Minimal Lifestyle.

Hello Everyone! This blog writing is becoming more and more meaningful to me, I feel that I am growing as a specialist that I intend to be about minimalism. I really appreciate you being here, and seeing what I have to say each week about minimalism.

In this post, I would like to address about…

Misleading trend of “organisation”, “storage hacks” 🤨 and why they are not the answer! 🙅🏻 No, No, No!

Okay! So before we rush to home stores to get any of baskets, bins, boxes, racks and hooks and all that sort of organisation tools…I want you to hear me out about this:

• The reason you “tidied” but always go back to clutter space is because, amount of things that you are storing are over your capacity.
• Carelessly buying storing boxes, bins… cause you to fill more things in there. 🧺
• These storage goods are also… goods! (That takes your space)
• When you store things because you don’t want to look at it… you are just hiding them.

So, let’s get rid of things first! 👋

After you have limited things that you actually need, you will naturally be able to know what kind of storage goods are suitable to your clutter free home.

Maybe, when we think about organising and great storage system… we think of these images🤔💭:

I know, they are satisfying to look at! All the food separated into jars, containers… clothes and shoes nicely displayed in open closet with great storage system! There are so many TikTok, Instagram reel trend and more showing the process of unboxing food packages, and lining snacks in a box vertically…

I see often this topic is controversial. Many people may say “that is bit too much”, “how can everyone do that?” Or even “that’s neurotic!” 🤨 I am all for “YOU DO YOU!” And do what ever work for you👍… but, if I may offer a suggestion:

Work out what you are working with first! Would you get a fish tank before even getting, and actually know what kind of fish you are going to have? No. 🐟 🐳

Please look at images below… people make effort to sort thing, put them in to storages but I would say… they are not working at the best. I hate to burst people’s bubbles, but here is why:

Storage goods: Rod and hooks, buckets and racks, bins and containers…

• These kitchen tools are not easy to take out.
• Hard to see what is in side of cupboard, drawers.
• Need to take trays, containers in and out or slide them side to side, lift items up to take things out.
• Not able to know exactly how many things are in there. (Therefore hard to know if you are utilising then the fullest)
• It is hard to maintain this way. (Need extra effort to put things in order, require memory. So, often rely on only one person for it. That creates tension!)

And I would say… is it absolutely necessary to display your colourful pans, tools out in the kitchen? On a wall? It create “clutter noise”💥, which prevent you to feel peaceful in your kitchen. Can those forks and spoon be in the drawer? So… they will not gather dust? It leads to poor hygiene. 🤢…Don’t you want less thing for you to clean?

I know this sound harsh, but… it is a waste of “Creativity”!

It was once a popular thing in Japan several years ago too! Using magical rods in shelfs and cupboard to create extra “shelving” and hanging place for tools under sinks… (It was called “Koji-magic” organisation hacks) we might feel clever doing all that… but before you hang that brushes, bottles…ask yourself, do you use them? 🤔

👇Here is another example of “organising” with skipping to getting rid of things:

Things in this cabinet are definitely tidier! I do applause 👏🏽 for whoever made all the effort to categorise these towels, folding them, getting baskets and filling things in… but, here goes the same question:

• Are you able to know what exactly you have here?
• Are you using all of these things?
• Is it hard to maintain the system after pulling several things out to use them?

Unless you are running a hotel, I feel no body can absolutely make use of all the towels here. Maybe this house hold have many people, its a big family? But still… is this amount justifiable?

👇I would like to show you a suggestion image from my kitchen. I got rid of things first:

When you have limited “Elite few” —-(starting members🎖️)

You are more likely to find out that…

You do not even need organisation stuffs. You JUST PLACE THEM!!!😆

My partner and I was thinking to get trays or boxes for our kitchen tools after worked out what we actually use. In the end result, we found that we can just place them in the drawer. Surely they move around a bit when open and close the drawer…but you can just put non-slip sheets in the drawers. (We still has not feel the need to do it though.)

We have only one consistent style of cutlery. We are just two people at home after all. These are more than enough. We did make use of Ikea rack to separate dishes and bowl! It helps us to take them out smoothly, without lifting, moving around anything to reach to certain items we want to use.

recently, I got rid of this hanging basket-rack thing:

It looked messy when i tried to make use of it in laundry room. The truth is, i do not need those laundry net bags, towels and detergent to be out like that. (Clutter noise!) it was unpleasant to do laundry chores while humongous rack being above my head. All the items I stored in this have somewhere better to be. So… i got rid of that rack.

Also, I donated this wooden shelf.

So… I went to donate this shelf in my apartment common area. I wanted to see if others are happy to use them. In front of elevator to our floor, tenants already created a section for “sharing book” corner. The books and sanitisers were on a little black tray table, which is cool!

I attached a note on my wooden shelf, it said : “Would you like this shelf for our books & stuffs?” 🤷🏻

I thought if this donation is a nuisance for people, I will get rid of it properly. But not even after a day, I see somebody moved, and even added more book to this shelf! 😆 It is great to see how others can make use of my favourite wooden shelf! 👍✨

I will see you later alligator! 🐊 Enjoy your decluttering! 😆