What We Learned from Our Decluttering Coach

We are about 85 to 90% done decluttering our home. We just have a few boxes left and we're aiming to clear most of it out before the month ends. We got help from a decluttering coach because merging two homes was overwhelming. It's almost two years now since we moved back to the Philippines and we're hoping to have a more decent living space by Christmas. 

We learned a lot from our decluttering coach, Ally Canita in the past few months. Here's what she taught us:

1. Define your intention. Knowing your intention makes it easier when you need to make decisions on what to keep and let go. 

2. Make a plan. In our case we identified rooms where we needed help. From the room places to keep items in were identified. 

3. Sort everything first. This is where we were really glad to have help Ally and her team went through all our boxes and cabinets and sorted all the items. They were categorized in different boxes. 

4. Identify items that will be kept, decided on later, and for donation. We went through this process a number of times until we were able to choose what to keep and donate. 

5. Integrate a system in storing your items. I was shocked to find out how much dishwashing liquid I had in my inventory. I kept buying whenever we did groceries because I always thought we were about to run out. What we didn't know was we kept storing it in different places, haha. The team organized our pantry and cabinets properly. And yes, we finally ran out of dishwashing liquid, hahaha. The system they did helps us to know easily what items we need to re-stock. 

6. Identify organizations where you could donate pre-loved items. Luckily Ally was already in contact with organizations. The boxes of books we donated were eventually sent by the org to Bicol. We also donated a lot of clothes, bags and houseware. 

I was so happy I was able to reduce my stuff. I really had a lot and defining my intention helped a lot. I also based my decisions on my current situation. I rarely go out, so I don't really need a lot of clothes, bags and shoes. I'm still working on reducing what I still have since I think I still have too much. 

Still a long way to go, but with Ally's coaching we aren't as overwhelmed anymore :)

#BeKind #StaySafe