Demolition Day One

I was confined in the hospital when the workers moved in. We scrambled to empty the house before the move in day and I guess that made me so stressed out. We had to send Chris and Pops to the province and completely empty the house. 

Funnily, there was still one cabinet that was filled to the brim! Mama Lola's vintage mirror kept it inaccessible. My Mom had cleared out Mama Lola's stuff and in it were more craft materials! It took me another three months to sort it.

Anyway, I managed to get home before the crew started to demolish the house. They had to build their lodging and storage area first. Then they removed all the furniture we were keeping (the big ones we can no longer store in our current home). 

I shed some tears when I saw what they removed first - my parents cabinets. The same ones that were installed when the house was built back in 1969. The foreman commended how the house was built. He said it was built really well and they would probably have a hard time removing everything.

I had mixed feelings about seeing my childhood home demolished. It was taken apart slowly. My siblings knew how it looked while it was being built. I slowly saw the opposite. I only saw what was being done through photos and videos since I had the misfortune of falling down the stairs a week after I got home from the hospital. I'm a total klutz, so for safety, I've been banned from going to my childhood home. It's probably better that way since aside from being a klutz, I may be an emotional wreck. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Decluttering Gets You Going

I've been amiss with my blogs since I've been busy the past two weeks. After we had a decluttering session with Ally Canita and her team, I felt rejuvenated and I managed to putter around the house again.

I read several articles that said, "Women are more affected by clutter than men." I believe is true because I had several mishaps when we moved all the boxes from my childhood home. It filled up our sala and dining room. I got hospitalized and missed a step on the stairs while looking at the boxes.

Two years and sorting my Mom's things seemed never ending and I talked at the last huge batch. I wanted to do other things already, but was held down with a gazillion stuff to sort. I didn't have the stamina and energy to finish it. And that's why we got help from Ally Canita and her team.

In two days, the boxes littering our house dissipated. Boxes for donation was sent out and the rest of the stuff were sorted and organized. Majority of the things were donated and I set aside some stuff that will be given to relatives. 

Seeing our sala and dining room free from clutter felt like a huge thorn was pulled out of me. I've become more productive and have managed to declutter other areas which got gnarly in the last few months. I'm now able to work on crafting and gardening.

I hope we'll be able to set up for Christmas soon!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Childhood Home Clearing: Done!

After two years, we finally opened the last box of items from my childhood home. I out the kitchen stuff last when we slowly went through all the boxes. I put it last because the boxes were heavy and I had to think about what to do with the many plates and serving dishes Mom left.

We would have finished in July, but I had an accident and my mobility was compromised. We had all the boxes in our living room for more than two months already, so I decided to get help from Ally Canita, our decluttering coach.

For two days last week Ally and her team helped us unbox and sort the leftover items. They matched all the plate sets and segregated the other items (mostly clothes from those who lived in our house). By the end of the second day all the boxes for donation were sent to Goodwill and they found places to keep what I wanted to use.

It's nice to get back out living and dining room. I just need to get it deep cleaned and then we can decorate for Christmas!

#BeKind #StaySafe

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

The Long Goodbye to My Childhood Home

I always knew that the responsibility of taking care of my childhood home would fall on my shoulders. Mom prepared me for it all my life. Growing she'd point out important items and she'd tell me what was valuable.

The journey was long and very hard. My health prevented me from doing things on my own. It took me months after Mom passed before I got things going. Good thing I had the house deep cleaned when Mom was still around. That and pest control bought me a lot of time.

The first step I did was get help from our decluttering coach, Ally Canita. She helped us previously and worked out a plan how to tackle my childhood home. We set general sorting categories and scheduled the project.

It took about ten sessions to finish sorting the contents of the house. Eight were done in late 2023. The last two sessions were done early this year. It's been almost two years since we started and we finally have the last batch of boxes to sort at home now. 

Clearing up your childhood home is not only about sorting things, it is part of the grief journey. It took me years with a lot of help from my boys to go through everything. It was really hard in the beginning. There were a lot of items that brought back a lot of memories. 

In my next blog for "Home on Mondays", I'll share key learnings and tips on how to clear your childhood home. :)

#BeKind #StaySafe

The Drawer of Shame (Managing Clutter)

A few years ago, my neighbor gave me advise on how she deals with clutter. She places new packages or a random item that needs to be stored in a basket. Then she deals with them when she has time. 

I followed the advise and thought I'd extend it to bills, receipts and other papers that pile up monthly. The "drawer of shame" was then born. I assigned one of our drawers and stuffed in everything in it.

One bit of advise though, clear the drawer monthly or quarterly. I was so busy and left papers to pile up for almost a year (heh). It took me half a day to sort and organize all the bills, receipts and other papers in the drawer.

Here are the general categories I follow when I organize the drawer of shame:

- Utility bills: electricity, water, phone

- House related expenses: repairs, homeowners fees, pest control

- Receipts

- Manuals

- Other documents 

I have to set a reminder to sort the drawer of shame monthly so it doesn't pile up 😅

#BeKind #StaySafe

Busy Sunday

It was a busy day today. The boys brought Meredith to the vet for grooming. We noticed she was scratching too much. The vet said last week she didn't have ticks, fleas or mites. Her blood and skin was checked, but there were no issues too. The vet recommended to have her washed with medicated shampoo. Since we've never bathed a cat we thought it was better to have the vet's groomers do it. 

Meredith had her first appointment today. She was quite anxious on the way to her appointment. The groomers said she would eventually get used to it. She came back smelling really good. Her fur was so smooth and bright. She is scheduled to do weekly grooming for 4 weeks. I hope that would help with her scratching. 

I myself got busy sorting another box of Mom's bead supplies. I was so surprised to find it. I think she brought it to our home without us knowing because it was my first time to see the box. I finally found some beading materials I've been looking for in the other boxes I sorted. That's how I knew this was a box she had brought to our house in one of her visits. 

Sorting one box of bead stuff takes so long. I thought I'd finish it today, but I need another day to finish it. I've been transferring the beads to uniform ziplock bags since most of the old holders are quite dusty already. I didn't know Mom had bought a lot of beads. When I left my bead boxes with her before I left for Singapore she told me she wasn't really into beading. Haha. She got hooked because she more than doubled my collection. 

I hope I'll finish sorting the box tomorrow so I can move on with decluttering. We want to really finish organizing our home so we can have friends over. Mom said it will take time and it's really taking time. I have suspended any sewing projects for now so I could focus on decluttering and fixing our home. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

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

Oh, Mom

We have started to sort Mom's things. I promptly got sick the first day we started, so I just got updates from the team helping me. When they started sending photos of items that were boxed I started crying. It's only been five months and seeing Mom's things boxed just seems so final. 

The team confirmed that Mom's things were organized. I was told by several people that it seems she prepared her things. She probably knew she was going soon and wanted everything in order. She even put most of her clothes in boxes. 

We covered only a few rooms. Most of the items Mom has are decorative. I remember she got a lot of decorative items from estate sales in the US. She also liked collecting angels and she has a lot of religious statues. We will probably just keep some, give away to relatives and her friends and donate the rest. I have checked with a friend who is a nun and she said there's a place where we can bring religious items. 

This part of losing a loved one is difficult. If I could I would rather leave her home untouched. That way I could just think that she's away visiting Ate or Kuya. I know it doesn't work that way. Realistically, I have to clear everything so we can fix the house and make it livable. 

On Home Buddies FB, I saw someone ask how to convince her Mom to let go of her glassware collection. All of those who responded said it's impossible. It's true. I commented also and told her to let it be and expect her Mom to be more stubborn as she ages. 

Mom was like that. We prepared a room for her in our home. She wanted to be in her own home and she also refused to have things fixed. I only got as far as having her roof fixed because water would pour in when it rains (it was a waterfall). 

Oh Mom, wish you were here. I know you knew this task was going to fall on my lap and you tried to make it easier for me. We are saving what is valuable and will let go of things that will be more helpful for others. 

Miss you Ma. 

#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

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. 

Saturday Went Bonkers

We both had plans for our hobbies today. Told myself I'll just fix my medicine boxes and then work on my quilt project. Believe it or not it took me two hours fixing my meds haha. There's a lot! I had to throw away the expired meds and weed out those I don't drink anymore. I also lined up the medication by date of expiration so I don't waste any. That took two hours! 

Don't you wish your home was always brand new?

Throughout the week I have been decluttering our kitchen cabinets. We have a bad habit of ordering groceries without checking inventory. I wanted to know what we have and organize the goods by category. That took several days since organizing canned goods is like carrying weights for me haha. I wanted to move some items to the storage room and that's how our Saturday plans went bonkers. 

I had a list of things I needed Sweetie's help to look for. It started innocently when I asked him to help me get a box of fabric. After one box we started pulling out more things. Soon enough the hallway was full of items we want to send to Manila. We realized we just placed things inside the storage room randomly when we moved. Since we started to pull out stuff we ended up decluttering. 

Now we have a huge balikbayan box that needs to be sorted. We'll select things that would be useful in our Manila home and give away/throw items that have no use anymore. We'll do the sorting maybe tomorrow. Should we sort Marie Kondo style? 

CB///331 #StuckAtHomeDay/361 #StayHome #BeKind