Long before KonMari and Marie Kondo became an online sensation, decluttering was a regular activity for me and the help at home. If you’re wondering whether “decluttering” is just another word for “general cleaning”, well, it would seem not.
Without going into a boring discussion on the differences between the two, let’s just say that cleaning is something we should regularly do to keep our homes dust-free and dirt-free. On the other hand, when you declutter, you remove from your home the things that no longer matter or that no longer serve any purpose for you. Still confused? I don’t blame you. Words or whatever name you give an activity may not be that important when you take on the time-consuming and emotionally difficult task of letting go of things around your home.
For someone like me who has lived away from home since I was only 12, discarding and keeping only what I need became a regular habit. It was the only way for me to travel light as I traveled back and forth to school in Manila, keep everything inside the small storage at the college dorm and studio apartment, and still have all my essentials with me.
Over time, decluttering became a form of therapy. Out of sight, out of mind.
Decluttering helped me deal as well with the overwhelming amount of clothing that I tend to accumulate because of my profession’s dress code (or insatiable appetite for clothes shopping).
Decluttering as well made me feel hopeful. Why? Because Feng Shui experts believe that decluttering makes space for fresh energy or luck to enter one’s home.
That said, I suggest that you try it. Where to take your discarded items? Well, you can either sell them cheap at a yard or garage sale or just pack them neatly in recycled carton boxes and give them to an orphanage or charitable organization near you. One man’s trash can be another man’s treasure. Happy decluttering.
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