The 100 Book Club

When I was in first grade, I was a member of the 100 Book Club, which meant I had read that many books. Today I became a member again, but for a different reason.

It all started with Dave Bruno and his 100 Things Challenge. It sounded like a good idea, so one day I decided to look at my "stuff" and see if I could embark on the same challenge. It proved much harder than I could have imagined.

I decided to take the idea and tweak it a bit. Instead of trying to pare down to 100 things, I decided to pare 100 things from my stuff each month. By the end of 2009, I will have whittled 1200 things from my life. In addition, for every thing I receive this year, through purchase or gift, I will remove one thing so that I don't add more stuff to an already overstuffed existence.

So, for January the 100 things are books. I have many books, some I haven't read and will probably not read. There are a few I might read, but why let it sit around gathering dust waiting? I have a little card that entitles me to check out all the books that Nashville has - why not let them house the books?

The first forty books were easy, then the task got a little more challenging. I had to be honest about the books. In the end, I realized there were probably more I could let go, but I stuck with the 100. By the way, I bought a new scrapbook for my race memorabilia, so I got rid of an unused photo album. So far, so good.


It's good to see what I don't really need and how to let go. It helps me to realize my value of the stuff that I keep. And in the end, it's all just stuff.