This is All My Stuff in the World

Back in January, I started to really make a concerted effort on my minimalism journey. I wanted to reduce my considerable amount of stuff to under 250 items. This seemed like a good number to aim for – it would mean that I would have to get rid of most of the *junk* in my life and start thinking about my priorities – what do I really value? But, it wouldn’t be so hard that I would be really coming down to the wire on any decisions. And so in January, I got down to around 250 items, which was pretty epic!

Next, I wanted to reduce further to 100 possessions by the end of 2011. I set the goal of 100 items as a benchmark amount that would force me to really prioritise and make value judgements, on an unprecedented scale. Saying to myself, “Right Yael, you only have room for 100 items – what are they gonna be?”, really focused my mind down to decide what was truly valuable to me. This was eye-opening.

So, I didn’t quite get to 100, but honestly – it isn’t the final number that is important. It is going through that process of prioritisation and long thought about what I choose to make part of my life. From this exercise, I have learnt so much.

Here is a breakdown:

• I now own 125 items (full list at the bottom of the post)
• Of that, 85 items are for wearing – clothes (39),shoes (8), underwear (25), accessories/jewellery/bags (13)
• 14 are techie gadgets
• Caveat: I didn’t include anything I own in the count that is replenishable, like toiletries, or pens, or food. I count electrical items and any of its accompanying cables and cases as one item – as the other stuff would not exist without the electrical item itself (an exception to this is when I have bought something extra that it didn’t come with, like the alupen stylus I bought for my iPad.) I don’t own any furniture, or utensils etc.

You can see that the vast proportion of my remaining items are to do with my personal appearance. This was the toughest area to cut back on. Although I think I have quite a limited wardrobe in comparison to many girls, learning that 83(!) items I own are things I wear came as a surprise. I know that within those items, there are things that I definitely don’t need – but turns out, I value those clothing items over the other stuff I decided to throw out in its place. Who knew?!

The other big clump of items comes in as gadgets. Gadgets are invaluable for me as I try to cut back on my possessions – without my kindle, I would have included lots of books on the list; without the ipad, lots of notebooks and stationary; without the laptop, well, I dread to think the amount of actual folders I would need to match the number of virtual folders I have!

So, what have I learnt on my minimalism journey so far?

• Find out what you truly value

There is something incredibly unencumbered and free about ridding yourself of all that excess stuff in your life. But each person will have a different idea about what that ‘excess stuff’ is. Exercises like ‘you can only live with 100 things, what are they?’ are really invaluable in forcing you to make value judgements on your things, and may reveal some surprising things about what really you can’t do without and what you could actually cope fine with.

• Quality over quantity

Having less stuff means that you want what you do have to be of the utmost quality. I now buy more expensive things than I used to, because a) I’m not wasting money on things that I never wear/use and b) everything I buy is viewed as an investment. Buying things based on proper value judgements (“Do I really really need this?”) means that everything I buy should be in my life for the long haul. This means it needs to be incredibly perfect for me and great quality. I used to buy cheaper clothes because I bought into this whole Primark culture of almost disposable fashion – clothes that are so cheap you do not feel guilty in wearing it only a couple of times and going for more shopping trips. No more.

• Think multi-purpose

I have also learnt about the beauty of thinking about things in a more multi-purpose way. Because every extra thing counts, if you can buy one item that does multiple things, this is obviously a bonus. A classic example of this is my new coat, which was an excellent buy. Previously, I had a heavy black long coat, with no hood. This, from a minimalism perspective, was  probably the worst coat I could own! It had no hood, which meant I had to own a hat. It was heavy, which meant I had to own a lightweight jacket as well. My new coat however, has ensured that all I need is one coat – it has a great big hood, which removes the need for a hat, and has a detachable inner lining which means it turns into a lightweight coat. 3 items down to 1 – perfect!

• Own what you own, girl!

Finally, this process has taught me to really love everything I own. Each of my things is special and really really wanted. I don’t have anything that is languishing in the back of a cupboard or that sits on a shelf. Nearly everything gets used regularly, and I love the sense of utility and pride that I get from my things.

So thats it – I can say that I have achieved my minimalist goals for 2011 with a big smile on my face. But this isn’t the end – I view minimalism as a lifestyle choice that I will continue learning from and working towards in the coming year as well!

And for the hardcore reader:

A full list of my items, also viewable as a flickr set:

1. Lacie hard drive

2. Hair straighteners

3. Apple hard drive

4. Wacom tablet

5. Passport

6. Travel padlocks

7. Travel light

8. Day bag

9. Doc Martens

10. Perudo, the best game in the world

11. Samurai picture 1

12. Samurai picture 2

13. Towel

14. Laundry basket

15. Comic book store print

16. iPhone

17. Hairdryer

18. Shoe boots

19. Purple flats

20. Black flats

21. Pink vest

22. Grey tiger tee

23. J’adore vest

24. Tetris tee

25. Leopard print vest

26. Grey tee

27. Flying birds vest

28. Black smart vest

29. Black & white smart top

30. Printer

31. Folder

32. iPod

33. Spare earphones

34. Spare apple charger

35. Little camera

36. UX cards

37. Pencil case

38. Thule laptop case

39. Wallet

40. Kindle

41. Alupen stylus

42. iPad

43. Oyster card

44. Umbrella

45. Keys

46. Thule backpack

47. Toiletries bag

48. Jewellery case

49. Blue feather earrings

50. Pearl earrings

51. Blue India earrings

52. Pearl ring

53. Red Michal Negrin earrings

54. Owl necklace

55. Grey feather earrings

56. SkullCandy headphones

57. MBP

58. ‘She Who Must Be Obeyed’ mug

59. Leather Gloves

60. Scarf

61. Black boots

62. Black bow shoe boots

63. Flip flops

64. Converse

65. Black clutch

66. Converse travel bag

67. Guitar

68. Travel moneybelt

69. Nikon camera and bag

70. Shrug

71. Paypal Slanket

72. Nike Joggers

73. Blue jumper

74. Blue jumper

75. Grey joggers

76. F is for Foxy tee

77. South of France tee

78. Love tee

79. Owl tee

80. Matisyahu tee

81. Metallic vest

82. Blue vest

83. Black vest

84. Black cardigan

85. Yellow jumper

86. Grey cardigan

87. Long grey cardigan

88. Dress

89. Blue dress

90. Black formal dress

91. Black dress

92. Black & white dress

93. Leopard print blouse

94. Black jeans

95. Worn black jeans

96. Blue jeans

97. Mirror

98. Bed linen

99. Coat

100. Business Cards

(That brings us to 100 items! Not pictured: underwear! Grand total: 125 yay )