I saw a Facebook video about a young Japanese man who kept his possessions to 100 objects.
For 20 years I kept my possessions to 200 objects. The idea came from Lyall Watson a whale biologist who traveled the world and lived out of his suitcase.
There are several details about living on a limited number of possessions that arise. First, what is a single possession? One sock does not function as a single item. So the minimum is a pair of socks. The same goes for dining. One place setting is a knife, fork and spoon.
Second, tools of your trade can’t be included in the 200 possessions. There is no way to limit the number of tools one may need in most livelihoods, whether a dentist, lawyer, carpenter or history professor.
Lastly, when you have children and a spouse, their possessions belong to them. My kids stayed at my house when my wife and I were not living together. I couldn’t control the number of possessions they had, I could not impose my simple living values on them. For many years I tried to have my kids and I live with only three nesting bowls to eat out of. After it was fun, they lost interest.
A spouse is a different matter. I’ve lived with several women. Two had large collections of objects (records, books, California pottery) which I had no interest in interfering with.
I had no trouble living within the 200 number. I got rid of old things when I got something new. I always, in my life, bought high quality objects, since I treated them with honor and importance.
One of the humorous experiences was during the beginning of my getting rid of everything. I invited my friends to my house to take anything they wanted. To my utter surprise there were many objects that my friends wanted and had wanted for a long time. I couldn’t believe that friends had possession envy.
For seven years I lived as a house sitter (I rented out the house I owned). I had a van and could easily fit all my possessions in the van. It really worked.