Back in mid-January of this year we had a long thread based on a similar theme, titled 11 items only, in the General Discussion Forum. It provoked a lot of response.

One thing that hampered the discussion was a lack of ground rules for what counted or did not count as 'an item', so you're on the right track in seeking to clarify this. My first post on that thread invoked the idea of the Ten Essentials, which, if taken literally would only allow you to choose (in your case) two more items not on the Ten Essentials list before you had reached your legal limit.