Oh, I'm Trying to Write Some Tips!

As you've read previously, perhaps you've been familiar with my decluttering obsession these days. 

I realized that I don't want to be trapped with useless items in my house. I started with stop buying fancy pencils and pens.  At the beginning of the month, I declined my piano course payment gimmick.  What an achievement! I'm always excited about the monthly souvenirs, but then my house is overfilled by...kitschy plastic stationeries and...I'm not okay.  The pen is drying.  Pencils are spreaded at every corner without being used anyway. 

Whoa, so, what should I do? I'm trying to find a method.  And here's my short summary of what I've learned during the decluttering project! I asked my family to join, too.  So happy. Mom supports this effort.  She throw away a lot of stuff every single month. But ditching anything can cause a damage on Earth, too, so, not everything can be just thrown onto the landfill. So, sometimes she reuses and upcycles old stuff instead of buying a new one ( once she created a 'gayung' with old mop stick handle! Hahaha!) I sell many stuff on Huraya Garage Sale.  Well, the point is, we collaborate artistically. 

Alright.  Here's my...as-scientific-as-I-can method to decrease your piles around the house! 

Storage? Yes.  When we have empty storage / organizer / shelf / box, we get an urge to fill 'em.  How to avoid it? Don't buy or keep newbies! Be happy with available storages at home.  If you think it's not enough, try to rethink! Maybe it's not the storage that is too small, but you linger on your overloaded treasure too much? :p

Whether it's a bed that can be folded into a sofa and desk, or just some simple mind trick reduction.  You can actually use one ceramic pan to fry, stir-fry, boil, cook a soup, warm something, create a pancake, etc.  With only one regular-size ceramic pan! What about steaming and grilling? That's another case.  But with grill, use one single oven or microwave, duh.  Don't buy two cooking-boxed-shaped-appliances just to make sure it's good at single skill.  Consider everything multitalented.  

Imagine a clean kitchen with only one regular-sized pan with high quality ceramic and wooden handle, 

an oven OR microwave, a regular-sized pot, one steamer.  And you're ready to rock the minimalist effective kitchen! 

Okay it's just about the kitchen.  What about the mechanical pencil + red-blue-green ballpoint in a single wand? It does exist. And you'll love it.  But I can't afford it now because I still have...8 wooden pencils need to be functional. :D 

I usually say 'sell'.  But donating is one good act, too! Why? Some people may need what we don't use at home. Some people have no meal for days and starving.  Some people own only one dusty, thin, t-shirts and not able to buy a new one. While the wind is so freezin' out there.  Some people has no kitchen while we stuff our kitchen with greed. Some students can't buy a single pencil!

Find the nearest donation agent (make sure it's trusted!) and give away your stuff.  Clothes, school / office supplies, books you no longer read, accessories, whatever needed.  Being nice makes you happier more than anything.  Scientifically proven.  So what are you waiting for? DONATE! :D

The beginning of clutter is overconsumption. It's absolute. If we consume more and more, the global warming will walk faster and, BOOM, the Earth is destroyed.  Industries will roll around, unstoppable, the Earth is getting hot, ice melts...the first person to know the impact must be our cute polar bears and penguins! Still wanting to increase Earth's temperature? I don't.  What about you? 

So think twice or more before you consume.  Before you buy.  Do you buy something that is important? Will you throw it away immediately? Is it supporting the bad industry? Is it bear and penguin-friendly? Is it makin' your house looks like a traffic jam in busy times at the town? 

We have e-books now, and we have streaming websites.  So why buying DVDs? It's going to cost you a lot and it eats a lot of beautiful space at home! Seriously.  Someday I'll post DVDs my Dad purchased these years and it's not...aesthetically adorable.  Haha.  Download movies or TV series.  Find a rental or a friend.  :))

And books? Okay, I still need books.  Whether it's some novels or music books (off course I can't use e-books for this, sometimes we need to put notes and warnings on a music sheet, right?).  But I reduce it by only buy books in fine edition.  No more yellowish Schirmer's Library books.  No more impulsive photocopies. I select every single music sheet I need.

Some novels or nonfiction books are very sentimental you want to keep it.  But most books are not re-read-able.  You scan it once with your eyes and brains then you keep it somewhere you'll more likely to forget. Children books with amazing illustrations? Okay...I'm weak about that one.  But if it's not 150% sentimental for me, I give it away to kids or like my cousin, she sells it.  Share, share! :D

I can give up on magazine now, btw.  I only buy National Geographic for my Mom.  We used to subscribe to National Geographic & NG Traveller all at once but it causes another clutter, and anyway, travelling clues can be found on the internet. So.

Okay, Frankie is tempting, Kinfolk is photogenic.  But they have website, don't they? :D

If you want to read something, you can borrow it from THE LIBRARY.  YES.  I think library is a very lovely invention.  Our ancestors shared books with other people.  They don't believe they have to grab anything, possess everything.   Let's keep the spirit of sharing! But make sure you handle the books carefully! :D

Libraries accept books donation, too--fyi.

Last but not least, 

if you've got space, don't talk about refilling the space.  

Kosong adalah isi. 

Sometimes it's really comfortable to just stay still around an emptiness.  Or if you don't like an empty space, well, adopt a cactus and put it there.  Give it a name and love it. 

Don't you dare making excuses about 'I've sold 3 skirts, now can I buy 6 skirts?'. Hahaha! It's not helping you.  It's a trap.  

Now, are you motivated to be a selective consumer now? Do you love being surrounded with clutters? How you declutter? 

Share your thoughts with me! :)