I plan to do just this with all my non-consumables when I move to New York: count them up, maybe take photos, and put them all in a database. Probably just Excel, but if you know a Delicious Library or Evernote hack, please email me.
My friend Jon Grubb once said he was going to count all his things, and then he’d keep a maximum of one thousand things at any given time. I haven’t asked him but I don’t think he ended up doing it. It’s geeky, might seem pretentious, and might have no major benefit.
But I always wanted to do one of those possibly pretentious anal-retentive projects, and I may as well do one that only requires physical steps I’m already going through: pack up all my stuff, then put it in place one item at a time. And since my best incentive for doing work is to avoid other work, this will encourage me to get rid of as much junk as possible — to strip down to the things I love. And that should at least help me live in a smaller apartment.
Has anyone else cataloged their possessions? Did it do you any good?
(artwork by Simon Evans via tmblg:supernice)
I haven’t counted all my stuff, and I may do this as a project. But we did get 80% of our stuff by moving from a 3,500 sq foot house to a 750 sq foot house. And we still need to get rid of more that’s in storage, and a few more appliances that are taking up space. I don’t think being intentional about what you own is pretentious.
