Still Counting... and... I have a showroom now. :)

It was my birthday yesterday and I interestingly found myself quite alone for the day. Seems like this year is a busy year for everyone... so I decided to spend my time doing up an excel sheet and counting my items.

So I've begun on this journey to bring my belongings down to 300 items. Don't ask me where I got the number from, but I simply felt that 100 was way too little for a start...and maybe I could manage with 300. But after today's partial count of all the clothing, accessories, and some other personal items I have (which is now at 302), I'm not sure how I'm going to reach 300. I'm pretty sure that with all my electronics, files and books, I could possibly have another 300 items. PLUS I also have a whole big stash of items in my office too! We're talking about trying to bring down maybe owning 1000 items to 300.

It's been fun working on my excel sheet though. It makes the process a lot more tangible and manageable. I've highlighted a couple of "big" numbers - including my ridiculous collection of accessories which 21 pairs of earrings, 16 rings, and 18 necklaces - and plan to bring them down by the end of November. I figure that I can't cull on a daily basis as your emotions may be dulled between each cull - but I'll relook at everything in two weeks and check if they still "spark joy".

I now also have a few bags of items I need to fix or clean - including almost 5 pairs of heels, 2 purses, and I believe I've lost one side of at least four pairs of earrings I love (isn't that totally annoying when that "somehow" happens?!).

I've thrown out quite a few pairs of shoes and accessories along the way, but I hope I'll be progressing faster as I place less value on my physical belongings.

I suppose for the KonMari Journey, I'm now still at "Books and Papers". I won't lie, I'm a total knowledge horde..and I intend to do something about that. Good thing is that I've thrown out quite a lot of paperwork and books so far - and I'm pretty proud of myself. But I'm not quite done.

Truth be told, it has been a pretty stressful process. This journey has brought up a lot of memories and thoughts... you know, dreams and stuff one might try to bury deep as "real-life" gets busy. But I suppose a lot of this journey is also about choosing what to do with them.

Today I leave you with some before and after pictures of my awesome work over Deepavali where I finally created some space for a showroom and cleaned out the office and  eating area that was annoying me to bits.

Staff Area 1

Staff Area 2

Meeting Room / Showroom :)

Desk at Home after ploughing through the files.
Whew!

Minimalism Journey: Clothes Count

Today's the day I finally deleted my Pokemon Go app. It was such a relief finally being able to have space on my phone to update all my apps and clear off the irritating alert bubble. Finally, no more alert bubbles on my phone. It feels pretty liberating. Now all that's left is to look into the photos, delete off old messages, clear my notes, and look into the apps eating up space on my phone.

The family have been such troopers with the Love in a Bag donations and I'm excited for the "weight" it's going to take off the house. 

Interestingly, I've been putting on weight, and emotionally eating a lot more. Part of this exercise of minimization was expected to result in me having more control over my weight and eating habits, but I guess the process thus far has awakened a lot more anxiety in me than expected. It's an interesting season.

I finally did a count of my clothes.

Tops: 10

Tubes and Spaghettis: 5

Sweaters: 4

Shorts: 6

Skirts: 4

Dresses: 20

Batik Skirts: 8

Kebaya Top: 1

Pantsuit Jumper: 1

Trousers: 7

Peacoat: 1

Jackets: 5

Sleeved Shirts: 3

Wrapped Cardi: 1

Sleeping pants: 5

T-shirts: 9

Caps: 3

Total: 93

There's technically more with undergarments and tights... but I'll do another count after a full cull. I have so many pairs of socks it's ridiculous... I had too much fun at Primark in London. I might just own a couple more winter clothes too.

Whew... almost 100 pieces of clothing. How in the world am I going to cap everything I own at 300 at this rate.

I'm looking forward to making a full count of everything I own... I really wonder if I'll break at 2000 mark.

Decluttering Accessories & Love in a Bag

These past two weeks weren't as amazingly productive as I was hoping for them to be, but this process is also about celebrating the simple joys and little achievements. Now that the clothes are quite done (although I'm probably going to do another cull tonight), I spent some time this week focusing on accessories.

What surprised me was
1. How many earrings and necklaces I actually have
2. I have 3 pairs of earrings of which I've officially lost the other side of (Isn't it annoying how that "somehow" happens.
3. How difficult it was for me to actually get rid of more of my accessories.

But I suppose this minimalism project is a progressive journey - where I believe it will actually get easier the more time I spend on it.

I haven't quite started the count yet, but I'm going to get it settled by the end of this week. :)
To encourage a culture of decluttering at home (which I believe will help create momentum as I try to simplify), I went hunting for causes to donate to and I found that Cru Singapore is having a donation drive called "Love in a Bag" this coming week! :) They are taking everything from men's and women's clothing, to stationery, toys (non furry ones), and other stuff all for a good cause! Including medical missions!

Love in a Bag information here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1458571987492766/
http://www.cru.org.sg/lb/

Alright, here is my before and after report for this week:

I tried to organize the necklaces by colour. :) Only 9 of these are mine.

Tbh, I actually liked how artistically the scarves were draped. It just seems a lot more homely draped in such an "artistic" fashion.
But it's not going to make me feel very "artistic" when I have to pull one and two annoyingly drop to the ground. :)
I tried organizing them by colour too. :)

I've found new motivation at work by working on the work spaces.
This was after about 2 hours of work organizing a whole ton of paperwork.
We also did some in the cabinet. :)
Not quite perfect, but clear tabletops are always a relief.

Been working on these plus another huge stack of paperwork throughout the week.
I'm going to see how I can cull as much paperwork as I can. :)

Okay, off to organize something else to seal off this great week!  :)
Happy cleaning and organizing!