Declutter diaries - On a Mission

Image via Brentwood Borough Council

Something unexpected, but rather transformative happened to me at the start of the year - I developed a passion for decluttering my life - inside and out. I'm not sure how I'd go about decluttering the inner, more spiritual parts yet, so I thought I'd focus instead on getting rid of the physical stuff first. Perhaps that'd be a good starting point, begin with the tangible.

Like most of you out there, I live with quite a bit of clutter. Thankfully it's not to "hoarder-like" proportions, but still, there's always a mess that needs to be sorted out at my house. As I live in a small place, around 800 square feet, I have to be careful with how I use the space that I share with my family. They depend on me to keep the house in order and to make it a home.

I used to be a habitual collector of "stuff," but I've come to the realisation that we don't need all this stuff to be happy. The adage "less is more" certainly holds true. In the past few years, I've donated and purged my home of lots of things, but the effort continues and I hope to achieve a lot more this year.

I'm a busy working mum, with a day job and a freelance job to juggle, plus family commitments and household chores to take care of. That's why I need to simplify my life and the stuff I have around me. Visual clutter stresses me out. It makes me feel overwhelmed, because there's a lot to clean. Plus, I can't stand dust, but it seems to settle at an alarming rate at my place. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that clutter makes dusting a nightmare.

As I'm on a mission to declutter my home and my life, I hope to document and share the steps I'm taking (no matter how small they are) and the lessons I've learnt in order to achieve that goal. Maybe what I've experienced can help others to declutter and organise their lives too.

One of the things I've discovered recently, is the "one thing a day" approach, whereby you give or throw away one item each day. I find the idea very inspiring because it's quite easy to do and you don't feel the stress of having to sort out tons of stuff at one go. I haven't been able to give away an item each day, but this week I gave away a potted plant, a few children's books and some magazines to my colleagues. Then, I went on Freecycle PJ to offer more magazines and an Ikea Melodi pendant lamp.

It's a pity that Freecycle isn't more popular in Malaysia, because it's a great platform for giving away your usable stuff to someone who wants it. Freecycle not only believes that one person's trash is another's treasure, but their tagline is - we can change the world one gift at a time. Lovely idea isn't it? So, if you live in PJ, like me, please do join PJ's Freecycle Group and start giving stuff away!