Since I posted my latest update on the 100 Thing Challenge Update, at Simpler Living, I’ve given away my bike shoes. The shoes were hard to part with because I was under the assumption that I needed them for biking. Reading The Shoes Ruse helped me determine that I don’t need special cycling shoes cluttering up my closet. I don’t race, so there was no point in hanging onto these bad boys…
Bye Bye Racing Shoes
But a few more items have entered my life. I’m a big sucker for books and recently purchased: Escape from Cubicle Nation, The E-Myth and The Photographers Survival Guide. I’m planning on launching a micro-business within the next 6 months and I’m hoping these books will help me out. Now I’m up to 92 items and I’m still trying to figure out how much stuff is enough. It’s a hard task, but like I’ve said before this challenge has forced me to reevaluate what is truely necessary in my life.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I hope your bike shoes found a loving home.
I switched back to regular shoes (actually Keen sandals) after about 2 years riding SPDs and don’t regret it. We did one tour where we were going up an 11% dirt road with rocks all over the place and I kept falling over and couldn’t clip in and out fast enough. It was enough to convince me of the merits of regular shoes.
That said, SPDs have their place in racing I suppose. But for the kind of riding I do (commuting and touring), I seem to get along fine with plain ole’ shoes.
Hi RK – I love your website, and I love the idea of simple living. Although my husband and I do live simply, compare to some (small house, cars paid off, no non-mortgage debt, no boat, etc.), we don’t really yet (I must own 20 different purses. NO NEED, I tell you, NO NEED!). Anyway, here’s where I get hung up with the simple living stuff – mementos and memorabilia. We have a lot more silver than we will ever use, but it was brought to the States from Europe by our great-grandparents. I have a binder of wedding information that I don’t want to give away. What about old pictures, grad school papers, my great-grandmother’s bible, etc. These are items that I rarely use, but I feel very connected to. I’d be curious about your thoughts on this… Thanks for keeping up this website. I love it!
@SWMama – thanks for leaving a comment and thank you for the kind words! I’m glad you enjoy the blog.
One of the hardest parts of downsizing has been donating items that we feel emotionally connected to. We have NOT thrown out photos or old papers, but we have scanned these items into an electronic format. This has been a great strategy because we don’t have so much paper around the house.
For me, it comes down to practicality and use. If I don’t use something everyday, I would rather donate that item to charity. That way someone else can enjoy the object. What I’ve noticed is that I tend to be attached to the story that goes along with a particular item. So I’ve started to write down stories relating to memorabilia and that really helps.
Maybe you can put some of your documents into an electronic format or start writing down stories associated mementos you are attached to? Do you think that would help?
More than anything the 100 Thing Challenge has forced me to reevaluate what is necessary in life. We are both doing our best to lighten up stuff in our lives; that way we can focus on more important things, like spending time with friends and family. When we lived in larger apartments, we spend most of our weekends cleaning and now we don’t have to! It’s such a great feeling.
It’s a hard task, but in the end you have to determine what your “enough point” is and then go from there.
Also, you might consider reading Your Money or Your Life and Material World – both of these books helped me purge extra stuff.
Thanks again for reading the blog and have a great day!
P.S. – I’m working on a more in-depth post about this topic for a guest post – so stay tuned.
Though I’ve always tried to keep it simple & keep us clear of weird clutter, this desire for simplicity has hit a fever pitch since we moved near family where real estate is cheap, bought a much larger house than we ever had before, and inherited a million pieces of furniture and odd tchotchkies from older relatives going into assisted living.
Now I spend my time thinking up creative ways to get rid of things such that my MIL won’t notice. 100 things? I have 100 things in every drawer now. Sigh.
Dear Tammy,
Thank you for your inspiration to count things as we downsize. Because we are building a tiny house in our backyard, (Yes), I have decided to count my furniture and household w/ my 100 things. That’s becuase I am a lover of old things. I have on my list things such as a European watering can, huge old porch pillar, and large beadboard cupboard which will house our lives in our tiny home. So, I just wanted to encourage people who have things they love to consider the final importance of what will make a tiny home truly theirs. I do not need clothes or a car. I do not need more than a few kitchen things.
They will go on a shelf over a farm table my husband built from recycled old legs and thick water bed boards he found at the dump. I’m so proud of him! You’d never know it was made a few years ago. The things I need are few. The things I want are edited to the precious. Even those could go. The drawers of things I kept have mostly gone although I work on it almost daily. I work on it because it is important. I go to the mountains with my husband because it is important. Our dreams have changed as we await a liver transplant for my husband. Our income has diminished to almost nothing after bills.
But we have each other, our children and grandchildren; We have what’s important in life. It took me to get to 60 with a medical sentence to help me focus acutely. But this week we are making roof trusses. The house looks so pretty. And afterward, my hubby and I will have time to sit on the house floor and dream inspire of what the medical world tells us. Then we will save a few more dollars to build the roof. I am grateful for all I have learned from the tiny house people. It’s a great day today. I already had my bike ride and boy do my muscles feel good. Yes, I’m even getting in shape! Thank you Tammy. You are making the world better. I wish you were my neighbor! I love coffee too.
Ellen – thank you so much for leaving a comment and sharing your story! You’re so sweet. I wish you were my neighbor too.
Downscaling can be a rough process, but in the end it’s worth it. Being able to spend time with your partner, friends and family make life all the better. I wish you and your husband the best. Thank you so much for reading the blog.
Maybe it’s later than I should be up…
OMG, hit the nail on the head.
I love riding around town. I love riding to work.
One day I was in a fancy bike shop and I asked to see the most modestly priced seat ($105.00 American). As if in a musical, the staff and customers (fat ones, tall ones, short ones, small ones) sang out “it’s not a seat it’s a saddle”.
I guffawed and I left.
I realized that the 30 miles a day (maximum daily) I do, on the seat I have, do not hurt my posterior or other parts.
I started riding in the shoes I wear off the bicycle shortly after that incident and I have never looked back.
After reading this, I’m taking those shoes and pedals to the local bike outreach!
Maybe some athlete will use them.
Thanks
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