Sorting Out a Decade

October 2011, moved to SG.

Where do you start sorting 10 years of your life? Our apartment is a huge mess right now because we've started to look through our things. When I moved to Singapore I came with only two suitcases and I only shipped a mattress, a sack of rice and a folding table. 

I was able to keep things the same for five years. I was lucky because my housemate had everything and kept telling me not to buy stuff. Things changed when Miggy and Sweetie moved here. We eventually moved to our own place. That meant I had to make our place into a home. 

"This is just temporary," was a thought that was always at the back of my mind. It reflected also when I had to buy things for the house. It was limiting because it prevented me from doing things I liked to do, i.e. baking. The pandemic though changed things because I wanted to try out new things. Kuya also advised to allot a percentage of your money for self-development (see how I budget my money here). Ahh, that really changed things. 

Started our with just two bags 10 years ago (one was Sweetie's)...

I spent a bit of time sorting three bags of random stuff yesterday. I know Marie Kondo said you should do this last haha. I went through receipts, concert and movie tickets, boarding passes, museum leaflets and a gazillion business cards. All of those reminded me that once upon a time my life wasn't just confined in the four walls of our apartment. Proof of life. 

So yeah, that's the challenge I need to work on for the next few weeks. I have to do it slowly to make sure I don't get sick. I wanted to do more yesterday, but remembered I just had a biopsy. I hope to be able to get rid of stuff I don't need and donate it. We started this with our old devices. Oh boy, sorting out a decade of your life is hard. 

CB///*Yr2/154 #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/177 #NewG293 #Home51 #Xmas104 #StayHome #BeKind 

Let's Dream Again

It's Monday again! Start of a new week! I know I sounded so morose the last few days. I told myself I will focus on looking into the future this week. I have to anchor myself on where I want to be. That should help with my recovery. 

Over a decade ago someone told me, "You're not a dreamer. Wala kang pangarap." I fell quiet after he said that. Of course I vehemently denied it and told him I wouldn't be where I am if I did not have a dream. Honestly, I'm a very practical person. I take things one day at a time. I also only take calculated risks. I've been like that since I had Miggy. 

I realized all of this when I took a break in late 2019. I took baby steps at looking at my future. My plans though were foiled because of the pandemic. So I made a new wishlist and did most of it. I'm now letting myself look where I want to be in the next year, five years and 10 years from now. I'm creating a dream list. 

On top of that list is a proper home where my family will be complete. We have a tiny home in Manila, but I want to have a home with enough space. And in that home I want to have a craft room! Sweetie will probably want a man-cave too. I also want to have space where I can plant food. I wish though we could still have our cleaner who comes in once a week haha. 

So that's where I am for now. I tend to work out the practicalities in my mind when I think of my dreams. I should probably sit down make a proper list without thinking of practical matters. 

What about you? What's your dream?

“I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Matthew 11:24).

CB///360  #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/23 #StayHome #BeKind    

Thinking About My Future Home

I've lost count on the number of times we moved homes in the last ten years. Our first home was an apartment a few streets away from my parents home. It had 3 bedrooms and we used one as our computer room (desktops were still the norm at that time). We had so much fun in that home and we'd stay up playing Plants vs. Zombies. We moved out because there were issues with the bathroom and we wanted to be closer to my parents.

This was when we moved in to our first home. 

Our second home was just a hundred meters away from my parents home. It was a duplex and much more spacious than our first apartment. It had 4 bedrooms and a huge helper's room. I also had a craft room which I think was designed to be a walk-in closet, but I filled it up with craft materials. The house was too big for us and hard to manage. We eventually decided to invest in our first home. 

Christmas in our second home.

My Ate gave me valuable advise when I got married. She said that our first home need not be our home forever. She said that things will change and you can certainly buy and sell later on and move to another place. That advise was valuable to me because I lived in the same home since birth. 

I've learned a lot about moving and the most valuable advise I can give you is to hire professional movers to help you move homes. It is the best thing you can do for yourself. In Manila I always use Carepak Movers and in Singapore I always use Soon Seng Transport. I've moved four times in Singapore and cannot imagine moving without help. 

Home #9.

I have a new hobby now -- watching home tours. I've been thinking a lot about our future home. I finally learned how to properly take care of plants, so I want my future home to have some space for a proper garden. I want to have home that's just appropriately sized. Just maybe a bungalow with enough space for my craft materials, toys, kitchen stuff. I don't want a huge house because it'll be hard to clean. I'm actually glad I got to live in a smaller home because now I learned to limit my stuff. 

What about you? 

CB//185 #StuckAtHomeDay/215 #WFH127 #StayHome #BeKind