2014: 1,200 fewer items in my home

[Reyes]

I have 1,200 fewer items in my home than I did this time last year. I initially started with the Minimalist Game (http://www.theminimalists.com (http://www.theminimalists.com)) Challenge and then kept going:-) My friends are quite surprised as many of them thought we lived quite minimally already, and to tell the truth I was shocked we could find so much to part with as I keep things to a minimum. I wish we would have taken pictures of all we passed on as I don't remember about 1,000 of it! Candle holders, clothes, furniture pieces, silverware, canoe, odds and ends. I'm quite impressed with ourselves. And this was a net reduction, if anything came into the household it counted against our number.

[mschrisgo2]

Wow! I'm impressed! I don't remember (guess I could check) how many items I got rid of on the 100/month, but I didn't do all the months. My goal for 2015 is 1200!! There is going to be some massive downsizing here, starting next week while I'm still on vacation.

[iris lilies]

That's amazing OP! And that you had the patience to count them all is amazing, too.

[Float On]

Congrats! I'm probably right there with you, even though our house and studio have never been stuffed to the point of looking cluttered, it's amazing the number of things I've gotten rid of. Even the months I didn't do the 100 items challenge, I still donated or sold a lot of items through my antique/flea market booth. I'm not done yet and looking forward to getting rid of more in 2015.

[kimberlyf0]

Inspiring! I should give this a try as I find the decluttering metaphor of peeling an onion to be quite accurate, only our onion can grow new layers almost as quickly as I peel them off.

[Teacher Terry]

You did an awesome job! I tend to go in spurts & when I am into it I can spend entire days doing it. WE have a walk in closet that was once a tiny bedroom & it was stuffed to the gills but no longer. It is nice to have some empty space in it. My hubby hates to throw anything away or get rid of it so I need to be stealthy like when he is out of town:D.

[ejchase]

Congratulations! I aimed for 1,000 this year, but lost count at some point, but you're inspiring me to try for 1,000 this year.

Counting everything that is going out does take some extra time, but it also really motivates me, so the trade off is well worth it.

[Reyes]

I tacked a note pad on the fridge which made it easy to keep track of number of items. For the first 500 or so I counted up, and then I started counting down, which for some reason was much for motivating. Trying to get clothing items to no more than 150 (shoes, scarfs, everything). I'm at 163 now so a bit more to go:-)

[ApatheticNoMore]

I'll keep track, at least for myself, although these very high numbers seem targets never likely to be hit by me, when I've never lived anywhere bigger than a 1 bedroom apartment as an adult (and mostly with a few exceptions, like books - took a benign neglect attitude - ie didn't have furniture till my 30s, didn't until recently have any more blankets or towels than I took from my parents when I moved out). I'm not going to count "got rid of today's junk mail" or something just to up the count :)

I am going to add a category for repairs, that counts useful things that have gotten repaired (by whomever even if the repair was paid for) or fixed into a more useful form (I have learned the hard way not to repair rags, just things with some life left in them).

[Reyes]

I did not count mail, consumables or the like. Had to be an actual item:-)

[KayLR]

Bravo! Inspiring....now thinking about doing this.

[ejchase]

After saying I was in for 1,000, I decided to actually go for the 1,200.

I'm also going to aim for getting rid of 600 of the 1,200 by February 17th for two reasons: a) Because I actually have quite a few items already boxed up to give away in one corner of one of our bedrooms and in the trunk of my car and b) Because I'm on a reduced work schedule until that date so plan on doing a massive amount of decluttering between now and then.

Also, in March through June, I will be very busy at work so may not be able to do much decluttering then. Starting off with 600 items "under my belt" will make it easier to slack off a bit in the spring.

[Tussiemussies]

Fantastic work..

[PastTense]

So what percent of the total number of items you own is this?

[Reyes]

I have no idea? I can you that friends/family already think of us as having little, so I don't believe we started with much excess. It was very surprising to me that we could so easily rid of 1,200 items. We are planning for another 150 this year.