Pleasure from possessions?

Discussing the 100ItemChallenge with friends has revealed an interesting polarisation of opinion. It seems to be a concept that provokes a Marmite (acknowledgements to the trademake owner) reaction – you either love it or hate it. Or to be precise, you either get it or you don't.

The most extreme reaction was from one friend who utterly rejected the entire concept, stating “I like my possessions, I get pleasure from each and every one and none of them stop me from doing the things I enjoy doing”.

This has set me thinking about the pleasure that we derive from our possessions. As far as I'm concerned (for the purpose of the Challenge anyway), there is two types of pleasure – the immediate pleasure of acquisition and the ongoing pleasure of ownership. I've certainly felt the pleasure of acquisition, and I'm sure you have too. However the ongoing pleasure of ownership is a rarer beast.

A painting, a beautiful flower, or a piece of objets d'art will continue to reward the owner long after the pleasure of acquisition has faded. Other possessions must surely have a purpose in order to have a reason to keep it. For example I recently bought a new MacBook Pro, which gave me a huge thrill of excitement - particularly since there was a long time lag between deciding to buy and having the money to buy it. Do I still feel the same thrill, a few months later? No, of course not. Do I still get pleasure from it? Absolutely, as I use it every day and it makes this blog possible (curb your enthusiasm).

There are other things I use less often but still enjoy. For example my digital camera, definitely one of my 100 items, records the life experiences we're enjoying and I wouldn't be without it. But do I get pleasure from all my other possessions? Can I legitimately claim to enjoy something I haven't used for five years? For ten years? I certainly have an emotional attachment to some, but that usually manifests as guilt when I'm thinking whether to get rid of them.

Do they stop me from doing things? Not now, in any direct sense, but the money I spent on them could have been used for something else. For example the £200 I spent last year on the digital camcorder - that I used once - could have paid for a fantastic meal or a weekend away.

So although I respect anyone's right to disagree with me, ultimately I simply don't believe that real enduring pleasure can be derived from physical possessions. The pleasure is in the experiences, especially the shared experiences, that we create for ourselves.

Family items, learning to let go

Well tonight I have gone through an emotional journey, my grandmother passed away at the start of 2009, we had a very close relationship, more along the lines of Mother and Son.  So clearing out her home was quite distressing.  I held back a few items of furniture, two carver chairs and a floor lamp my grandfather bought for her as their first gift when they set up home together.  These have been remodeled and have a prime position in my home.  The small amount of photographs have been scanned into my hard drive for prosperity.  I have a plastic box of small ornaments and knick knacks that were personal to my grandmother. 

I have gone through this box and have kept back the Rabbit Money Box, but all the other Royal China, commemorating the Royal events like the coronation and the silver jubilee are going.

I still have fond memories of my grandmother, but these are now just items.  There is no attachment to them any more.  It reminds me of a business guru, he came up with the concept if you see something you want, put the idea in a diary system and if a month later you still want it then it may be the right thing to get.  My principle is similar, if you are not sure if you still need an item, put it in a box and a year later if you have not used it, looked at it or done anything at all with it, then time to chuck it out or sell it on.

So tonight there are a few more items on ebay.

The Start

Well this is the start, my husband and I are about to set about the 100 Item Challenge.

We are Jonathan and Rob, a recently married gay couple from Manchester in the UK.

Our philosophy for the '100 Item Challenge' was that our lives were being ruled by our possessions and this was slowing us down, we wanted to create more life experiences and by reducing the burden of owning possessions and setting a priority of what is actually important to us.   We are reducing our possessions down to 100 item each (this is excluding furniture and kitchen equipment, we're not Monks by any stretch of the imagination!)

This has been inspired by Dave Bruno the American creator of '100 Thing Challenge'