100 Thing Challenge

This guy named Dave has decided to undertake the 100 Thing Challenge. His idea is to pare down his personal belongings to 100 things before November 12, 2008, & live with only those 100 things until November 12, 2009.

It's a noble idea, but his methods seem contradictory.

He has lots of stipulations for his challenge. First, he is only planning to live with 100 things for a year, after which he will go back to having all those things that he supposedly got rid of. Also, he's not counting the things that he shares with his family, like the car, the furniture, the kitchen stuff, etc, because the family is not participating in the challenge. He's counting all of his socks & underwear as one thing. & he's leaving his book collection, his wood working tools, his boxes of memorabilia, & his train set out of the count. It seems like the only things left to count would be clothing & junk. Not too much of a challenge if you ask me.

Maybe 100 things is just too difficult to achieve in this culture. I know there are people who live with less in the world; Peter Menzel's book Material World shows us several families who do. But I wonder if I could reduce my possessions to a true 100 things, including the car & every pair of socks (or should I count each sock individually?). I would like to try, but I'm not sure if I could accomplish it. Perhaps it can just be a goal to continually strive towards.

So, as a complement to Dave's 100 Thing Challenge, I would like to offer forth the Reverse 100 Thing Challenge. Instead of trying to live with only 100 things, I challenge everyone to get rid of 100 things.

Can you find 100 things to remove from your life?

100 Thing Challenge: An Update

Nearly a year ago, I began trying to reduce my material possessions to 100 things. See the original post here: http://nancylewis.blogspot.com/2008/07/100-thing-challenge.html

I don't really think that I can actually accomplish this difficult task, but I thought it might be interesting to see how close I could get. A year ago I began scanning all of my old photos & journals into my computer to help reduce my stuff. I also had four different yard sales over the past year to get rid of the superfluous junk that I had accumulated. When I decided to move to Vietnam, it was a mad rush to fit all of my remaining possessions into four suitcases. However, I wasn't quite successful, & wound up having to leave several boxes with my brother & my friends Debra & Michael.

Since my days are pretty lazy here in Vietnam, I decided to count my possessions. (Insert histerical laughter from my readers here.)

The tallying rules are:

1. Things that work together are considered one thing. For example, a pair of socks is one thing. My mp3 player & headphones is one thing. My bicycle with a basket is one thing.
2. Food is not included

With me here in Vietnam, I have a total of 340 things. Not bad.

Here's the breakdown:

250 permanent things (clothing, luggage, etc.)
15 books (I consider these semi-permanent since the collection is constantly changing)
52 consumable things (shampoo, soap, etc.)
23 things that I will leave behind when I leave Vietnam (mostly furniture & my bike)

=340 Total Things

A breakdown of the boxes I left behind in the US:

5 boxes of memorabilia (photos, journals, etc. that I didn't have time to scan)
1 box of winter clothing
3 boxes of household items
1 box of camping gear
1 box of legal files
5 boxes of family history information (which is not really mine anyway - it belongs to the family)

Caveman Living

This article describes the life of a man who has taken the 100 Thing Challenge to the extreme. He stopped using money in the year 2000, & has been living alone in a cave outside of Moab, Utah. His story is reminiscent of that of Chris McCandless, who decided to echew societal norms to live alone in the Alaskan tundra. However, you will recall that that guy died of starvation in the end.

Now, I'm all for reducing material possessions, as you can see from my previous posts on the 100 Thing Challenge. But I'm not sure I'd want to live without money if it means living in a cave by myself. Humans are social creatures. To be healthy, we need to be in contact with other people, & in order to live in a community we need to be able to accept the basic norms of social living. Money is definitely one of them.

Material World

Moving is an interesting exercise.

I've been working on my 100 Thing Challenge now for a year or two. When I was getting ready to leave Arizona for Vietnam, I got rid of a lot of things: furniture, clothing, household goods, my car. It was easy in the beginning to find things that I didn't need or want. I had four or five different yard sales within a year, donating whatever didn't sell to charity. It felt good to purge all that extra stuff.

I wound up bringing about 400 things with me to Vietnam. Not bad for a first try.

When I moved to Shanghai, China this month, I went through the task again of getting rid of things. I left a whole pile of books, clothing, & other items with one of my Vietnamese friends. I pared down my four pieces of luggage that I brought with me from Arizona to three. Still, I came to Shanghai with just about 400 things. How did that happen?

Now that I have an apartment, I find that I'm already accumlating more things: a pot, a dish, a cup, sheets, a pillow... Maybe I should change my challenge to 500 things instead!

Kindle

What a great idea! But at $360 it's a little cost-prohibitive.

I would love to have something like this for my trip to Vietnam. I won't be able to take many books with me, & I'm not sure how easy it will be to get books in English while I'm there. Plus, it fits right into my 100 Thing Challenge because I would be able to carry thousands of books on one device. They've improved on the first version by making the image more like reading an actual page; it's not back-lit like a computer screen but "inked" like a real book. Plus you can type notes right into the file - & I love to mark up my books.

But the Kindle has so much more potential. I prefer to wait for the features that I'm sure must be coming: a color screen for books with color images; touch-screen capability to be able to scroll & "turn" the pages with your finger tip; being able to write on the screen with a stylus so that you can scribble notes on the page or do the NY Times crossword puzzle right on the device. & most importantly, I'm waiting for the price to fall under $100.

My Life: An Update

I've found that many people seem surprised, confused, & sometimes shocked at my current state of affairs. So I figured it was time for an update.

Job
I'm closing The Spanish Place this week. March 26th is the last day. Then I'm selling off everything in a sale on April 11-12 in hopes of raising some money for my trip to Oaxaca at the end of April. Feel free to stop by between 10:00am & 5:00pm either day to contribute to the fund raising efforts.

Trip to Oaxaca, Mexico
I'm leaving for Mexico on April 19th. Originally this was a vacation, & it still is, but I will also be checking out the job market while I'm there. I hope to get a job teaching English in Oaxaca or maybe Cuernavaca. Either way, I'll return to Phoenix on April 28th. If I do get a job, I'll pack up my remaining goods & move to Mexico. If I don't, I'll think of a Plan B, which may include teaching English in Argentina, Guatemala, Costa Rica, or even China. But I almost certainly will be leaving Phoenix for good very soon.

100 Thing Challenge
I've been spending much of my spare time scanning old photos, journals, & memorabilia in an effort to reduce my belongings. This is especially relevant now when I may be moving out of the country & don't want to take a lot of things with me. Once I know for sure when I'll be leaving Phoenix, I will have another yard sale at my house to get rid of the last remaining items.

House
I'm leaning towards foreclosing on the house or doing a short sale, but I won't decide for sure until I know what happens in Mexico. I'm going to a free seminar at Fiesta Inn on April 7th to find more out about my options. I've talked to lawyers, real estate agents, & people who have gone through their own foreclosures. They all say that I have a minimum of six months of non-payment before I have to leave the house.

Bankruptcy
I was considering filing bankruptcy, but the $2300 attorney's fee is prohibitive. Besides, a foreclosure will get me the same result, & I can still keep my credit cards. I haven't completely ruled out bankruptcy, though. I will always have the option of filing at a later date if I need to.

Right now, everything depends on what I find out while I'm in Mexico in April. Wherever I end up, I'll be sure to let everyone know so you can start planning your next vacation!

Scanning the Poet in Me

I've been scanning old photos, journals, school work, etc. in the spirit of my 100 Thing Challenge, as well as in anticipation of my leaving the country for adventures beyond. Some of what I've found has made me laugh out loud, including these haiku gems that I wrote in 6th grade.

The forest is calm
It can be very uncalm
I'm glad it is calm.

Flashlights give you light
They help you see in the dark
This way you can't trip.

Some rugs are shaggy
I like them that way, don't you?
Some people hate them.


Speaking of bad poetry...

Mahjong

I've been trying to get someone to teach me to play mahjong (麻將 ma2 jiang4) ever since I got to Shanghai, but no one seems to take me seriously - or maybe they think it's too complicated to try to explain in English. But I'm determined to learn how to play before I leave China.

Today when I was poking around the tourist market, I saw a cute little mahjong set in one of the shops. I thought, if I bring my own playing pieces to the school, perhaps it will inspire some students to take on my project with me.

I asked how much the mahjong set was. The sales lady clicked on the keys of her calculator & then showed it to me: 180 RMB (about US $25). Ha! I said, & started to walk out. The sales lady gently grabbed my backpack & pulled me back into her shop. "How much you wanna pay?" She asked. I offered 20 RMB. "Impossible!" She exclaimed. I started to leave again. Again she pulled me back.

After a few more rounds of this, we settled on 40 RMB (a little less than US $6), & I had my very own mahjong set. (Looks like I'm getting a little better at haggling.) Now to recruit some people to play with.

The tiles are really tiny - little bite-sized pieces of plastic - but this mahjong set is the perfect size for traveling, & certainly won't take up much room in my suitcase when I leave here. Hm. I wonder how that fits into my 100 Thing Challenge.

[Mahjong: Part 二]

What to Wear to an Ice Festival

On my way home at the end of the month, I'll be stopping in Harbin for the Ice Festival. It's way up north, a three-hour plane ride from Beijing, & it's going to be unbelievably cold up there. Last I checked, the low was going to be about minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit, the high a balmy one degree.

So I headed over to Decathlon, Shanghai's mega-super outdoor store, over the weekend to look for some ice festival gear. Apparently, everyone else had the same idea.

The store was huge! It had two massive floors full of outdoor gear, apparel & sporting equipment, & everything was pretty reasonably priced. It reminded me a lot of Big 5 but ten times bigger - more like Big 50.

For 1230 RMB (about US $186) I got a pair of really warm snow pants, a new winter jacket, some toasty winter boots, a fleece under shirt, a hat, gloves, & a few other things. Not bad, eh? The jacket alone would have cost at least $200 in the US. (Of course this skews my numbers for the 100 Thing Challenge, doesn't it?)

Armed with all this warm paraphernalia, I think I can handle any kind of weather that Harbin can muster. Bring it on Harbin - I'm ready for you!

Excess Baggage

In my recent move from Vietnam to Shanghai, I left a lot of things behind (mostly books). I had to fit all of my things into four bags: two checked bags at 20 kilos each & two carry-ons at 7 kilos each. I carefully weighed each bag to make sure that I was under the limit, reluctantly adding more stuff to the pile of leave-behinds.

When I got to the airport to fly to Hong Kong, the Vietnam Airlines representative at the check-in counter told me that I was only allowed 20 kilos of *total* checked bag weight & only *one* carry-on. I was 15 kilos over weight! I paid the $120 excess baggage fee & boarded the plane. (They graciously allowed me to take the two carry-ons & thankfully did not weight them.) Apparently, if you fly from the US or Canada, they allow you 40 kilos, but if you're flying within Asia, the rules are different. I must have read the wrong page on their website.

Two weeks later, I flew Dragon Airlines from Hong Kong to Shanghai. This time I expected the excess baggage charge, so I found more things to leave behind & packed the lighter items in my checked luggage while stuffing my remaining books into one carry-on, hoping that it wouldn't be weighed. This time the lady at the check-in counter only charged me $35 for the extra weight & ignored my carry-on altogether.

I bet this move has helped me a lot with my 100 Thing Challenge.