Having only 50 things(and posting about it) has definitely been the most impressive feat of Colin’s I’ve seen. I know others have done the same but I saw Colin’s first so I have to credit him with that one. When I first saw the post I was amazed and vowed to do the same thing one day while travelling the world.

I immediately got to thinking about what I would get rid of. To get myself going I started a minimalism challenge on rcThink. Creating the challenge forced me to look at what I didn’t need and what I could get rid of. At the time I was living in a place that had a decent amount of space. If I didn’t use something, I could just box it up and it was out of sight. The problem with that was that I had boxes of stuff I never used. During the challenge I got rid of a ton of stuff that I never used and also a few things that I used but didn’t really need any more. The most important result of the challenge though, is that I now look at everything with a critical eye. Everything that’s in my place has to serve a function or at least look pretty damn good to stick around.

There is a problem with this lifestyle though. When things become digital, it’s easy to minimize the things you have to carry around. Writing digital documents means you no longer need paper. Listening to mp3′s means you no longer need cds. Reading ebooks and websites means you no longer need books, magazines and newspapers. Communication using Facebook, email and skype means you don’t need a land line or cell phone. That’s all well and good when everything you do is online. Some activities just aren’t digital though. Running, hiking, biking, offroading, skiing, and wakeboarding are just a few things that I do that are not digital and they all require specific gear to be done. Unfortunately, I can’t use only a computer to take my truck off to the edge of town and ride my mountain bike around in the hills.

So the problem I have with extreme minimalism is that I have a ton of outdoor gear. Yes, there is a few things that I could probably get rid of but most of it I use on a regular basis. I’ve got dive gear,a wakeboard, a snowboard, skis, hiking and camping gear, mountain bikes, dirtbikes, and kayaks and a bunch of other things. That’s a lot outdoor gear that I just can’t see getting rid of. I use some piece of my collection every single week. I take nearly 50 things every time I go ski touring!

What I’m trying to say is that I’ll never only have 50 things. Doing all the outdoor things I do regularly requires owning some gear of some sort.

Even though I won’t ever be able to own less than 100 things myself, I still use guys like Colin and Everett as inspiration to simplify my life. They’re like the people that climb Everest to me. It’s something incredible that is inspiring and I want to learn from but I don’t think I will ever do it myself.

That’s how I feel right now.

In an effort to find out exactly what I want to do with my life in the next few years, I’m trying everything I can. And there is a lot to try. But the only way to find out what I like and what I don’t like is to try it.

Yeah, yeah, and what does doing too much have anything to do with minimalism?

Remember what I said in the first post about the New Years Minimalism Challenge? I’m not getting into minimalism to become a monk or to make myself miserable with limitations. I’m diving into these ideas to simplify my life, make it more manageable, and do more of what I want to.

Now that I’ve said it, it sounds like a really lame excuse for why I haven’t posted my week 3 and 4 updates for the New Years Minimalism Challenge. Can I say I’ve taken a minimalistic approach to posting? No, that sucks too.

Well, here we go. Even though you haven’t heard from me in a couple weeks, I’ve still been busy organizing and moving things out the door.

Here’s what I’ve gotten rid of these last couple weeks.

Glass Dish

Extra Cutlery and Glass Dish

Mug

Mug

Old Pot

Plastic Glasses

More Mugs

Old Pan

Old wok

Week 4 is where things really started to get interesting. Believe it or not, most people will have enough stuff to last them right through to week 3. I’ve already been through 2 big cleans and a move in the last 6 months and I STILL had enough stuff for 3 weeks of clearing out.

This is why 30 days is a good length of time for minimizing. During the last week you really have to make a concerted effort to keep on the task at hand and it becomes that much harder to even find things you are willing to get rid of.

You will start to look at things differently after 30 days of getting rid of things. Now I look at things and think not about what I would gain if I kept it but what I would gain if I got rid of it. The piece of mind, increase in spare room and cash that comes with getting rid of things is worth 100 times more than the convenience of possibly, maybe, eventually using something. It’s not even close to being worth it.

Week 4 was the hardest week yet in the Minimalism Challenge but I still manage to find more than enough things to get rid of.

Here’s my list:

Plates

Blue Dress Shirt

Old Rugby Jersey

Old Pants

Quicksilver shirt

Dress Shirt

Rugby Tshirt

Hide them in boxes.

Pack them up. Hide them away. Don’t look at them for at least 4 months. I didn’t try less than that but 4 months seemed to work very well. I pulled the boxes from the closet and my default reaction for every single thing I pulled from those boxes was to get rid of it. I hadn’t worn it for the last 4 months. And the very reason they went into the box in the first place was I didn’t wear them for a while before that. Some of these items haven’t been worn in 2 years. Why I still had them, I have no idea. I might need them in the future? Sure didn’t.

A Big Thanks

A special thanks to Rik from The Dutch Minimalist who really took this challenge head on. Make sure you check out his latest post on the challenge. He dives right into Week 5 of The Minimalism Challenge!

Also a big thanks to Greg from Live it With Less. He’s embraced the challenge with a passion and has done very well for himself. Make sure you take a look at his Week 3 of the Minimalism Challenge. I hope he doesn’t start slacking there and is able to finish the challenge!

And of course, we can’t finish this challenge properly without the solid effort from Dave from The Minimalist Path.  Dave was moving while the challenge was going on and still managed to participate and make a few video posts to boot. Check out his latest video post on the Minimalist Challenge.

The Next Step: Project M-31

If you are looking for ways to continue simplifying your life and decluttering your spaces, but need a bit more guidance, make sure you check out Project M-31 from the Minimalist Path. It’s basically an easy to follow, no bull, step by step guide to attacking the spaces that collect the most junk and actually get it out of your house and out of your life. I’m working through the chapters as we speak and already it’s making a difference in simplifying my life.

This weeks pile is another load of clothing. I’ve also added more bonus items to make sure I actually get rid of everything I can. I bet I can do 2 things each day the rest of the challenge. Can anyone else take me up on that challenge?

Jan 22: White Polo

Jan 23: Black Sitka Shirt

Jan 24: Black Dress Shirt

Jan 25: Red T

Jan 26: Quicksilver T

Jan 27: Old Belts

Jan 28: Green Dress Shirt

Bonus: Grey T

Bonus: Old Jeans

My focus for this challenge has been the lingering items that have been hiding in boxes since the move. One of those is clothing. I’ve got way too much. More than my girlfriend in fact. I used to keep things around so that when I destroyed some article of clothing I’d have other things to wear. That was a long time ago and I still keep things around but never destroy anything.

Right now I’ve got 2 boxes ready to be donated and here is the first of it.

Friday 15th: Sock Em Boppers

Saturday 16th: Old alarm clock

Sunday 17th: Grey Sweater

Monday 18th: Black striped dress shirt

Tuesday 19th: Blue Dress shirt

Wednesday 20th: White dress shirt

Thursday 21st: Kuhl Dress shirt

Wrong! I hope you haven’t either!

How many of you said you wanted to get rid of things? Pare down? Clean out your closet and your mind?

Have you started?

Do it! Join Dave from The Minimalist Path and I on a Minimalist Challenge this month.

In? Good.

The Challenge

From January 15th to February 15th you’re going to be getting rid of one thing every day from your kitchen, closet, computer room, bedroom, car, work. Anywhere that is accumulating clutter and things you don’t need. The purpose here is not to become a minimalist Zen Monk, (if you want to though, give ‘er) but to remove things from our lives that don’t matter.

The idea for this is not to get rid of everything. Yes, this would be very minimalistic to be sitting on a bare floor eating with your hands. Not very practical though. You want to remove things from your life that have little value and leave the big things that mean a lot to you. All those little things take up time, space and money. Wouldn’t you rather spend those on things you love?

Rules

1. You have to plan to get rid of something every day of the challenge. You can take the stuff to wherever it’s going to end up, dump/friends/recycling depot/ shelter, once a week if you like. I understand it’s hard to go every single day.

2. Update your blog/website/doc/wave with things that you’ve thrown away. Try to make an update post somewhere of what you let go every week. Comment here with the link. If you don’t want them cluttering up your blog, email me.

3. Things that can be recycled or donated, have to be. Don’t just throw them in the garbage. People can benefit from used stuff.

4. Check out what Dave has to say about the Challenge on The Minimalist Path.

That’s it. That’s all you have to do. After 30 days you might just create a new habit of getting rid of things you don’t need. Now get minimalizing!

[Update]

If you’ve started a little late, check out the update from Week 1 to see how everyone is doing.

I’ve made a list of things that I will get rid of and what I’ve actually gotten rid of. I’ve gotten rid of a weeks’ worth of stuff. I’m falling behind though.

I have to admit it’s hard to stay on track with the things I want to sell. They sit around like I haven’t gotten rid of them. Another issue I’ve run into is actually getting the things out of the house. I’d rather not make a special trip every day to get rid of one bag of things. It just seems like a waste of gas.

I began this challenge just as a way to pare down all the “stuff” I’ve accumulated and simplify my life. It’s turned into more of a necessity now that I’m moving to a new place and really don’t want to carry all of it from one place to another. The fact that I’d have to pay for(in time, effort and gas) to move my junk around really puts things in a different light.

So here is what I got rid of for my first week.

1 bag of clothes.

3 bags of books

An stereo receiver that I was hoping would start magically working again.

A printer that I hadn’t used in a year.

30 magazines that I had touched in over a year. Who looks at magazines again anyways?

A pile of computer parts that were laying around. IDE hard drives definitely aren’t coming back. Recycled!

Recycle It!

I had a hard time convincing myself to make the effort of recycling these things. Wouldn’t it be much easier just to hit a dumpster and toss everything? Yes. But when I thought of all the electronics and computers in landfills these days I couldn’t help but cringe at what we are doing to the environment. Don’t place a heavier burden on the environment but just throwing things out. Sell them. Donate them. Recycle them.

Stay tuned for the next installment of my Minimalism Challenge this week.

Also Check out #5 33 ways to start your day.

I’ve been reading a lot lately about minimalism and how it can greatly benefit your life and that of those around you.

The whole idea is that you live your life with what you need and nothing else. Everything else that you hoard and keep and have to push around all the time is just wasted space, money and time. Basically we waste our lives buying and organizing “stuff”. Yes they might have a use at one time or another but do you really need that amazing doohickey that sits on the shelf most of the time. Or do you really need to spend $200 on that brand new thingamer for your computer?

Save up the money that you don’t spend and go travelling or on an adventure or buy something you really use all the time. Use all that time that you get to read, hang out with friends and family, or do that one thing you’ve always wanted to do but put off.

Dave from The Minimalist Path has just put out a great into eBook, 7 Steps to a Simple Life,  if you are interested in the subject but are unsure of where to start.

To kick off my experiment in minimalism, I’m going to give myself a challenge.

Every day for 1 month, 30 days, I’m going to take something from my bedroom or computer room( both of which are full of things I don’t need) and get rid of it. Getting rid of it entails selling it, giving it away, recycling it or just plain throwing it in the garbage.

I’ve set a few rules for myself to keep things interesting. 4 articles of clothing count as one “thing”. I could spend 2 months getting rid of clothes but abiding by this rule will make sure the most never re-appears back in my closet. Being busy during the day, I’ll allow myself to go out on the weekends to actually get “rid” of these things. 4 Magazines and 2 books also only count as one thing.

What do you think about it? Could you do this for a month?

For those of you that have been following the blog recently, I’ve been crafting tales from my trip to Australia and New Zealand. Now that I’m home and saving up for the next trip I need something a little different to write about.

While I was travelling, blogs about working abroad, planning out your life and becoming the absolute best person you can be held my attention constantly and I benefited from their advice a great deal.

To test out these new ideas and techniques, I’m going to start challenges for myself. In doing these I’ll have interesting ideas for the blog as well as learn an incredible amount myself. To start off these grand adventures, I’m launching my first three 30 day challenges this coming turkey Monday(I’m in Canada). Be sure to check in then to see what I’ll be up to for the next 30 days.

But wait! There’s more! (I’m not trying to sell you anything just some interesting reading).

A few of my favorite blogs that have inspired this change in direction.

Leo at Zen Habits has a thing or two to say about minimalism.

Dave from LifeExcursion has just recently started The Minimalist Path. Ones lifestyle design, ones minimalism, both fantastic reads.

Celeste from The Personal Excellence Blog has a lot to say about living life to the fullest and achieving your potential

Corbett from Free Pursuits, JD from WageSlaveRebel and Cody from Thrilling Heroics all push designing your life to do exactly what you want to do. For them that means leaning heavily towards being Location Independent (another great read by Lea)

I know blogs tend to have more of a focus but I had a hell of a time trying to narrow it down to these topics.  I’m sure it will get more focused as I find what I’m most interested in writing but for now anything goes!

What do you guys think? Is it possible to write enough to hold up 3 topics like this?