At the beginning of 2017, I read Marie Kondo’s book and it just resonated with me. I wrote an article about it (here). Well, after her book, I started a decluttering exercise of my wardrobe and my kitchen and was dismayed to find over 1000 article of clothes (including ribbons, scarves, earrings, etc)..gasp so many? I dare you to go and count yours! (let me know.. wink!)
I held the items in my hands and looked at them like I have never seen them before and asked myself the dreaded question- “Does it spark joy?” and you know what, surprisingly there aren’t many which did. I found out that the ones which did were what I wore very often or on special occasions. I found out that I really didn’t need more than 3 pairs of Jeans.. well maybe 4… (Denim, Dark Blue, Black and White) and shorts- well only 2 so that I can wash one and wear the other. Honestly, I am a far cry from having a capsule wardrobe where there are only 33-50 pieces of articles. But having that exercise taught me that I really can live on less. In fact, perhaps less is more. In fact, I gave away about 30% of my stuff. And if I am really brutal, it could certainly increase to 50%.
Kitchen items? 3 knives – Chef, Paring and Cleaver (well because I chop chickens). Cooking pots? – 2 fat ones for soups and curries. Cooking pans?- a cast iron 36 inch wok and a flat fry pan. I had hand me downs from family ‘heirlooms’ which I never used. It was just taking up precious space in my cupboards and my mind. It was a relief removing the non used items from the inventory. I honestly felt ‘free’.
There are many areas that I am also working on, but I notice that the less I own, the less mess I create and the more energy I have to tackle more important things in life. Like working on health- financial, mental and physical health. These three, which, in my opinion, are terribly important for the good life!
Let me know how you feel about this?
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