How to Clear Your Childhood Home

The biggest project me and my boys worked on the past two years is to clear my and Miggy's childhood home. Oh boy, I honestly did not expect that Mom kept a lot of stuff. Some were from way back in the 60s when I wasn't even born yet. A lot of people lived in our home. I experienced having different sets of relatives who lived with us and they did leave some stuff. 

Our decluttering coach, Ally Canita, observed that my Mom somehow organized her things. She already weeded out her clothes, turned Dad's closet into a craft materials cabinet, and she got rid of a lot of older stuff. She already curated what she left, but probably forgot about the gazillion of things she stored in the upper cabinets. 

We're honestly not done yet and our living room is still full of boxes for sorting. We just transferred everything since work is being done already. Anyway, here's a breakdown on how we managed to clear out my childhood home. 

Step 1. Make a list of all the rooms and take note of what's generally in all the cabinets/closets/drawers etc.

Step 2. Contact a decluttering coach or a organizer company that can help sort and box everything for you. 

Step 3. Prepare a list of categories on how the items should be sorted. Here's roughly what I had listed:

- craft materials

- books

- clothes

- bags

- linens/beddings/curtains/covers

- personal items like jewelry, wallets

- decor/statues/mementos/frame photos/paintings

- papers/documents

- kitchen items and appliances

- gadgets

- furniture (list per room)

Step 4. Buy materials: a lot of used boxes (cheaper than buying brand new balikbayan boxes), sticker paper for labelling boxes, Pentel pens, scissors, packaging tape. 

Step 5. Schedule dates for the decluttering/organizing team to sort and box items by room. It took 8 sessions for our team to work on the house, and another 2 days a year later to complete the outdoor storage and forgotten cabinets. 

Step 6. I made the mistake of sorting craft materials first. It took a lot of time because Mom had a lot of beads scattered around her things! It's better to start with things you can easily send for donations first like books, clothes, bags and linens/beddings. Start there so you can donate them immediately. Do things you'll likely keep last. Sort by having three boxes beside you while you go through everything: dispose, donate, keep. 

*We shred old papers that have PII and no longer needed.

Step 7. Our decluttering coach coordinated all the donations. We probably donated over 150 boxes of books and +100 boxes of other items. Old unusable appliances were sold to the junk shop. We only sold a few working appliances. Proceeds went to paying for donation delivery and decluttering services (last 2 sessions). 

Step 8. Make sure to label things you are keeping in boxes. Some of the things we set aside will be shared with relatives.

Step 9. Identify big items that you will keep, give away, or sell. We're only keeping a few key pieces and have started to offer some furniture to relatives. We managed to sell some furniture that's still useful. 

Step 10. Clean up when you're done! I'm honestly not sure when we'll actually finish! Hopefully, by end of October!

I honestly don't know how we could have managed clearing out our childhood home without Ally and her team. She had previously helped us combine all our homes (SG + Manila) when we went home. Things really pile up and if you have a hard time decluttering, get a coach! It's the best thing we did and I can't imagine how we could have emptied the house.

Be ready for surprises! We thought all the cabinets were already emptied and was so surprised to see my Mama Lola's cabinet still full of stuff! Mom's stuff! So that means I have a box or two of craft materials to sort. I'm still hoping to find my Mama Lola's frog figurine. I used to play with it when I was a child. And we're still finding odd stuff even though we thought everything's been cleared. Just found Dad's K of C sword. I wonder where that was hiding, hehe. It's hopefully the last thing we pull out from the house. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Why We Hired a Decluttering Coach/Organizer

I realized we needed help a year and a half after we moved to our new home. Our living room was unusable because we still had unopened boxes. Yup, even after we had renovations done we still had unopened boxes. Mom and my siblings told me that it will really take time before everything is organized. 

We merged two homes. Our stuff from our Manila home and the stuff we brought over from Singapore. While doing our renovations we asked Architect Wansi if he knew an organizer who could help us. I personally needed help because I don't have enough energy and stamina to continuously declutter, clean and organize our home. We also struggled with choosing what to keep and let go. 

Architect Wansi recommended Ally Canita. We reached out to her in late March and did our first session in May. It took awhile because works were still being done and things kept getting moved around. The house was also constantly dirty, so it was useless to organize. Before work to organize and declutter our home we worked with Ally to set goals for the project. 

Ally and her team spent two full days sorting the contents of the boxes. They also worked on the kitchen and storage room. The work they did was really helpful because it was easier to sort through boxes that are marked "for decision" or "keep". We just had to decide whether to donate or keep items from the for decision box. (More about the first session, here).

We had our second session a few days ago. Ally visited us before she brought her team to assess what they needed to do next. She planned the program before the team came so they wouldn't waste time. I also like how she was able to use extra storage containers I had to organize our pantry. They also helped organize Miggy's closet and shelf. 

What I liked best about their work was what they did with our Christmas items. I requested for the Christmas decors to be placed in crates so it's easier to go through them when we decorate for Christmas. I thought we'd need to buy crates, but they were able to re-use my old plastic boxes (which we emptied in the past few months). They even re-used my old plastic shoe boxes to segregate the decors. Yay! 

Ally also has contacts with organizations that accept pre-loved items. The first set of books we donated were already sent by Library Hub Philippines to Bicol. Homeware was sent to another group. Ally is also knowledgeable on what junk shops would accept or not. This is a huge relief for me since Mom has a lot of stuff. I think we've already donated about 40 to 50 boxes of items. Our aim is to reduce more. 

Decluttering has become easier with Ally's help. Items we have left each have an intention and purpose. Much as I love stuffed toys, I really couldn't give each and everyone of them a hug everyday, so I donated most of it. I was on the fence though with my Android plushies, maybe I'll let them go on the next round. We're still not done, but at least we could see our living room floor now. Miggy is also happy with how his stuff is organized. He now has a system he could follow to keep his room spotless. 

Thank you Ally Canita and team for patiently helping us organize our home!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Home on Mondays: We Hired a Coach to Help Us Declutter

It's been almost 15 months since we moved in our new home. We suspended unpacking all our boxes because we didn't have storage. We only got to install proper cabinets after 12 months. Works on the house was extended though since some serious issues needed to be addressed. 

Merging two households is hard. We decided to get help from a decluttering coach because it was too overwhelming. It was also very stressful to see towers of boxes in our living room. We haven't invited anyone over because it's ugly to look at. 

Our architect introduced us to Ally Canita. She is the founder of Align Your Home and has been working with us for a few months now. The journey started with some introspection on where we our in our lives. She advised it will help us while we sort through our things. True enough, we were able to donate 7 boxes of books, clothing and kitchen stuff just before Christmas.

After we finished addressing the issues, we finally had our first 2-day session to deal with the boxes. Ally and her team sorted the boxes, cleared out space for storage and organized our kitchen. I had been working on organizing our kitchen since we got back in February. It was helpful to have Ally's expertise since she was able to put in a system in the kitchen. I just told them how I moved around in the kitchen and then they took care of organizing it. 

There were more boxes and bags behind the counter before Ally's team organized the kitchen.
It was a huge mess! (*Backsplash being replaced).

The contents of the boxes were sorted out. They found 7 boxes of bags (hand bags, eco-bags and travel bags)! They reduced it to three boxes after categorizing the bags.  This is where I really trimmed down. Kept only a few bags that would fit in my closet. I even let go of bags that had sentimental value for me. I knew I wouldn't use them anymore and knowing where I am in my life made it easier to let go. After some overnight sorting, we sent out 7 boxes for donation. 

The journey isn't over yet. Sorting items takes a lot of time. We sort in the evenings when it's not so hot. It's going to take time to finish. We will have another round with Ally to organize the items we decide to keep. At least the kitchen is now organized. Ally said we'll finalize how it was organized when they come back. Just need to see first if we're comfortable where everything has been placed. Still a long way to go for the rest of the house. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Home on Mondays: Decluttering | The Number of Pillowcases We Amassed

Slowly continuing the process of decluttering. Our coach, Ally Canita, said it's best to bring everything out, categorize and then choose what to keep and let go. Our lines were finally merged from our two homes. We've moved a lot, but never had the time to retire stuff. It was harder to do in Singapore since we didn't  know where to donate items. 

Sweetie had to remove the linen from the closet since it's going to be fixed. He took the opportunity to organize the linen so it would be easier to choose what to keep. We were surprised to find out how many pillowcases we've amassed in the past 13+ years. NINETY EIGHT! We do have a lot of pillows! 

Some of the lines are really worn down already. I won't donate those anymore but instead use them as backing for my quilt projects. Moving forward I think we'll limit the number of linens we have. One reason why we have a lot is because we delay washing laundry when we get busy. A tip I picked up from But First, Coffee is to limit the number of items you have so you are forced to wash laundry more often. 

Once we're done sorting, I plan to organize the linens properly. We've always had difficulty finding matching bedsheets and pillows. I think it was Marie Kondo who said it's best to keep matching linens together so it's easier when you need to change. You can also opt to tie them together with a ribbon and put them in baskets. I think that's a good plan. Now I just need to do this 100 times more across the house, LOL. 

#BeKind #StaySafe