Long Sleeve thermal casual shirt
13. Olive shorts
14. Camouflage shorts (for those covert missions in gardening or lawnmowing)
15. Guinness Baseball hat – (Not for drinking, but for protecting my bald spot from the sun)
16. Irish Cap
17. Buffalo Sabres hockey sweatshirt – yeah I know, not a necessity but I’m a season tickets holder and I enjoy being a fan.
18. Buffalo Bandits Lacrosse jersey Orange #11 John Tavarres – umm, see immediately above
19. Doc Marten’s – Dark Coffee Brown
20. Crocs – Black
21. Teva’s flip flops – around the house in the summer

Office Stuff (9)

1. Journal – Moleskine
2. Poetry Journal – Leather bound from mindseyejournal.com
3. Fisher Space Pen – I am very particular about my pens
4. Small Fireproof Safe with important papers
5. Tao Te Ching – Leather Bound Book
6. Walden – Leather Bound Book by Thoreau
7. Dune - Leather Bound by Frank Herbert
8. Flip Mino camcorder, cables and tripod
9. Messenger bag – red, medium, CourierWare USA

Transportation Stuff (5)

1. Bike – Trek 7.3 FX
2. Bike tire pump and repair kit
3. Bike Helmet – mandatory to participate in triathlon races
4. Bike Lock
5. Jeep Wrangler 2003 Dark Metallic Green

Tagged as: 100 Items Challenge, David Michael Bruno