Clearing up

I spent today clearing out the magazine holders in lil’ one’s wardrobe. They used to hold her notes, exam papers from other schools, assessment books. But over the years, some of her notes got too big (like A3 size), so I had to stash them on top of the wardrobe. 

To declutter a house I must tackle one small space at a time, such as a single cabinet, laundry, bathroom, or kitchen corner. Because homes have endless nooks to fill, I refuse to buy extra standalone storage (esp for the yard with my mom’s and bro’s previous advice) and strictly limit my belongings to the built-in space provided by our developer and contractor. 

It’s no wonder my friends always ask me why I’m so busy—I’m constantly tidying up! I recently learned that a friend hasn’t cleared her only daughter’s room since primary school, even though she has already graduated from university and been working for a year. I’m the opposite; I declutter so frequently that when I moved into my current home with 12 boxes, the movers exclaimed, 'Only these boxes?' 

I am not a minimalist, but I am far from a hoarder. Periodic decluttering hits the sweet spot for me. It keeps my mind active and doubles as a great workout! 

At this rate, the next time lil’ one do her own decluttering at this spot will probably be when she starts working. Who knows, we might even get rid of this shelf and give her extra space in the room.

This photo from October 12, 2019, shows the shelf looking neat and uniform. All eight partitions are filled with blue ring holders that I searched high and low to match with the magazine holders

The lime green holders belong to Che-che. I cleared some out after her A-levels, thinking she might need them for uni. She didn't, but I still left a few in the top wardrobe. Today, I cleared out the rest and kept only six or seven. I used three on the piano to hold our music books.

These are still in good condition after 11 years, and they were expensive to ship from the US. It feels like a waste to discard them, but keeping unused items only creates clutter.

For my record and reference : Bought these ‘Bigso Box of Sweden storage box’ from The Container Store