Home on Mondays: De-cluttering Me

Growing up, the only times I fixed my room was during exam season. I only moved to my own room when I was a senior in high school. Yes, you read that right, I was about 15 when I finally slept in my own room. I slept in my parents room, on the floor, until I was kicked out haha. I didn't have my own room because I wasn't born yet when our house was built. 

I remember keeping my toys under the bed of my parents. When I learned to type I slept with the typewriter beside me. I was always scolded for having so much kalat, but I realize now why... I didn't really have my own space. When I get tired of stuff, my Mom would just store them. And that's probably why I never really learned how to be organized (I'm entirely different when it comes to data though). 

Sweetie's the complete opposite. He likes having things organized and eversince we got married he takes care of stowing away the groceries. He can't sleep until everything is in order. Well, that's also the reason why I have a maker room -- to hopefully contain my clutter. 

I've been watching videos on de-cluttering since we have to drastically reduce the stuff we merged from all the homes we lived in. We easily have at least 50 or so mugs (Sweetie said about hundred...). Most were gifts and freebies from events. At least two closets full of clothes for each of us (SG + PH). Pairs of shoes from two homes and too many bed linens. 

De-cluttering is a journey. I started in 2019 with the data I kept in CDs. It took my whole break to finish moving all the data. That helped reduce the space the CDs were taking up. After that I tried the Marie Kondo method, but it didn't work out for me. I've been watching this vlog for tips and tricks and this is what I learned so far:

1. Clearing out your closet - realistically you only wear a small percentage of the clothes you own. I stowed away my "business clothes" since I haven't worn any of them since 2020. I'm seriously thinking of just donating them since I have no need for it. I've already gotten rid of most of the clothes I left in Manila since none of them fit, haha. I think it'll take me years to have a minimalist wardrobe like Kallie.

2. Shoes - I had a bad habit of keeping old pairs of sneakers. It was what I wore to work everyday so I switched them around. I've reduced my pairs of shoes to about 15. I think I can still reduce it since I rarely go out anyway. 

3. Kitchen - it's been pretty easy to choose what to keep in the kitchen. Keep the newer one or the sturdier one. I still dunno what to do with the gazillion mugs we collected through the years. Also, better to have a place for everything in your kitchen. Keep a smaller pantry and buy only what you need.

4. Increase what you bring out instead of what you bringing in - you don't notice it, but you probably bring in more stuff in a week than what you bring out (usually trash). I've been disciplining myself with the things I buy because more often than not I probably have a stock of it somewhere. I almost bought 5 meters of quilt wadding today. Sweetie pointed out to me that he found 3 boxes of it in the blackhole closet*. 

5. "Clean as you go". Pick up clutter as you move around. A friend told me years ago it's useful to have a basket or box where you can put stuff you're not ready yet to put away. I have a bag where I put "home papers" to file. I have another bag for other stuff to put away. 

De-cluttering is a journey and it will probably take me years to fix everything haha. 

*A huge closet we have in our basement which we've been filling up with odd items since we got home.