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Minimalist Living: 100 Things I Don’t Own

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Comments

  1. A car! (I can’t believe this most massive of possessive possessions isn’t on your list!) This list reminds me of the chap I heard about who only owned 999 things — as in, exactly that many, no less, no more. But I can’t remember who he was; I don’t suppose you know? :-)

    And, I must say, I find your blog thoroughly inspirational. Thank you.

    • Oh, Sam, how I wish it was! As it stands now, my husband needs a car for work. We’re hoping that will change in the near future, though. :-)

      Glad you like the blog! Unfortunately, I’m not familiar with the 999-thing person…

  2. I was with you until the part about no games! What do you do for fun? I’m dying to know. We don’t watch a lot of TV and to save money we avoid going out, so a lot of times our group of friends just gets together and plays games.

    I’m always looking for more stuff I can do without, so thanks for the list and I can’t wait to see what other people live without! For myself, I’ve gotten rid of most uni-tasker kitchen gadgets, disposable paper items like paper towels, and we don’t have a desk or filing cabinet or the usual office stuff either.

    • Hi CW! Most of our leisure time is spent outdoors — either in the parks or streets of London, or in the English countryside. When we’re stuck inside, we generally read, blog, or plan upcoming travel. With friends, we usually go out; if we stay in, we’ll enjoy a bottle of wine, talk, and listen to music.

      Other than that, most of my “free time” over the last two years has been devoted to writing (my first book last year, and my second (upcoming) book this year). So I guess that’s what I do for “fun.” ;-)

  3. Since moving overseas and back again, I’ve really pared down! I’ve been back stateside for a month and a half now and have been living out of 2 suitcases (well, a wheeled duffel and a travel pack) and sleeping on a camp air mattress (highly recommended, from REI). I have to say the only thing I miss is my futon, which is due in another week or two.

    I don’t own a car, TV, or most of the other things on your list and I just don’t miss them!

    • Great to hear from you, Jesse — I was wondering how you were doing! Hope you’re enjoying life back in the US, and glad to hear you’re living well with only 2 suitcases of stuff. :-)

  4. First I want to say your minimalist blog is one of the best I’ve been browsing for the last month or so. I’m very interested in this lifestyle, but am still at the decluttering stage.
    Thank you for your list – it’s very informative. Although I don’t want to live without jeans (I’ve been wearing them everyday since…1968 I think) and love working at a desk, I can appreciate living without many of these listed things that currently exist in our home.
    I am also curious – what do you do for fun? You may have addressed this in a previous post that I missed.

    • Thanks, Debbie V.! I wrote about what I do for fun in my answer to CW’s question (a few comments above). In a nutshell: walk around the city, walk around the countryside, travel, read, listen to music, and write, write, write. :-)

  5. Gah! We own everything on this list except for 29 things. I counted. Home ownership counts for a lot, I think. Especially because we do all home improvements ourselves (being handy like that!) so we own many tools. I’m okay with that, not so okay with the less necessary stuff, such as end tables, etc.

    • Hi TheSimplePoppy! You’re absolutely right, home ownership does count for a lot. When we owned a house (back in the US), we owned all the stuff listed #80-100!

  6. I own 30 items of your list. I do without a cell phone so I have a watch ! As a teacher I use a desk and other items related to homework but I hope to get rid of it very soon ( in France schools involve a lot of papers). I have no bike.

    In a small town the opportunities to go out are so few, so I NEED some items I would give away if I lived in a city.

    • I agree, nicole 86, city living makes it possible to have less stuff. The fact that you DON’T own 70 of the items is fabulous!

  7. I really enjoy the specificity of your blog. I am on board with minimalism in spirit, but this is a case where the devil is very much in the details, and a list like this is so thought provoking (where a windy essay about why to have less would bore the snot out of me ;-) What I’ve found about not-having is that it improves my opinion of the stuff I do keep, and I find more ways to use those things. It sort of clears up my thought processes about why something’s in my life — if I can’t immediately figure it out, out it goes! And this post reminds of that very nicely.

    • Glad you like it, Julia! I try to balance the philosophical with the practical. :-)

  8. Your post inspired me to copy your list (with a link) and do one with my own comments! I understand that your blog and my post are not judgements about other people’s choices or needs, so I find this a good exercise in thinking about my choices as I move to divest myself of a lot of clutter in my life.
    I find that I also don’t need or use many of these items, but do use some because of my love of cooking and entertaining. I also have an artist child, so we have art supplies and a crafting surface (aka dining room table which we never use for dining!). Some of the items are necessities having to do with where I live (in Minnesota, you must have hats for at least six months of the year!) or are shared by our condo association for the building (yard tools, for example, and we are required by law to shovel the snow off our sidewalk or pay someone else to do it). And then some items are chocies, but ones I’ve made because I live with a chronic pain condition that makes living without them (which I’ve done) soemthing I am no longer willing to do. For example, a really good chair and reading lamp, because I read for a living, and doing without them was ergonomically incorrect and caused pain.
    I will be using this list as I conduct my spring purge of clutter. This year I will be going farther in the direction of minimalism, so your blog is helping me think through this process–thanks!

    • Hi Joanna! So glad you were inspired by the list — I loved reading your post, and the comments on each item! :-)

      You made a great point: I didn’t write this post to judge anyone else’s needs or possessions, but simply to provoke thought about the “things” in our lives.

  9. We don’t have most of these too! But there’s a core of about twenty items that I can’t seem to let go of (furniture and objects). But maybe we should just ditch everything for mobility as you did. I’m thinking about it.

    • Hi anna! Being on the move is certainly great incentive to have less stuff. :-)

  11. Your list is fascinating. I don’t have children, but I’ve always been amazed that people buy changing tables for babies. I changed many a diaper for my sister’s kids, and we always placed a little waterproof changing mat down wherever the need arose. So much simpler! I’ve also noticed that Brits seem to be amazed that Americans live without electric tea kettles. I’ve seen several times posts on Apartment Therapy where they say, “how to you boil your water?” LOL. I recently donated my non-electric, stovetop kettle to Goodwill, and this morning made a cup of tea by boiling water in a small pan. It tasted exactly the same. :-)

    • Hi Wendy! I’m amazed at the amount of baby “essentials” too. I haven’t touched that subject since I can’t speak with authority on it; but if/when we have kids, I’m sure I’ll have plenty of blog material. :-)

      I’m impressed you gave up your kettle! (We still have one, and it gets a *lot* of use — so not quite ready to take that step yet.)

      • The main advantage of a kettle, as far as I can see, is that mine whistles when properly set up. This makes it harder to wander off while boiling water and forget that I was doing it…

        • Good point, Rob D! I have an electric one, and like the fact that it shuts itself off. :-)

    • Thanks, Working Rachel. There’s been so much talk (and controversy) about the 100 Thing Challenge in the blogosphere lately, I just thought it’d be fun to take a different approach.

  14. OK, when you said all your clothes are in the closet, my first thought was, “Even the underwear and socks?” Where do you put those? On the floor of the closet?

    • I don’t have a dresser, either. The place I rent has some lower shelves in the bedroom closet, and I’ve got two canvas bins on the shelves that hold smaller clothing items (socks, underwear, and the like).

      • Oh, that shelf would be perfect in my closet to put my towels on. I moved to a smaller apartment than I had before. The bathroom is so small it doesn’t have a bathtube (just a shower), and there are very few shelves and they are narrow. I don’t have anywhere to put my bath towels.

  16. This is an interesting post. New insights where many writers of what they own, you take a different stand of what you don’t own.
    You don’t own a jean, wow!

    Thanks for sharing.

    • Glad you liked it, alwaysLovely! I read some of your blog — hope you have a great trip to Penang. (We almost booked JetStar for a Sing-KL trip, but took the train instead.)

  18. wow. i guess it’s official, i’ll never be a minimalist! i find this blog so inspiring but when it comes right down to it i know i will never live without a sofa and a side table to put my glass and book and reading glasses on. i hope i never have to live without a garden and the tools i need to tend it. i love to cook/bake and that requires tools too. i’m feeling a bit like a failure at the moment. i guess i have to remember that we are all different and at different places in our lives.

    ~janet

    • Hi janet! I certainly didn’t mean to imply that you can’t be a minimalist if you have these things. In fact, we owned a lot of them before we moved to the UK (like all of the garden and home maintenance items!)–and I still considered us minimalists back then.

      The key is determining what’s “just enough” for YOU — and not having excess things around just for the sake of it. If you use your sofa, side table, and garden tools on a regular basis, they have every right to be part of your life. It sounds like you are very mindful of what you own — and that is definitely a minimalist trait. :-)

  19. Awesome list! It’s making me think about a few things that I haven’t questioned before (dresser, for example). Thank you. :)

  20. Does having little furniture hinder entertaining? We have many visitors, some of them elderly and though, personally, I love sitting on the floor to chat or eat, I can’t bring myself to expect guests to do the same. As a compromise I keep a sofa and dining table/chairs, but mostly use them when I have guests. Does anyone else have an issue with asking others to sit on the floor?

    • Hi Muji! My husband and I usually sit on the floor, and let our guests use the chairs (if they want). If we needed extra seating, I’d probably just keep a few folding chairs in the closet.

  21. Hi, Francine – great list! As you know, we do without THE BIG possession most take for granted – any form of bricks & mortar, owned or rented. We live in a caravan, which also obviates the need for seperate furniture, our seats double as our bed, like a futon does, and everything is fitted – which also dictates how much we can store – very helpful!
    I prefer to do as much home cooking as possible, so I have a blender for soups & smoothies, and a small hand mixer for baking (can’t beat bread straight from the oven, or home baked cakes!)
    Being of an older generation, with mobility problems, I can’t sit on the floor – if I got down, I’d need a crane to get me up! But when we were younger, we did have folding chairs for those who couldn’t cope with floors/bean bags, which were also used in the garden and on picnics.
    While we do have a sizeable car, we need it to tow the van, and my mobility scooter is a bit heavy to carry around! Even when you’re disabled, a little imagination can still enable you to de-clutter.

    • So inspirational, Michele! I think your caravan sounds wonderful; I’d love to be that mobile. It’s great to read how you’re able to accommodate your needs, while still living a minimalist lifestyle. :-)

  22. You and your husband — you met each other before or after both of you have become minimalists? I find it quite surprising that you’re so unanimous in the matter. Anyway, the list reflects my “unposessions” too, maybe excluding stereo — I’m a music addict; oh, and yeah: the jeans — two or three pairs of really decent jeans, and only those, are just enough to wear for years.

    • Hi Grzegorz! My husband and I met in a college (when neither of us owned anything!). We went through a “nesting phase” our first few years out of school (furnishing an apartment together, etc), but then realized we were much happier without a lot of stuff. We also moved a lot, and got tired of lugging everything around.

      We’re both minimalists by nature, and have evolved into this lifestyle together. I know I’m very lucky to have a spouse who’s on the same page. :-)

  23. Your lifestyle reminds me of how things were when I and my friends were in their 20’s and we’d all just “be” where we were at any given time. We sat on floors and only owned what we could carry with us, and rented furnished flats when we wanted to stay awhile. The places we gathered at, however, tended to be the homes of people who DID have stuff–enough glasses, cushy chairs, kitchens one could actually help out in and enough utensils to go around. Good home cooking tasted so good and was so economical we all secretly aspired to acquiring kitchens with stuff in them for our own ;)

    What wonderful places to visit and gather together in! The comfort and stimulation and soothing of the soul we experienced made our spartan quarters seem so dull by comparison. Once, after a grueling day of missing connections and hiking for miles in a cold rain we found a bed and breakfast we could afford. I was chilled to the bone and promptly hustled off to a hot bath by the proprietress. I took advantage of a wonderful old clawfoot tub with lovely bubbles and thick fluffy towels, then came into the bedroom where I discovered a tea tray and a hot water bottle in a knitted cozy. I crawled into the extra-high bed layered with silky soft linens and the water bottle, sipped tea with lemon in a flower-painted porcelain cup, nibbled on biscuits, and read a literary magazine by a perfectly-angled bedside lamp. I thought to myself, I want a bedroom like this.

    And the older I got, the more of a strain life and work became, the more I wanted that coziness to retreat to. Unfortunately it costs money and time and more interaction with stressmakers to achieve. It’s too easy to lose the balance.

    These days I can’t get up from a crouching position without someone’s help, and getting up from the floor is a BFD. My most minimal medical/personal possessions alone would fill half a bag–stuff I literally cannot function without. I do long for the illusion of simplicity, the freedom to be truly minimalist, the freedom to be truly free of all that stuff, but that might not happen until I’m ready for cremation, whenever that is (my brain thinks it is 35, my body thinks it is 85).

    If I were to make a list of the common stuff I do without, it would not be a very long list. Yet I’ve gotten rid of 60% of my clothes and easily half the possessions I had just a few years ago. We don’t shop and we rarely entertain or go out, so we do have a t.v. Our emphasis is on economy, ease of maintenance, lack of clutter, but strong on comfort. I cannot physically handle much travel even if I could afford it, so the stimulation I get from the flowers coming up in the garden is food for my soul, and both my husband and I get enjoyment out of cooking remarkable dishes for a fraction of what we’d spend on a similar meal at a restaurant. We’ve an antique dining room table that doubles as my desk. Either my husband or I sleep on the sofa if we’re having a restless night so as not to bother the other. The coffee table is a trunk on casters which can be wheeled to wherever it is most needed. We’re both artists and friends of artists, so bare walls simply won’t happen. And on and on. Yet by my aging-yuppie standards I am minimalist.

    Loved your list and the posts about your streamlined life. Enjoy it to the hilt, and may your mindfulness sustain you through all the changing phases of your life.

    • Thanks for your wonderful comment, Meg! Yes, certainly, it’s all a matter of determining which “things” we need to make us comfortable and happy — and which ones we can just as well do without. Everyone will have their own unique list of necessities, which makes it all the more interesting! :-)

  24. You made the comment, “We’re both minimalists by nature, and have evolved into this lifestyle together.” That gives me so much hope! I now realize when we married 26 years ago, my husband was a minimalist by nature but my minimalism has evolved. Unfortunately, I’m responsible for the acquisition of almost everything we own; he just went along for the ride as he wanted me to be happy. I learned so late in life that I’m far happier with less!

    I find this journey of lightening our lives and ridding ourselves of so much useless stuff similar to peeling an onion. To me, many items on your list represent the “final layer.” Without moving into a much smaller home as an incentive (which is my dream), they are hard to get rid of when they are still useful and we have plenty of space for them.

    Thanks for your blog…I read many about minimalism and yours is my favorite!

    • Thanks for the nice words, Molly! I like your onion analogy — so true. We began peeling back these layers long before we moved to the UK; that was just the final step. I do admit, however, that it’s a lot easier to choose NOT to acquire a couch, TV, etc than to get rid of the ones you already have.

  25. What a great post. I am a minimalist by nature too. My mother is a pack rat and we live together. Thankfully she doesn’t like clutter so everything she hold onto is put away. That helps me a great deal. I have been able to get her to let go of many things and she is gradually releasing the rest. Growing older has helped her to realize that there are many things that she has held onto for 40-50 years that she really did nothing but move or dust and move.

    • Thanks, Deb J! That’s wonderful that you’re helping your mother declutter in such a gentle, gradual way. The first steps are the hardest; I think she’ll find it much easier as you go along.

  26. wow, does this list ever blow me away.

    a couple comments. we don’t have an iron, i noticed it wasn’t on the list. we are all ultra casual, my husband wears suits and dress shirts to work, but everything goes to the cleaners.
    i’ve had 2 of my kids as babies and just always changed them on the bed. seemed crazy to buy a piece of furniture for that.
    we live in a tiny late 60’s starter home and got rid of the dressers months ago. everything is hung up (and we have minimal clothes) except the socks and underwear are in baskets in the closets. the tiny rooms feel so much bigger without the dressers.
    as a family with 3 kids most of this list isn’t feasible for us, but it’s certainly inspiring.
    i love, love, love this blog!!!

    • Thanks, coco — so glad you’re enjoying the blog! Yes, we do have an iron, as my husband uses it for his dress shirts. Dry-cleaning seems to be a lot more expensive here than in the US (or perhaps we haven’t found a reasonable one yet!).

      In our former house (a 1920s bungalow), we had tiny bedrooms too — and anything more than a bed made them feel crowded!

  27. Of the common items, I don’t have air conditioning (though I live in a pretty warm area), a dishwasher, a television or stereo and related paraphernalia, or a couch. I’d like to have one of those, though, and am prevented by the size of the rooms rather than philosophy. :) I’ve slept on a futon in years past, and might again in the near future, but like the French press, as far as I’m concerned it seems like the same thing with a different name…

    Beyond there in the list, it’s all going to be pretty personal. I do like to eat (and so does my son) as well as cook, so a certain array of cooking gear is useful to me. I’d consider myself reasonably minimalist if I avoided having things I didn’t use fairly often, rather than cutting into useful things without a compelling reason. In my experience, most people have a few kitchen gadgets they swear by, and don’t use the rest…and those lists vary from one cook to another. (I get a lot of use from my crockpot and a bread machine; most of my co-workers can’t imagine what I would do with the latter.)

    The computer is an interesting case. I can’t help but think that my life would be simpler in some respects if I didn’t have and use one, but in the clutter-busting arena, it does what it would otherwise take a lot of special purpose devices to do (e.g., mine substitutes for the TV, DVD player and stereo system, plus typewriter, game console, half a research library, etc.).

    • Hi Rob D! I’m with you re. the computer. How I love leaving it behind when we travel, and not worrying about keeping up with email, Twitter, etc — but at the same time, it helps me earn a living, and eliminates a lot of other gadgets from my life!

  28. Hi Francine,
    Reading your posts over the last 6 months has really inspired me and made me feel more confortable with the way I live “which was strange to everyone else”

    I love having less, not because im arty or fashionable , but because I hate cleaning and maintaining material junk… Love to get up and go! However I have also noticed that I need to keep an eye on the amount of online profiles, accounts and passwords I have too…Not just emails and social networking but banks, work stuff, travel..etc. That too can be very draining in maintaining.

    I have to say, you are wonderfully honest and inspiring, really bringing to light how we can live without half the rubbish that consumerism is telling us we apparently need! There are certainly no suround sound entertainment centres in Maslows Hierarchy of Needs!!

    Thank you…

    Ana London.

    • Ana, that’s so nice to hear, thank you! I hate cleaning and maintaining material stuff, too — I can think of much better things to do. :-)

      I agree re. keeping up with online profiles, passwords, etc; that’s something I really need to work on simplifying! That’s one reason I’ve been so slow to embrace social networking; I joined Twitter, but am reluctant to get involved with Facebook or any others. Too much to keep track of!

  29. As always I find your blog gives me something interesting to ponder and time for self reflection.

    What I like about your list is the consciousness you have put into your decisions. It doesn’t matter if you have an ottoman or not, what is important is that there was conscious consideration in the decision.

    I think if people spent more time considering their purchases they would have fewer items in their lives.

    • Exactly, Zoe! It doesn’t matter which items you own, as long as they make some positive contribution to your life. And conversely — why own something that doesn’t pull its weight?

  30. Miss Minimalist..I am so glad I found your blog. It’s refreshing and inspiring that there are others who embrace this lifestyle in out crazy, consumer-driven world. Here in the states, it seems one is defined by how much stuff they own. Frankly, I’m TIRED of things and stuff.

    Compared to 4 years ago, I now have about 1/4 of the things I owed and it feels great.

    While I am not as disciplined as you in the 100 items category, I am proud to say I am down to 5 CDs from 100. I have put everything on my Ipod and it feeld great. Now, if I could do the same with my DVDs, I would be happy. I have also sold or donated a huge amount of books and have about 20 which I will keep.

    I told my wife to be that instead of spending our years accumulating things, lets travel. Let’s experience life instead of it OWNING us. Owning things takes so much time and energy. I want to focus on what’s important now.

    Thanks!

    Gil

    • Gil, how impressive that you’ve reduced your possessions by 75%! I think you have a wonderful life philosophy, and wholeheartedly agree that experiences, not things, are what’s important. So glad to have you as part of our community!

  32. while fairly new to this ‘minimalist’lifestyle and hearing about the 100 things challenge it fascinates me to see what people are living without. The past 2 years i have ‘de-cluttered’ about 70% of my posessions. It is a wonderful feeling to shed your home of all the ‘stuff’…and then feel the giant weights lifting off your shoulders as a added bonus. I always thought considered myself to be frugal and live with less than average folk, but until i discovered how the rest of you were living i really had no idea. Thanks for all the great posts i have been following lately.

    • Great to have you here, jan! Decluttering 70% of your possessions in 2 years is wonderful progress. Like you, I love the feeling of lightness and freedom that comes with owning less. :-)

  33. What a fascinating blog! I was never into the “100 things” idea as I like to have what I consider necessary to me. I have very enthusiastically begun my own list and am up to 35 as of today! My list is comprised of things I have had in the past but dont have now. For example it would be “cheating” to put toaster on the list as I have never owned one and never seen the need for one. It is quite a fun thing to do! I love your blog and it is one of the few I access regularly.

    • Thanks, Frances — so glad you’re having fun with your own list! Great idea to focus on the things you *no longer* own.

  34. Ha! Great list! I have practically the same & even less. ;) We live an ultra mobile, paperless, world traveling ,green, frugal minimalist family life, so we don’t need much.

    We’ve been traveling the world as a family on 23 dollars a day per person since 2006. This year we will circumvent the globe with just one small carry-on a piece. You really don’t need much to live a great life and the lack of “stuff” grants a lot of freedom! ;)

    Gotta love minimalists. ;)

    • Hi soultravelers3 — what a fabulous lifestyle! And the fact that you’re doing it on $23 a day is so impressive. Love your blog, and can’t wait to follow your round-the-world trip this year. :-)

  35. The list of things I don’t own is infinite. (It includes some things that haven’t been invented yet, of course.)

  36. What an AMAZING list, Francine! I’m partial to lists, and especially lists regarding minimalism and things. It’s just FUN!

    A lot of the things you don’t own, I don’t own either. Many times, they just aren’t practical enough to have around the home. Left forgotten, unused, and unloved, why should we have those things laying around?

    Giving those items away to others who would benefit from its usage is much more rewarding than hoarding everything ourselves. In this day and age of abundance, the act and spirit of giving is a rare gem. :)

  37. I love the site, although I think that some of your rationales for not having certain items are drastic. However, I am a mother of a toddler and a pack rat by nature. I am trying to embrace this lifestyle in certain areas of my life. So I appreciate you allowing moms like me to glean from your way of thinking.

  38. I just read a postive review of your new book which motivated me to check out your blog. Reading this post gives me pause as to whether i should move ahead on your book or not.

    I am paring down many of my items. It is an ongoing process and for that reason I am interested in your book. On the whole, I think I get where you are coming from, but the items on this post seem either extreme or sound like filler to get to 100 items. It’s a bit disingenuous and the lifestyle that you seem to lead sounds a bit anorexic and joyless and a little bit lonely and somewhat unattractive. No sofa? No dining table? No picture frames? Using the computer box as a printer stand? No running shoes? No handweights?

    I could make up a list of 100 items of my own that are based on lifestyle choices. I don’t own hiking boots but I do own running shoes–I don’t hike, but I do walk three miles every day. I guess I could put “hiking boots” on my list. I also don’t do yoga so I could put “yoga mat” on my list, but I suspect since you are a yoga person, which is really wonderful, you have a mat. It’s a choice!

    I use my handweights about twice a week. They cost me $3 at a yardsale about five years ago. It is much more time and money efficient for me to own these weights and store them in my closet than to “go to the gym” when I want to use them. The closest gym is 15 minutes away and membership is at least $30 per month. I use the handweights for five minutes ever other day and that’s it. So I save $30 a month and 30 minutes per use in round trip travel time, well worth having these items around the house.

    I have picture frames because I have some photos ( about six or seven, not dozens) that I want to share with people who come visit me, and that I enjoy seeing when I look up from reading a book on the sofa. Seeing them makes me happy! They remind me of people and times that I love.

    I have a dining room table because, even though I am more of a “meal preparer” than a cook, I do like having people come over and having a spot for them to sit down that is comfortable and provides us with a mutual space to share a beverage, a snack or meal, and a meaningful (or frivolous) conversation. For most people, sitting on the floor is not comfortable for very long, especially without pillows or a carpeted or rug-covered surface.

    As for window coverings, I don’t have curtains but I have blinds, because I want to be able to walk around in my house without people looking in the window at night! i.e. in my pj’s or undies or nothing! That is what window coverings are for….

    Sometimes, instead of entertaining at the dining room table, we sit on the sofa,esp if it is just for a beverage and a conversation, and when I serve my guests coffee or iced tea or a soda, they have the ability to put that beverage on the side table when they aren’t actively drinking out of the cup or glass. That is what the side tables are for.

    I have a lovely giclee of a painting by a local artist over the mantel in my living room and two original photographs on the living room wall, they are beautiful and their beauty is their usefulness. I have and an active “reading” basket next to the sofa that I go through every week or so for something to read. about once a month I recycle the items that it’s obvious I’m never going to go through.

    I have a DVD/CD player and about 100 CD’s on a nearby shelf that I play all the time (like right now–REM’s Accelerate). Call me wacky but I enjoy reading the liner notes, the lyrics, and looking at the cover art.

    Yet despite all this useless stuff my friends often comment on how spacious and roomy my living room feels, and they like coming over. I have areas where I need help–the office is the biggie, and I have more stuff than I need in the kitchen. I also have an attic containing items that belong to family members, that I really wish they would come get–but “out of sight, out if mind” is working for me on that right now.

    In rereading this I sense that it sounds slightly defensive, but I just want to chime in for those of us who like having some items because of other uses besides Spartan utilitarianism.

    Thanks for listening and for the blog, generally. I will continue to consider buying your book. I may even put it on my bookshelf!

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  3. […] on miss minimalist, there is a recent post about the 100 things that most people own that she and her partner do not. It includes common items like a sofa, a TV, a dining table, and what I would consider more […]