Years ago people easily lived with less than 100 items. Of course I'm not saying lets live like cavemen, but the fact that we can't is what holds us back from growing to our highest potential.

DCer said his kids each have a box of 64 crayons. Why? Can't they share one box?
If they aren't able to share a box of crayons how do you think they'll be sharing, not just material things, but thoughts, ideas and feelings in class, home or even when they grow up in the work place?

As for me I don't limit myself to a number, but try to go by if something comes in, something else goes out. Or every few weeks/months I have a closet clean-out (I did this yesterday). It's easy to clean out my closet because I don't have so many clothes or shoes. It's also easier and more pleasurable to get dressed because I don't have to go through tons of clothes to choose the one I want to wear.
And I do agree, if you haven't touched it in 12 months, let it go.

When I was a young homebuyer at 26, my wife, daughter and I started with very little and even though we bought a tiny house, there was plenty of open space - room for people and guests and parties, etc.

In the 12 years that have lapsed since then, we've managed to stuff this tiny home full of STUFF. In my case, it's mostly books that have taken over my space. For my wife and daughter it is clothes. We're all responsible for DVDs, furniture we don't need, useless gifts we've received, etc.

I'd love to be able to liberate us from this scourge and return to the good old days. I can't imagine how I'd go about doing so, however.

This article is food for thought for me. Thanks.

I mean, it's a good idea in that any time you wish to purchase something, you'd have to think extra hard about it, & decide if that item is worth losing something else you love for.

But? Hell, i own over 100 items just in books, & that's after purging my library of everything i didn't need earlier this year.

And do shoes count as one or two items?

1: laptop
2: external drive, full of movies, songs and video games.
3: etc ...

Pickaxe, shovel, spade, trowel, big spirit level, small spirit level, bolster, pointed cold-chisel, lump hammer, block plane, tenon saw, long straight-edge, mixing bucket, watering can, hacksaw, socket-set, small screwdriver, wire cutters, broom; and probably a dozen more that are so commonplace that I don't recall using them. And this isn't for work, this is at home. (I'm a kept-man - I send the wife out to work while I look after the kids!)

Those of us who are forced to buy things from Salvation Army and Fleamarkets know that the reason that we have so many small things is because we are dealing with outdated and half broken things.

I have two laptops because neither of them had a warranty past 1999. If I could afford a new one with applecare i would only have one.

Simplicity is often more a matter of technological level and money than voluntary simplicity.

Money and technology level also allows one to get beyond huge barriers that leave others in poverty for their lifetimes.

Give up the telephone and see how quickly your ability to earn a living and find a new job drops to nearly ZERO.

Not for the "over consumption" or the "green" aspects, but simply because when we over complicate our lives with possessions, we end up tied to those things and essentially lose our freedom to move at will because of the ton of baggage we have to drag behind us.

If you can limit what owns you, you become free to experience more of what life has to offer.