My 200 Things Challenge

A few months ago I decided to take on the 100 Thing Challenge during this school year, but once I decided to count both household and personal possessions, I knew my number would be bigger. As I finished Inventorying & Packing Up, I decided 200 was a good number. I’m currently at 198 things. Here is My 198 Things List.

I scratched my head for a while about how to count the things that I own but am not currently using and how to count the things that I’m currently using but don’t own. For instance, I own a house in Walla Walla that I’m renting partially furnished, so I'm well acquainted with the Joys of Home Ownership. I’m not living in my house right now, but it is mine. Meanwhile, I am living in a partially furnished yurt. I’ve decided to just count the things that I'm living with right now. I'll include the things I'm renting or borrowing on my list since they are in my possession. However, for the record, I do own a house and the furniture in it as well as four totes and a food dehydrator that are currently stored in my friend’s basement.

I’ll admit that my loophole is that in some cases I counted a container rather than all the items it contains. For instance, if I’d counted every ring, earring, bracelet, and necklace in my jewelry box I would have had 34 things, but I counted my jewelry box as just one thing. I love jewelry because it’s a way to quickly change my look with pretty little details. Besides, most of my jewelry has a story: it was a gift from a friend, I inherited it from my grandmother, I found it in the night market in Chang Mai, etc. But tend to I think of my jewelry as a single thing, so I decided to count it that way. The trick, I’ve decided is to not overflow the handful of boxes I’ve allowed myself. (For the sake of honesty, I did actually inventory everything that I would have to purchase separately, so I have two counts. For instance, if my bike was stripped and I had to replace my water bottle, lights, helmet, rack, paniers, etc. it would be more than one thing. My true count is 577 things, but by my practical count it’s 198 things.)

So I plan to live this next year with 200 items or less. I’ll try to adopt the mantra from the Non-Consumer Advocate website: “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” Moving Day is Sunday so the challenge begins then. Here goes!

A Year of Little Living

Somehow it's already been nearly a year since I moved into a 121 square foot tiny house on wheels and wrote my first blog post: The Tiny House Adventure Begins. And what a year it's been!

This afternoon I was a virtual guest speaker for the Tiny House Design-Build Class at Yestermorrow and this evening I had a great conversation with my friend Derin about building tiny houses. Both of these got me thinking about how many amazing tiny opportunities I've had over the past year.

Through my internship with Orange Splot I coordinated the Pedalpalooza Accessory Dwellings and Tiny House Bike Tours and wrote several guest posts for AccessoryDwellings.org. Eli also connected me with the Space Efficient Housing Working Group and we've helped to plan the upcoming Build Small, Live Large Summit. I'll be presenting a session about tiny houses with Dee Williams of PAD Tiny Houses and Derin Williams of UrbaNest Northwest.

Speaking of Dee Williams, she helped me connect with other tiny housers in the area and our contacts spiderwebbed out from there. In the process I have met lots of great folks who are building, designing, living in, or dreaming about tiny houses. We've now had several potlucks and created the Portland Tiny Houses Facebook group and the Tiny House Network Google group. I've profiled A Tiny House Truck, A Tiny Natural House, and Advanced Fort Construction. We've chatted about the joys and challenges of the Little Life and helped each other with designing, building, troubleshooting, tiny house moves, and sharing resources and infromation. Dee also invited Brittany Yunker and I to participate in the Portland Tumbleweed Tiny House Workshop in June. I am extremely grateful to both Brittany and Dee for helping me to make these connections with other amazing tiny housers.

Over spring break I had the chance to help a friend built the shell of her Tiny Barn and I apprenticed with Orange Splot for My Summer Dream Job: Tiny House Design Building. In July we got Brittany's Tiny House On the Road again and I lived in an ADU which I dubbed My Summer Garden Cottage. I spent my days Going Whole Hog on the Tiny House, working on Tiny House Insulation, Roofing, and Interior Walls. The tiny house was featured on the Build it Green (BIG) Tour in September. I was able to use these design-building experiences as my practicum project for my Certificate in Sustainable Design and Building at Yestermorrow Design Build School in Vermont.

I've been interviewed by journalism students for OR Magazine, by newspapers like the Portland Tribune, by a Canadian TV station, and by Vermont Public Radio. I'm also scheduled to do an interview with my friend John for  Portlandia's The Real Portland. Meanwhile, I've considered a plethora of tiny house issues such as Tiny Home Improvement, Shrinky-Dink Porches, Top 10 Reasons to Pick An Envi Heater, Creative Tiny House Storage Solutions, why Tiny Houses Turn Their Backs on the Street, and Tiny House Insurance (or lack thereof).

Now I'm Downsizing from a Tiny House to a Tinier House and, inspired by the 100 Thing Challenge, I'm currently Inventorying & Packing Up so that I can embark upon My Things Challenge. For the next school year I'll be living in a 113 square foot yurt in inner Portland, so the tiny adventures will continue. Thanks for following along everyone. Here's to another great year of the Little Life!

Inventorying & Packing Up

Since I knew I’d be moving twice this summer I figured the first move would give me a chance to do an inventory and the time in a new space would help me to evaluate what I really use. I’m now turning my attention to my second move, which means re-inventorying and beginning to pack up the things I won’t use in the next couple weeks. Since I’m Downsizing from a Tiny House to a Tinier House, I’ve got some tangible limits on what I’ll be able to bring with me. Here goes downsizing again! When I started My Things Challenge I initially planned to keep two separate lists of 100 things: personal items and household items. The guy named Dave who started the 100 Thing Challengeonly counted personal possessions among his 100 things. He counted his clothes, his car, his books, and his favorite pen, but he didn’t count any of the household items he shared with his partner and children. So, following in his footsteps, I was planning to keep a list of household items and separate list of personal possessions. (See my other rules at My Things Challenge: Who’s Counting Anyway?) But since I’m the only person in my household, I decided this week when I started inventorying that I’ll keep just one list. I’m curious to see what number I’ll pick, what my allowance will be. I've got a hunch I'll be picking a number higher than 100.

One hundred twenty-three things… and counting! (To find out what number I ended up with, click here.)

My Things Challenge: Who’s Counting Anyway?

I first heard of the 100 Thing Challenge about a year ago. I was downsizing from a two-bedroom bungalow to a tiny house at the time, but the 100 Thing Challenge seemed extreme so I dismissed it. Of course, tiny houses seemed radical when I first heard about them, too. Now I’ve spent 10 months living in a tiny house, I’ve helped with my friend’s Tiny Barn Build, and I have my Summer Dream Job: Tiny House Design-Building. Downsizing to just 100 Things doesn't seem quite so radical anymore.

The premise of the 100 Thing Challenge is simple: narrow down your personal possessions to just 100 things. You go through your belongings, you count them, and you decide what you can part with so that you end up with just 100 things. The trickiest aspect is neither counting nor deciding what to purge. I think the trickiest part is deciding how to count.

The 100 Thing Challenge is a game, a competition, a test. But you get to make up your own rules. I appreciate that since I’m much more likely to follow rules that aren’t arbitrary. Some people are pretty generous with themselves. For instance, the guy named Dave who invented the challenge counted “library” as one item. Others are sticklers for their own rules. For instance, Tammy of Rowdy Kittens counts her camera body and her two lenses as three separate things. I’m somewhere in the middle. Here are the rules I created for myself:

• I’m going to keep two lists of 100 things. One list is my personal possessions, which is all the stuff that the two-year-old in me would defend as “mine!” The other list is household items that I would share with housemates if I had any.
• Sets (i.e. measuring spoons) and pairs (i.e. socks) count as just one thing.
• Identical, interchangeable, easily replaceable items count as one thing. For instance, I have a bunch of mason jars with plastic lids I use for bulk food storage, fridge food storage, to go containers, candle holders, a piggy bank, etc. I’m not going to count them as 30 separate things. That’s just silly!
• The parts of an item are counted with that item, even if they were additions. For instance, my bike lights and lock are additions to my bike, but I don’t ride without them, so I’m not going to count them as separate things. They’re part of my bike as far as I’m concerned.
• Accessories that go with an object are counted with that item if they are necessary for it to function optimally. For instance, I have a sleeping bag liner because I can’t stand sleeping in a sleeping bag without one. It’s technically possible but I’m going to be grumpy, so in my head the sleeping bag and its liner are one thing and I’m going to count them that way.
• In some cases a container counts as one thing and its contents don’t count individually (examples may include my toiletry bag, my tool box, and my craft bin).
• I’m not going to count consumable products. Food, shampoo, toothpaste, toilet paper, dish soap, etc. aren’t counted as things. But I’m going to create a Use It or Lose It policy. I have a bizarre tendency to hoard consumable things (like a lotion that smells nice or a tea I like). It’s as though I’m trying to make them last even if I don’t have to. Some things are better fresh! So henceforth I’m not going to be afraid to use things up. I’ll put consumable goods in one place and as I use them I’ll transfer them to a different place to show they’ve been used. Anything I have not used during the past month will be subject to scrutiny and purging before my move.

I'll be making two moves this summer: first to My Summer Garden Cottage and then to someplace new that's yet to be determined. (To see where I ended up, click here.) So I’m going to go through my belongings, take inventory, and figure out where I stand with the My Things Challenge. I may end up proudly claiming a larger number. The number 100 is completely arbitrary, after all. And, as previously mentioned, I don’t much care for arbitrary. But I figure 100 is a starting point and I can decide what works for me. (To find out what number I landed on, click here.)

After all, minimalism isn’t about deprivation. It’s about focus. It’s about figuring out what one needs and prioritizing what one loves. All the rest is Just Stuff.

1 Tiny House & 4 Bicycles

A friend of mine recently sent me an email saying he'd just stumbled upon a really good deal on a used road bike my size. Finding a used bike in excellent condition with a minuscule price tag is almost as rare as finding a bike built for a someone who's almost 5'2" when she stands up really straight. Finding both together seemed a veritable miracle! I was just about to get on a bus that happened to go by the outdoor gear store that was selling the bike so I decided to check it out. An hour later I was riding to school on my new bike, thinking It's really crazy that I now own four bicycles when my house is only 121 square feet!

When I first learned some people own more than one bike I thought it was even stranger than people owning a car and a truck. But then I realized that bikes serve different purposes, too. I have a little vintage Dutch folding bike that is super heavy, but horribly cute and really fun to ride. I get a kick out of taking this little cruiser down to the Alberta Arts district for a cup of roiboos almond bubble tea at Townsend's Tea House or a buttermilk old fashioned donut at Tonalli's. (BTW: I've been on a mission to find the best donuts in Portland and none of them even come close to Tonalli's!) It's not that I'm looking for hipster cred but, if I was, the Dutch folding bike would be a key component of my portfolio. I can't imagine parting with it because it makes me happy (and it's so little, especially when all folded up!)

My vintage Peugeot is a great little bike and I had a Cinderella moment when I first rode it. If the Bike Fits... it's probably a good idea to take it home and keep it. However, it's awkwardly small non-standard wheels relies on wheelchair tires. They've got deep tread designed for running parallel, not inline with quick turns. I'd been thinking about getting a new set of wheels and tires for my Peugeot road bike but was sticker shocked when I found out replacing the wheels would cost more than what I'd paid for the bike when I found it on Craigslist! Now that I have a bike that can get me to and from school quickly, my Puegeot will probably keep its funny tires and will become my hauling bike for trips to the farmers market.

Which means it's definitely time to find a new home for my mountain bike. I've never mountain biked in my life, so I have no special attachment to this bike's intended functionality. When you grow up in a household of 6 kids and you're the smallest, you're used to having things that are built to be durable so they can be passed down! I've taken good care of it and replaced most of its components so it's a nice hybrid commuter for people who like the solid, uprightness of a bike like that.

Meanwhile, I'm pretty enamored with my latest and greatest bike which is built for getting lil' ol' me around quickly and easily. I feel like this bike is working with me, not against me. It's a great tool and it serves an important purpose. I already understood people riding recreationally when it was just meandering along neighborhood roads admiring the architecture and cruising on down to the local coffee shop. Now I'm starting to understand why people like to go fast on their bikes and like to go for long bike rides. This lightweight zippy bike has made my commute much more enjoyable.

Speaking of which, I finished out the Bike to PSU Challenge last week with a commute rate of 81.5%, better than my team's average of 75% (and I have the longest commute of anyone on the team). I didn't end up Biking Rain or Shine, but I feel okay about taking transit on the four miserably wet days. According to the snazzy website, I commuted 296 miles by bike during the month of May and burned somewhere around 14,504 calories, saving 290 pounds of CO2. That's pretty cool!

Three (I mean, four!) cheers for having a bike for everything and making (almost) every trip on a bike!

Update: I ended up passing my mountain bike along to my youngest sister. I recognize that it's still preposterous that I own three bicycles, but I enjoy riding each of them for their intended purpose so much that I'm keeping all of them for now!

Don't Leave Home Without It!

When my cousin was a toddler and we were preparing to leave the house she would tick off the things she would need on her fingers. "Coat? Hat? Shoes?" she would ask herself and grin and nod for each one. As a big fan of Kay Chorao's children's book Molly's Moe, I loved my cousin's short list. However, as an adult my Don't Leave Home Without It list is more like: Wallet? Phone? Keys?

My minimalist tendencies rebel against lugging around a purse full of the things I might need. But sadly, I was forever misplacing my keys or phone or (Heavens no!) wallet because they were not tethered to my body (or anything else). This was a problem for me until until a dear friend introduced me to her strategy a few months ago.

My friend found a cool felted pouch just big enough to hold her phone, wallet, and keys. She dubbed it her pod and when she showed it to me I decided I simply had to have one. (I rarely have this reaction to a thing, so I knew I was onto something! Or rather, it wasn't really the thing itself as much as the concept. I knew I wanted that simplicity.) Another friend had given me a little felted coin purse as a birthday present that year and it happened to perfectly fit my phone and my slim wallet. I attached my keys to the zipper pull and all of the sudden, everything I really needed was right there. (Okay, so I usually keep business cards and chapstick in there, too, and they're not truly essential, but they're awfully nice to have when I need them!)

Now I only have to remember ONE thing when leaving the house. That I can do even on a busy day! And with a convenient hook right inside the door, my pod has a place inside the house, too.