House Detox

I love different kinds of detox. From detox diet to social media detox and now I'll be sharing with you my house detox activity.

I started to be a minimalist two years ago but it's really hard because my family is maximalist. We have a lot of stuff, my parents even have that separation anxiety with things and always say "we can use it someday", yes it's true, but not everything haha. It depends on the situation. Even my older sister has this habit. Every time she traveled especially abroad she always has many souvenir items per country -_-. I can't blame her, I think I'll do that too if given a chance to travel abroad haha. Why? because I'm already there, so I'm gonna buy all I want lol.

We are in the same room and our bed is double-deck and because she used to rent a dorm before she's not using her space but she filled it up with all those items. It's literally full of items that we weren't able to display here in our current home because we have a lot of clutters. Literally, I called our house a storage room, I'll share later why. Back to my sister's random things, during this pandemic, we both sleep in my bed but around November last year, I always sleeping in my small business production area. She invaded my space and even bought a foldable table in bed and set up her things there haha. That's why until now I'm sleeping in the long wooden chair in the production area. I can't stand the clutter, it really affects my focus and creativity.

I love watching Marie Kondo. She's a Japanese organizing consultant, author, and TV host. I followed her steps before with our clothes but still, we had a lot. We donated so much of our clothes last year, but I still wasn't able to push my minimalist lifestyle. It's hard to continue unless I am living alone. Convincing our parents just stressing me out, I even want to throw everything to clear our "storage house". Anyway, why storage? Our house was neat and tidy when I was in high school not until my mom decided to work at home. She is a tailor. Growing up we have two small sewing machines that don't occupy too much space and didn't use it regularly because she was an employee before.

When she started to work here, our house had an extension for her sewing space. They bought 10 second-hand sewing machines and 1 brand new. She only used 5 of them and gave the other to her siblings in the province, but still, there still remaining 2 machines that put in our living room. Yes in our living room, we don't have a living room anymore for how many years haha. We have storage but there's a roll of fabrics there, a lot actually. Our house is not that big so having a lot of items here is not a good idea. Having a sewing space here is not a good idea when it comes to organizing but it' okay because we've graduated from college because of this small sewing business.

Now that we're going to leave this place for good, by the way, we are not renting and don't own this place. We're just a caretaker of this house for 21 yrs, the owner is a family friend and my parents' godmother at their wedding. We started building our own house in Bulacan 6 yrs ago. We can't finish it easily because of budget so after the foundation was built, the construction stopped and slowly wait for the right time to continue. We decided to finish the construction this year, and we slowly packing and boxing some of our things here in our current place. And because of that my urge to declutter flows again.

I'm recently watching Korean variety shows regularly and I accidentally found this not-so-usual variety show., The House of Detox. The hosts in the show teach their clients the process of decluttering. They are the team to clean the homes of celebrities. They separate the "need, desire, and trash" items. The "desire" box is the items that you have that you don't actually need but it's hard for them to let go but decided to donate it for those who really need it, use it right, and serve its purpose. How emptying can help us in organizing.

I didn't plan to binge-watch it but I was hooked on the first episode. The show is so therapeutic, I can even see our house in some of their clients. The guest's dilemma in organizing and decluttering, the feeling that you want to declutter but don't know when to start. My favorite part of the show is when they give some useful tips in organizing, the transformation of each part of the house, the reality that you don't have to buy new storage and stuff, you just have to rearrange them to make it look better and lastly, the tips with the things that you can't let go, the memories. For example, a cloth, wear them, take a picture of them, print and keep them in an album or a file organizer. She said that we don't have to keep all of them physically. I think it's really cool and effective. Because of sentimental value, we tend to keep almost everything to the point that it consumed so much space, and we don't even see them for years.

We started to apply their tips and rules, we don't have to bring those clutter in our new home. We gave a lot of our dresses that don't fit us and out of our style anymore to our niece and donated those old but good clothes. I'm so busy with work and decluttering lately. Emptying doesn't mean that you have to throw everything especially the furniture, it's a misconception of minimalism. Sometimes, you just have to think and rearrange for a better setup.

I'm enjoying decluttering that's why I'm so busy lately. I have to maximize my time and it helps me stopped my procrastination. I don't want to waste my time, I'm in that stage now.

"Live based on your needs, not your desire"- Beopjeong

Thanks for dropping by. Stay safe.