100 thing challenge

I think I may have posted about the 100 Thing Challenge on here before, but I hope you'll forgive me for repeating myself. If you haven't heard about it, here's a summary from the Guy Named Dave website:

The goal of the 100 Thing Challenge is to break free from the confining habits of American-style consumerism. A lot people around the world feel "stuck in stuff." They feel like their closets and garages are too full of things that don't really make their lives much better. But how to get unstuck?
Reduce (get rid of some of your stuff)
Refuse (to get more new stuff)
Rejigger (your priorities)
I totally believe that living without abundance of personal possessions for an extended period of time is the first step we ought to take in order to realize that we don't need ever-more stuff. If you do this -- if you will give up your stuff for a while -- I am sure you'll never go back. You'll spend the rest of your life creating a more valuable life, instead of wasting your money and time on stuff. You will be glad. And best of all, the people around you will be blessed by your efforts to prioritize more meaningful pursuits.
Goal: I will live with only 100 personal things for one full year.
Rules: Remember, this is my 100 Thing Challenge. I get to set the rules and decide when a rule can be stretched or outright broken. Basically I'm going by the spirit of the challenge not the letter of the challenge.

My preoccupation with keeping things has become somewhat of a joke among my family members--although one look at my grandmother's house or my mother's "sewing room" proves I come by it honestly. And while I do struggle every day to throw even the least important things away (movie tickets from first dates of ill-fated relationships, receipts from groceries long ago consumed, class notes from courses dropped mid-semester, and the list goes on), I also realize how much having these things hinders my ability to live my life the way I'd like to.

I move a lot. I usually end up moving back to Clemson. And every time I come back to Clemson, I pull all of my things out of the closet and out of the boxes and I look at all those things that I haven't looked at in a long time. I can't throw them away. I usually either put them back in a different box, or they sit on the shelf and I still don't use them. It's pointless. So, I'm going to use this year to force myself to change. This move isn't like moving to Las Cruces. I've got to fly internationally and I've got to move in with a complete family I don't know. So, I'm going to pare down.

I just got my recommended packing list from GM this morning. I'm taking today to continue packing things I know I won't be taking to Mexico. In the remainder of the week I'm going to compare their packing list with the "1ooTC" list I had developed for myself, and figure out what parts of my rules are realistic and where I need to give a little. This weekend I'm going to actually put things into suitcases to see how they fit, and at that point I will be posting another post with my rules and my list, if you're interested.