"The 100 Thing Challenge is a personal project, a way for me to fight consumerism. What's behind it? My belief that material possessions can be good when they serve a greater purpose than possession alone. We should make better use of our things than just owning them. My hope is that by living a year with 100 personal things, I'll be able to show that an average American guy does not need tons of stuff to live the good life. And also I hope to shed some light on the nature of consumerism in our culture."
He makes some good points. Most of us have way too much stuff. I was reminded of this in our move a couple years ago. It was a great time to get rid of things and we did, but not enough. As much as I complained about all the things we brought that we hadn't used in years, there were things that I couldn't part with. Not that I had used them recently, but I might...someday...for something. It's not as easy as one might think.
I don't believe what Dave Bruno is doing is the solution to materialism, but hopefully it will make an impact on him and others. Neither am I ready to take up the 100 Thing Challenge, but it has made me think some more about materialism, simple living and stuff. I want to think harder before buying more stuff for the sake of keeping up with others or merely having the latest upgrade. I do want to make an effort to get rid of(give away, throw away, sell) the old when I purchase new things to replace them. It's a start.
In case you are interested in pursuing this some more, Dave Bruno has a website on which he describes his 100-item list, rules, struggles, etc.
Grace and peace,
Dave
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