I love the curiosity that resides in human minds and leads to new and interesting statistics. Curiosity compelled several researchers to determine how much our “stuff” weighs. You know, our books, kitchen ware, toys, clothes, bins of stuff in the garage and everything else we own. Here is what researchers at the University of Leicester in England found:

• Human-manufactured stuff weights 30 trillion tons or over 100 pounds for every square yard of the earth’s surface.
• Books alone, at about 130 million titles, weigh more than the many of the higher, evolved species combined
• The combined weight of all humans is 506 million tons (far less than the 30 trillion tons of stuff we have)

These folks did not actually measure all our stuff! They used computers and some super kind of mathematical modeling that goes beyond my brain’s capacity to understand. But I do get the gist of what they are saying. We have tons of stuff. I knew that already when I started 4 years ago to seriously declutter my life, a process that just ended a few weeks ago when I took yet another load to a local thrift store (clothes I don’t need, kitchen stuff I thought I had to have in the camper, some heavy fabrics, storage containers, etc). Seriously, I am down to only 3 pairs of flip-flops, some sneakers and 1 pair of nicer shoes. Oh, and 3 pairs of daily wear boots, 2 pairs snow boots, 1 pair hiking boots, and my wet suit booties (nothing compared to my former shoe hoard). Not that I am super woman. I still covet fabric and Kindle books. In fact, the same day that I declared myself decluttered, I placed two orders for fabric (5″ charm squares for quilting, which weigh ounces.) However, that is ALL I covet now and I am hoping to get nearer to a good library again this summer so I don’t need as many Kindle books. My library does offer ebooks; however, most of what I want to read is specialized nonfiction and not among the online library collections

These stuff stats caused me to think about how much my remaining stuff weighs after years of tossing.  I don’t need computers to calculate the mass because everything is in my van or camper, which I can drive to a truck stop and have weighed. Really, I should do that sometime to make sure I am pulling a safe weight. In the meantime, I can make a good estimate:

Curb weight of empty van – 5,000 lbs.

Weight of stuff inside – approx 300 lbs

Weight of empty camper  3800 lbs

Weight of stuff inside    approx 1000 lbs

Grand total of my stuff: pretty darn close to 10,000 lbs or 5 tons

Here I am, hauling five tons of stuff around the country. Five tons. Five tons. Five tons. To compare, here are some single things that weigh 5 tons:

UPS truck

Elephant seals (world’s largest carnivore)

Elephants (4-7 tons each)

However, If you subtract the empty van and camper my random stuff weighs 1300 pounds. I like to think of myself as a modern pioneer seeking new adventures, so I looked up how much stuff the original pioneers carried. I found this at the Oregon Trail Center website:

A pioneer’s typical outfit wasn’t terribly expensive; usually one or two small, sturdy farm wagons, six to 10 head of oxen, a milk cow or two. Plus all the necessary food, clothing and utensils needed for survival. Often heavy items such as furniture, stoves, pianos would be freighted to the West Coast by clipper ship around the Horn of South America. If such heavy things were packed in the wagons, they usually ended up left along trailside along the way.

To survive the long jouney, a family of four would need 600 lbs. of flour, 120 lbs. of biscuits, 400 lbs. of bacon, 60 lbs. of coffee, 4 lbs. of tea, 100 lbs. of sugar, and 200 lbs. of lard. These would just be the basic staples. Other food stuffs could include sacks of rice and beans, plus dried peaches and apples. Bacon was often hauled in large barrels packed in bran so the hot sun would not melt the fat. Each man took a rifle or shotgun and some added a pistol. A good hunting knife was essential. Farm implements such as a plow, shovel, scythe, rake, hoe; plus carpentry tools – saw, broad axe, mallet, plane. Seeds for corn, wheat and other crops.

Whoa Nellie! Now my measly 1300 pounds of stuff seems more reasonable. I feel better about what I, a self-proclaimed modern pioneer, have left: food, kitchen stuff, clothes, bedding, fabric, some print books, and a bunch of things that plug into a outlet (TV, sewing machine, iron, satellite radio, lamps, electric blanket, dehumidifeir, small heater, coffee pot, computer, Kindle, phone, hair dryer). Those electrical things may sound frivolous but they are my essentials and I gladly trade them for the 200 pounds of lard schlepped cross-country by the real pioneers.

Wondering, do I need to count my dog’s weight in my total?

FYI: Some extreme weights:

Blue whales – 110-160 tons

Legal weight of an 18-wheeler – 40 tons

Loaded cargo ship – 600,000 tons