A year had passed since I decided to take the path to minimalist and frugal life. And to be perfectly honest I cannot say that I am already neither of the two. But then I had to pat myself at the back as to what I have achieved so far. It is taking time because changing cannot be done overnight. Changing is not the easiest thing on earth.
Living in UAE as an OFW, I do not own the flat. Therefore most of the appliances are not mine. I only have a few glass containers/lunch boxes which I can easily dispose anytime needed. In spite of not having my own flat and having a very little space, I still managed to accumulate far too many material things. In spite of living a hand to mouth life, I'm still able to purchase many items in the past. I was not financial literate. And I was not thinking right. My earthly possessions are clothing, shoes, bags, makeup, skin care, toiletries and many little trinkets that put them all together they are garbage. Good for nothing. No value. That if I have an emergency tomorrow I cannot even sell them.
Books. Since I started working in UAE I do not have time to read books anymore. And even if I do have time, seems like I cannot afford to buy books anymore. When I was in Manila there were places that I can buy a book (2nd hand) as low as 1USD. But in UAE such shops are nowhere to be found. I love the smell of the book but then having books is a big no with my current life/budget/place. What I have done last year was download or ask around for PDF files. And saved them on my external disk. Who knows in the future I might find a time for reading again. And this year I tried getting audio copies. At least I can listen while I am working. So when I started decluttering there was not much books anymore for me to discard.
CDS. I was able to discard all the cds I own easily. Lucky for me at this age and time all the songs, tv series and movies I love or want to see are now available in the internet and so gone are the days that I need too many cds that will only become clutter inside the tiny flat.
I do not buy magazines and newspapers so I do not have any issues regarding with these two. I only have at least 3 cookbooks. Which are now all gone. So to make the long story short all the remaining items I have to reduced are the personal belongings that I mentioned above. As of the clothes I am not a fashionista. And the clothes that I would want to wear will not really look good on me because of my body height and shape. And since we do have a uniform at work I will survive even if I only have 2 pants and 2 tops that I can wear on weekends. But it does not mean that right now I only have 2 of each. I still have many but then again it is not bad. From having more than 500 now almost all of them are fitted in my closet. Imagine a person without a money can have that much clothing? How dumb I was? I should have kept the money in the bank.
Before I always buy a wallet that ends up broken every time. All the wallets I had are PU or man made leather. I thought I should buy something expensive and I bought a pink Guess wallet that did not even last for a year. Until someone has given me genuine leather wallet. A cowhide leather wallet! And until now there is no need for me to buy a new wallet because my current wallet will still be around even after I am gone. So what I have done with my bags was to discard all the PU and man made leather bags. Replaced them with genuine leather but affordable. The only downside is most leather bags are tend to be heavy. So right now I am looking for an alternative like if I will go on vacation.
Trinkets and small items. Well when I find one I do not think twice. I discard them right away. Last June I have thrown a lot. My goal was to get rid of at least 300 items which I was not able to do due to lack of time but nevertheless I was able to throw 30 or more which is not bad, eh?
The items that will take me forever or I might not be able to finish in this lifetime are the skin care products and makeup. I am giving them all until December. If that time comes then I would not have a choice but to just discard most of it. Only the unopened and not yet expired skin care will stay.
Shoes. Sadly I cannot be fully minimalist and frugal when it comes to shoes. I had been observing myself and my shoes for the past year. Frugal means you will not easily spend money right? I cannot be frugal when it comes to shoes. For example I am working in an office environment and we need to wear black or brown formal shoes. And I find it the hardest task on earth. For how many years that I had been working now it is not easy for me to find myself a formal office shoes. Hard to find my size. Tried all the kind of heels. Hard to find a heel not too flat nor too high. As soon as I get uncomfortable the formal shoes has to go. Plus I cannot find something decent with my allocated budget. Boots and rubber shoes may last on me for a decade or so but not with formal office shoes. Heck, the sales lady even told me that I cannot find one that suites me perfectly because I choose to buy the cheapest and whatever it is on sale.
But then nobody seems to make formal office shoes in leather. The ones available can only last on me for a month or 3 months if I am lucky. So when it comes to shoe department I cannot save. And I cannot be minimalist. If only I can just wear rubber shoes in the office. My last converse shoes lasted for almost 8 years. They were still in good condition but I had to let them go when I started clearing up my area. And yeah that's all. I am not drunk just to be clear. I mean I know exactly the flow of my thoughts but my English or how do I write my thoughts may not really be coherent.
For now I will just keep on uploading videos on YouTube and try to finish some Asian series. But I will definitely continue my decluttering. I just need to rest my tired body. Because every time I declutter I am cleaning the area too. As well as organizing.
Living in UAE as an OFW, I do not own the flat. Therefore most of the appliances are not mine. I only have a few glass containers/lunch boxes which I can easily dispose anytime needed. In spite of not having my own flat and having a very little space, I still managed to accumulate far too many material things. In spite of living a hand to mouth life, I'm still able to purchase many items in the past. I was not financial literate. And I was not thinking right. My earthly possessions are clothing, shoes, bags, makeup, skin care, toiletries and many little trinkets that put them all together they are garbage. Good for nothing. No value. That if I have an emergency tomorrow I cannot even sell them.
Books. Since I started working in UAE I do not have time to read books anymore. And even if I do have time, seems like I cannot afford to buy books anymore. When I was in Manila there were places that I can buy a book (2nd hand) as low as 1USD. But in UAE such shops are nowhere to be found. I love the smell of the book but then having books is a big no with my current life/budget/place. What I have done last year was download or ask around for PDF files. And saved them on my external disk. Who knows in the future I might find a time for reading again. And this year I tried getting audio copies. At least I can listen while I am working. So when I started decluttering there was not much books anymore for me to discard.
CDS. I was able to discard all the cds I own easily. Lucky for me at this age and time all the songs, tv series and movies I love or want to see are now available in the internet and so gone are the days that I need too many cds that will only become clutter inside the tiny flat.
I do not buy magazines and newspapers so I do not have any issues regarding with these two. I only have at least 3 cookbooks. Which are now all gone. So to make the long story short all the remaining items I have to reduced are the personal belongings that I mentioned above. As of the clothes I am not a fashionista. And the clothes that I would want to wear will not really look good on me because of my body height and shape. And since we do have a uniform at work I will survive even if I only have 2 pants and 2 tops that I can wear on weekends. But it does not mean that right now I only have 2 of each. I still have many but then again it is not bad. From having more than 500 now almost all of them are fitted in my closet. Imagine a person without a money can have that much clothing? How dumb I was? I should have kept the money in the bank.
Before I always buy a wallet that ends up broken every time. All the wallets I had are PU or man made leather. I thought I should buy something expensive and I bought a pink Guess wallet that did not even last for a year. Until someone has given me genuine leather wallet. A cowhide leather wallet! And until now there is no need for me to buy a new wallet because my current wallet will still be around even after I am gone. So what I have done with my bags was to discard all the PU and man made leather bags. Replaced them with genuine leather but affordable. The only downside is most leather bags are tend to be heavy. So right now I am looking for an alternative like if I will go on vacation.
Trinkets and small items. Well when I find one I do not think twice. I discard them right away. Last June I have thrown a lot. My goal was to get rid of at least 300 items which I was not able to do due to lack of time but nevertheless I was able to throw 30 or more which is not bad, eh?
The items that will take me forever or I might not be able to finish in this lifetime are the skin care products and makeup. I am giving them all until December. If that time comes then I would not have a choice but to just discard most of it. Only the unopened and not yet expired skin care will stay.
Shoes. Sadly I cannot be fully minimalist and frugal when it comes to shoes. I had been observing myself and my shoes for the past year. Frugal means you will not easily spend money right? I cannot be frugal when it comes to shoes. For example I am working in an office environment and we need to wear black or brown formal shoes. And I find it the hardest task on earth. For how many years that I had been working now it is not easy for me to find myself a formal office shoes. Hard to find my size. Tried all the kind of heels. Hard to find a heel not too flat nor too high. As soon as I get uncomfortable the formal shoes has to go. Plus I cannot find something decent with my allocated budget. Boots and rubber shoes may last on me for a decade or so but not with formal office shoes. Heck, the sales lady even told me that I cannot find one that suites me perfectly because I choose to buy the cheapest and whatever it is on sale.
But then nobody seems to make formal office shoes in leather. The ones available can only last on me for a month or 3 months if I am lucky. So when it comes to shoe department I cannot save. And I cannot be minimalist. If only I can just wear rubber shoes in the office. My last converse shoes lasted for almost 8 years. They were still in good condition but I had to let them go when I started clearing up my area. And yeah that's all. I am not drunk just to be clear. I mean I know exactly the flow of my thoughts but my English or how do I write my thoughts may not really be coherent.
For now I will just keep on uploading videos on YouTube and try to finish some Asian series. But I will definitely continue my decluttering. I just need to rest my tired body. Because every time I declutter I am cleaning the area too. As well as organizing.
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