Decluttering etc
Feb. 10th, 2019 09:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yuuagoThe cleaning continues!
There are a lot of things that would be easily solvable problems if I had my own living space. But since I don't, there's not much I can do about it right now. For example, the issue of my boxes of books on the floor would be solved by a bookshelf, but there isn't room in my bedroom for a bookshelf. If I had my own apartment, I could put a bookshelf in the living room, or at least save up to purchase one. But I... don't have my own apartment. So, instead, I've been working on identifying things that I can fix. Or things that I will be able to adjust at a later date. Or things that can be fixed, but will be a process. It's kind of fun to approach it from a problem-solving point of view. It makes it a bit like a game.
One of the problems that I have is getting duplicates of things. Like, I'll be at the grocery, and think "Oh, I need soap", and buy some, when... actually, I don't need soap at all; I have plenty at home, I just forgot that I have it. Or discovering that one of my pairs of socks has holes, and buying some to replace it, but of course there are three pairs in a pack, and I don't need three pairs, I actually have plenty of socks.
So, that is just a matter of getting better at checking what I do need, and taking inventory of things that need to be replaced, and looking through everything before going shopping. And that's very much a common-sense thing, but we all know that I'm a little short on common sense. So, then I can use the things that I do have.
I've also been going through my cosmetics. This is going to be a long-term project. There are a lot of things that I have, but don't wear often; so I'm making a point to use them more. I'm at a place in my life where I've been experimenting with these things enough that now I know which colours look good on me, and I know what kind of formulas I like, and which brands I like. I know that I don't like heavily-scented cosmetics, I know that I don't like to use eyeliner, I know that creme eyeshadows + me do not mix... So what I'm doing - if I look through my drawer and find something that I don't wear, I give it a try in order to figure out why I don't wear it. Does the shade look good in the bottle but hideous on me? Is it too drying? Does it have some kind of agent in it that gives a horrible tingly sensation? (Looking at you, Buxom lip gloss. Blech. Awful stuff. Into the bin you go.)
Again, this is all common sense shit. But I used to be like... "Well, I'll give it another chance later, or try to find some other way to make it work". Which makes sense enough - it's disappointing to get something that seemed like it'd be really great, and then discover that it doesn't work for you. Those pastel nail polishes that I thought would look awesome but actually look absolutely hideous with my skin tone... ahaha, such a disappointment.
Eventually, I hope to narrow it all down to only the things that I like to wear. Which will still probably be a lot of things! But it'll only be useful things. :) And then I'll be able to enjoy them more.
There's been a lot of talk about Marie Kondo and her show and so on. I was kind of curious, so I decided to give The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up a read. :) I'm fully expecting that only a small portion of what's in there will be applicable to my situation, but maybe I'll encounter a few useful tips, and maybe there will be a few things to keep in mind for the future, when I'll have my own living space (...some day). Man, this book sure is popular - I had it on hold at the library for about a month before I was finally able to get it. So, I'm going to try to go through it quickly, so the next person in line can read it. ;)
There are a lot of things that would be easily solvable problems if I had my own living space. But since I don't, there's not much I can do about it right now. For example, the issue of my boxes of books on the floor would be solved by a bookshelf, but there isn't room in my bedroom for a bookshelf. If I had my own apartment, I could put a bookshelf in the living room, or at least save up to purchase one. But I... don't have my own apartment. So, instead, I've been working on identifying things that I can fix. Or things that I will be able to adjust at a later date. Or things that can be fixed, but will be a process. It's kind of fun to approach it from a problem-solving point of view. It makes it a bit like a game.
One of the problems that I have is getting duplicates of things. Like, I'll be at the grocery, and think "Oh, I need soap", and buy some, when... actually, I don't need soap at all; I have plenty at home, I just forgot that I have it. Or discovering that one of my pairs of socks has holes, and buying some to replace it, but of course there are three pairs in a pack, and I don't need three pairs, I actually have plenty of socks.
So, that is just a matter of getting better at checking what I do need, and taking inventory of things that need to be replaced, and looking through everything before going shopping. And that's very much a common-sense thing, but we all know that I'm a little short on common sense. So, then I can use the things that I do have.
I've also been going through my cosmetics. This is going to be a long-term project. There are a lot of things that I have, but don't wear often; so I'm making a point to use them more. I'm at a place in my life where I've been experimenting with these things enough that now I know which colours look good on me, and I know what kind of formulas I like, and which brands I like. I know that I don't like heavily-scented cosmetics, I know that I don't like to use eyeliner, I know that creme eyeshadows + me do not mix... So what I'm doing - if I look through my drawer and find something that I don't wear, I give it a try in order to figure out why I don't wear it. Does the shade look good in the bottle but hideous on me? Is it too drying? Does it have some kind of agent in it that gives a horrible tingly sensation? (Looking at you, Buxom lip gloss. Blech. Awful stuff. Into the bin you go.)
Again, this is all common sense shit. But I used to be like... "Well, I'll give it another chance later, or try to find some other way to make it work". Which makes sense enough - it's disappointing to get something that seemed like it'd be really great, and then discover that it doesn't work for you. Those pastel nail polishes that I thought would look awesome but actually look absolutely hideous with my skin tone... ahaha, such a disappointment.
Eventually, I hope to narrow it all down to only the things that I like to wear. Which will still probably be a lot of things! But it'll only be useful things. :) And then I'll be able to enjoy them more.
There's been a lot of talk about Marie Kondo and her show and so on. I was kind of curious, so I decided to give The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up a read. :) I'm fully expecting that only a small portion of what's in there will be applicable to my situation, but maybe I'll encounter a few useful tips, and maybe there will be a few things to keep in mind for the future, when I'll have my own living space (...some day). Man, this book sure is popular - I had it on hold at the library for about a month before I was finally able to get it. So, I'm going to try to go through it quickly, so the next person in line can read it. ;)
Yuu. Fic writer & book lover. M/Canada.
no subject
Date: 2019-02-11 11:44 am (UTC)How long is your normal hold? I find with popular books, there's usually a wait... there's a book I'm eyeing but it has a 14-week hold period currently :O
no subject
Date: 2019-02-11 12:23 pm (UTC)With my normal hold, I'm usually the only one in the queue. I think the longest I've had to wait was a week? But that's about it. So having to actually be patient was quite a novelty, heh.
no subject
Date: 2019-02-11 12:51 pm (UTC)Do share how the decluttering process goes! The idea of a tidy home where the only clutter is clutter that I like is very appealing but I think of the effort needed to get there and I just... suddenly am very okay with how things are now.
no subject
Date: 2019-02-12 01:39 am (UTC)Haa, okay, I'll make sure to talk about it more as I work through it~ I'm trying not to push myself too hard, because if I try too many new things at once, it's difficult to form new habits. But so far it's working pretty well. In the past couple of months or so, I've made it a lot easier to do the things required to clean my room, which is one of the big things I was aiming for.
no subject
Date: 2019-02-11 07:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-02-12 01:42 am (UTC)From flipping through the Kondo book, one of the things she emphasizes a lot is making sure that there is a designated place for everything. And this can be really hard when there isn't really... room to make places for everything. (The state of my closet is so questionable, even though I cleaned it out just this summer!) So I can definitely see the value of it for long-term plans, like you mentioned.
no subject
Date: 2019-02-12 02:20 am (UTC)And yeah, I did get as far as the 20/10 method the last time I picked up that book - it is super helpful! I just need to get into a habit of doing it, I guess.