Live With Less: How To Prune Your "Things" Down [Chart]

By now, you’ve probably heard of Dave Bruno. He’s the blogger who decided to live with less, and he’s pruned his life down to only owning 100 things (give or take a few things that he says “don’t count”). People started taking notice of him several years ago when he started working towards this lifestyle. You can read an interesting article about him from back in 2008 on Apartment Therapy. He’s even gone on to issue the 100 Thing Challenge to encourage other people to live with less.

Although I’m not a big fan of living by extreme rules like this, I am a fan of living with less. Whether it’s digital data stored on my laptop or physical things stored in my home, I feel very affected by clutter. I don’t like it, and I own very few things compared to everyone else I know. I like living a simple life, and I could fit everything that is important to me in one very large rolling suitcase. I would have no issues with walking away from everything else in my house.

I’ve touched on this before when I wrote about Burning House Photography. That article has pictures of what people would choose to take if their house was burning down. What would you take? My list changes often, but right now I would take all my gadgets (with power cords and earbuds), a few sentimental things like my son’s artwork and my childhood bible, and I would take a few other necessities like a good pair of sneakers, several pairs of socks, a jacket, a blanket and a pillow. Oh, and I would take my car and my car keys. Those count, right?

Some people take this to even more extremes, like the woman who learned how to live with no money. She says she is completely happy with no money. I would never want to do that because I enjoy having a way to barter for goods, and money is the most convenient way to do that, but I can appreciate what she’s accomplished. She takes the concept of “live with less” to the ultimate level.

If you have wanted to learn how to live with less, you might enjoy this chart called How To Live On 100 Things Or Less created by Yumi at WonderHowTo. She’s got some great tips on here for how to prune down the things in our lives. My favorite line in this graphic is “I am not my things.” That statement is so true, and it’s easy at times to forget that. No matter how many things you have or don’t have, those things do not define you. They are not who you are. You are the person that you are on the inside, and that is what truly matters, no matter who or what might make you feel differently.