We live in an increasingly complicated world, where even a day trip means packing an oversized vehicle to the gills. The people at Zen Habits (great site) postulated an idea: What if you had to fit everything you need in the trunk of your car and go on some magical trip? What would you absolutely have to take? What could you easily leave behind?

Here are a few answers to get you thinking:

* I own lots of books. I own a mattress, blanket, pillows as well. I own a desk too. Not to mention, my computer.

As much as I would love to be able to simply put all my belongings in a trunk, I don’t see it happening any time soon.

This is a good exercise to reflect on what we own and what we can really do without.

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* All you need is a towel…and maybe a credit card !!!

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* My books, passport, laptop, camera and clothes. It reminds me of days when I was a student I used to move accommodation in shopping trolleys, all i needed was 1 trip. That’s the reason maybe the bigger the house the smaller our hearts get, as we accumulate every thing resisting to give others what we don’t use

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* My granny always said you can’t take it with you.

Let’s assume that my hubby and three kids can go in the car seats. We’re lucky now that a lot of our most precious possessions like photos, my manuscript, even diaries if I digitized them, can fit on a tiny computer disc or memory stick. I didn’t realise how important that stuff is until recently when I nearly lost it all when my computer died as if can represent years of memories or work so that’s definitely essential.

I’m lucky as we just went traveling for 18 months and we were forced to live with just the bags we could carry. This is a brilliant exercise for ridding yourself of a reliance on material possessions. But I’d take some family treasures, my kids baby books and memory books and some of the small souvenirs that hold precious memories of our travels plus my wedding dress. That should do it and there might even be a bit of room to spare for some snacks for the road.

Yep, I like this idea! Buckle up kids, get the map out Rich, where are we going?

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* Just my dogs. The rest is junk.

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If I was really travelling, I’d try to limit all I need to one big backpack. When I went across India for 6 months, that was what I lived out of.

The basic test is: is it necessary and do I love it? Picking up something, holding it, and letting my heart speak is the best test to see if you love something.