Minimalist WIP | Second Decluttering of 2017

A few days ago I decided to go through my clothings once more to see what are the clothes I haven’t worn in a month or I no longer wish to wear. This is the pile I was able to compile.

Here’s the list and reasons why:

• Sun hat - I seldom use it
• Short dress - too short for my current tastes
• Duvet cover - too childish, I prefer solid colors or minimal patterns/prints
• 1 pair of socks - size too big, it was a gift
• Two pairs of denim pants - seldom use it, and whenever I do get to wear them, they make me not want to wear them (do you have clothes that makes you feel like that?)
• Pink hoodie - second hand from a friend, I realized I had more than enough hoodies in my wardrobe. It’s not needed.
• Black jeggins - worn out and has holes
• Black winter jacket (not pictured) - wasn’t happy with it, no zippered pockets, too tight around shoulders (I have pretty broad shoulders for person my size/height...)

Most of these items I was able to give away to my landlady. She loves taking things from me, yet tells me I am wasteful. However, in my perspective, if I am able to give it to someone who can give it more use, it is not wasteful. It is wasted on me, if anything. What do you think?

Minimalist WIP | A break after decluttering

Today, after decluttering I took a break and decided to watch a video. Luckily, I was able found an interesting one on YouTube, it’s called “Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism” uploaded by JapanSocietyNYC.

The video is a recording of a lecture or presentation given to an audience introducing the ideas behind Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism, a book about the minimalism experience and reflections of Fumio Sasaki. The presentation was organized, precise, and informative, the author (who was also the presenter) poses simple everyday questions and shows us data to back up his own answers to these questions.

Here are a few points that was discussed in the video:

• Having more time, meaning of time
• Having more freedom
• Better relationships
• Obsessed with throwing things away
• Ease in moving to places
• Success v.s. satisfaction

It was definitely motivating to me listening to his view on minimalism and his experience on that lifestyle. Here’s a quote from the author, Fumio Sasaki: “I’ve let go of a lot of things; but the one thing that I’ve let go that is most important is the idea [of] ‘that money or fame is the most important thing’.”

Minimalist WIP | First Decluttering of the Year 2017

Without a doubt, as time goes by, things will accumulate. This will be my first time documenting my declutter experience this year. I believe I might have done mini decluttering sessions at the beginning of this year but I did not take the chance to “document/record” it for… records keeping of my own - so to speak.

Ah, spring break, what a good opportunity for spring cleaning. Throughout the week of spring break, I was able to pace myself to declutter my place a bit. So the categories I decluttered mainly were: clothes, shoes, jewelry/accessory, and kitchen appliance(s).

After decluttering my place, I decided to organize all these things. As for clothes, I did laundry and tomorrow I will organize it by season and (finally) put away any winter clothing. I shall be showing you the aftermath of the things I decided to let go of (some of which are in my eBay store - you can go check it out by clicking on the “eBay Store” tab).

And…. behold!

Now, from left to right:

1. bag of plastic bags - to be dropped off at a nearby Rite Aid
2. Leather military lace up mid calf boots - still in great condition, wore it for more than 5 yrs; but this year I decided to switch out of animal leather products. It will be donated.
3. Electric kettle - have not been using it for an entire year; it has a crack on the lid, but works perfectly. It will be given to a friend.
4. Three bags of clothing/textiles - bottom two are clothings which will be donated; top bag is scraps of fabric, products of costume making hobby.  The scraps bag will still be under my roof until I can find a place in NYC to donate it to if possible.

If you happen to know any good resource to donate fabric scraps in NYC - please let me know! I’d greatly appreciate it!

“I refuse to live in fear of not having enough.” - Courtney Carver (https://bemorewithless.com/)