More on my 100 things challenge

I know, I know, it's the Christmas season and the post-Christmas sales and we're all supposed to be buying as much stuff as possible, but, as I said in my last post, I'm heading in the opposite direction.

Since I am going to be working for months in Chile AND I've been trying for what seems like forever to cut down the amount of stuff in my life, I'm trying the 100 things challenge and trying to get by with only 100 items.

I've already used up 6, all related to being able to see - contacts, glasses, sunglasses. So, what else is a must have?

7. Laptop, including charger and adapters.

8.  iPhone including ONE charger.

9.  iPad. It uses the same charger as the iPhone so I'm not bringing a second. I plan to load at least 100 books on it before I leave. Maria says that is cheating but a) it will probably be hard to find technical books written in English in Chile and b) she can make her own list. Someone who still has boxes stored at my house has no room to give me advice.

10.  One 32 or 64 GB flash drive.   I'll bet there are 20 of these, at least, in the house. It's ridiculous.

11. One microphone/ headset . I'm not including that as part of the computer because I don't REALLY need it for the computer to work and if I start not counting computer peripherals things could snowball really fast.

12. One week's worth of underwear. Another blog I read on this challenge said she counted all of her underwear as a group, but Maria said if she were me she'd take 20 pairs to minimize the times she had to do laundry. It probably says something about me that I didn't get to underwear until I had accounted for all of my computer stuff.

13. One week's worth of socks. I must have at least 40 pairs of socks, so narrowing it down to 7 or 8 is going to be a change. I already threw 3 pairs into the give-away bag today.

14. Running shoes, which are also the shoes I wear to work almost every day. I have 3 pairs of these, so I'll have to pick one.

15. Dress shoes for those times when I have to wear a dress or a skirt.

So far, just starting this list has helped me fill up a bag of stuff to get rid of. There is some book about getting rid of clutter that says you should look at each object in your house or office and ask if it brings you joy. There have been plenty of people and experiences who brought me joy, but I don't believe there has ever been a THING that brought me joy, although I hear there are sex toys for that.

No, for me, the more practical question is it worth shipping 5,600 miles? I think we don't ask ourselves this question often enough:

Why do we have this stuff?

If you're wondering if there is any benefit in this 100 thing challenge, the answer is yes. For that, read my next post.

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While you're waiting for our bilingual game from Startup Chile, head over to the app store and check out Aztech: Meet the Maya - learn history and math, improve your Spanish (or English)