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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, December 22, 2008

100 Thing Challenge helps clear our clutter

By Julia Feldmeier
Special to The Washington Post

Stuff. We have a lot of it. They're nice, these belongings. Entertaining and helpful and cool. And yet, they're also a little oppressive, the way they clutter our homes and dictate our actions.

Lo, the 100 Thing Challenge: an endeavor by Dave Bruno, a San Diego resident who decided to whittle his way down to 100 personal possessions. Gone was the iPod. The baseball jersey signed by Pete Rose. The dress pants and the sport coat and the nose-hair trimmer. Purged, all of them.

Bruno, a 37-year-old Web editor, officially began his challenge Nov. 12 and plans to continue it for one year (track his adventure and see a list of everything he kept and ditched at www.guynameddave.com).

Q. When you decided to start this challenge and began weeding through your things, were you horrified by how much you had?

A. Some things I thought, "Oh, I don't have as many shirts as I thought I had" — but then, wow, how do I have all these extra pairs of shoes?

Q. Is there a feeling of wastefulness that accompanies discarding all these items?

A. I put a lot of stuff on Craigslist and gave a lot away, but some stuff wasn't going to make it out the door unless it got thrown away. There's not much you can do with an old battered shirt.

Q. You didn't just put items in storage. You actually got rid of them. Is your plan to repurchase these things once the year is up?

A. I don't know. For the year, I don't have these things to go back to. My anticipation is that I won't even want to. ... It's not a bad practice to give up stuff for a while, to come back with a fresh perspective and new appreciation.

Q. Your challenge makes exceptions for things like socks and undergarments — each category counts as one thing.

A. Yes. The idea is to focus on consumerism things. The big exception is books. I'm keeping one library of books.

Q. We're a country that extols consumerism. Our government sends us stimulus checks in hopes that we'll go out and spend. Is the 100 Thing Challenge un-American?

A. Some people give me a hard time, saying that if everybody did the 100 Thing Challenge, then our economy would collapse. But I think that whenever we use our money and resources well, it always benefits the economy.

Q. (Christmas is) around the corner. How are your family and friends supposed to accommodate you regarding gifts?

A. I had a birthday on Nov. 12. Everybody was really gracious. I got a chocolate bar. And I love vanilla, so one of my daughters got me these genuine vanilla beans. My mom and my wife's mother gave us some money to go out on dates. So far, everybody gave a ton of thought toward figuring out what's something that's not a "thing" that'll give me pleasure.

Q. You're a devout Christian. Do you find that materialism clouds people's faith?

A. Yes. The Bible talks a lot about materialism. In one of his sermons, Jesus says no person can serve both God and money; you cannot serve two masters.

Q. You have a Facebook group dedicated to the 100 Thing Challenge with nearly 700 members. In this age of online social networking, we seem to collect friends. Do you think we should consider decluttering our lives of these "friends," too, and strip down to those who are most meaningful?

A. People could certainly spend too much time on those relationships and less time in the real world. Sometimes it just feels ridiculous and overwhelming, and yet, at the same time, it's given me really neat opportunities to connect with people. A woman from Scotland who found out about the 100 Thing Challenge sent me a birthday card. It's not a super meaningful relationship, but it's cool.