2livesimple’s Weblog

I started this blog for a couple reasons.

1. To journal my path to a more simple life.

2. To connect with others that have similar goals, and to share ideas.

On the downside, I really haven’t been as regular with posting as I would like, and the process will continue to march slowly. And I have had very few visitors.

On the upside, I had one of my posts commented on by Peter Walsh. It was a complete honor to both myself and my wife. He is a guru to us, and I’m sure we will continue to read his book throughout this entire process, and thereafter to keep us in line from time to time. His book “It’s All Too Much!” has earned a permanent place in my library, and will be recommended often.

On my original quest to find others who are trying to strip down their lives (and I do mean strip down), I came across two people that made me quite curious.

The first was David Michael Bruno and his 100 Thing Challenge. He was doing exactly what I wanted to do. To really know what he had, and eliminate what he didn’t need. My only complaint was that I wished to have more updates from him on this. The good news is that he has started a new page for this, and appears to have posted a few times since I last checked. Here’s the link …..

http://www.guynameddave.com/100-thing-challenge.html

The second was a mention of the “Rucksack Guy”. Every link I found kept leading to a dead end. The concept was he has 101 possessions that could all be carried in a rucksack in a single load. What was even better, was that he was said to have photographed all his possessions. Well, I finally found a site that had his list and photos. Very cool, and inspirational. I wish I could actually make contact with him, and have the opportunity to ask questions. He would be a most interesting person to interview. Here’s the site I found …..

http://mcshug.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html

Just scroll down a bit if you don’t see it.

So, there are some updates on what is inspiring me.

Now, how am I doing with this challenge? I have been going back over my CD collection, and I think I finally broke through some barrier in my mind.

I used to have hundreds of CDs, and my collection has always been in flux. I will trade in CDs, and then get new CDs. My wife likes to laugh when I end up buying a CD that I had gotten rid of. The great news is that really doesn’t happen a lot, and it hasn’t been that big of a deal to replace something. I think for some people getting rid of stuff really triggers a fear response. In some ways I think that is what happens with me as well.

It’s bad enough to realize you will only get 10 cents on the dollar (sometimes if you are lucky), but then to think you may need to buy it back later is a very discouraging thought. My solution is to be far more careful when buying something in the first place. Works pretty well for me, but sometimes those impulses are mighty powerful.

I am revisiting my CDs, and now have them down to 71 at last count. While I am close to done, I still have a bit to go. Then I will of course move on to something else.

In my list of 100 things, I will count my CD collection as one thing (but MUST maintain at 100 or less). I know from reading other posts that many people either wish to criticize this, or abuse it. For me it is just what it is. I like books, CDs and DVDs a LOT. I have had over a couple thousand possessions at a time if you would have counted them at that time. For me, it is a great accomplishment to keep each of those categories under 100, and have them as 3 items on my list of 100.

I still wish I knew how many books David has on his 100 Thing Challenge. I am horribly curious.

Toodle Pip