One bite at a time!

It sounds like I was not too productive in the uncluttering project as my apartment was getting more messy that ever. At the same time I had to admit I accomplished quite some that people could hardly notice, which I must record them, so that I can use this to boost my morale when facing slump on the way of uncluttering again in the future.

When I could hardly find some space at home to unclutter, I read all the outstanding journal published by the professional institute I joined. Around total 12 to 15 issues from May to Jun 2020. Not a small number!

When I reclaimed the space because the relatives finally moved out, I tidied up the toys and clutters in the child's room. At least my child could now make her own choice on the outfits and be more independent.  We could also enjoy the bare room for a short while. What a taste! I bought no furniture at all for the room. This could also be counted as a little success, that I don't need to deal with extra furniture in the future.

When my clutter in the offsite storage from Hong Kong arrived, I started to work on the bible study notes, piano and flute scores, diaries I wrote in the last two decades etc. Finally I have to face these sentimental challenge! The progress was extremely slow as I was dealing with papers clutter.  It did cause me fatigue and frustration. Thank for Joshua Becker's articles and the book "The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning", which gave me encouragement and timely advice.

There is still a long way to go. And I will keep taking pictures and diary of these days so that I won't forget these hard moments of my life!

Allow me to share with you extracts from the book death cleaning mentioned above, so that you may find useful if you face the same challenge: 

"If you decide to downsize your home, it is a good thing not to be in a hurry. If possible, you should take your time and proceed at a pace that suits you. It will be absorbing but also tiring sometimes, but it is important that you don't overdo it." "Regard your cleaning as an ordinary, everyday job. And in between, enjoy yourself as much as possible with all the things you like to do - with friends, charity, walking, playing bowls or cards..."

Let us enjoy the process and eat an elephant one bite at a time!

A Bare Room

Setting aside a room for nothing sounds absurd but I learned this concept for quite some years. Until recently I had a chance to realize this.  Actually after a prolonged struggle for more than half an year.

I was acquainted with this concept from a book written by Ms. Kinokuniya. She suggested a bare room could be for multi-purposes such as studying room, playroom, visitor room no matter for relatives or friends of her kids, laundry drying room when it's raining, even as an "isolation room" when one of the family members is suffered from infectious disease.  She doesn't mean that the bare room should be empty but should only be "looked" empty.  There could be furniture for storage such as closet but all clutters should be shielded from viewing.

Incidentally, I have a room of similar setting, with a wardrobe inside.  It used to be as visitor room and now the visitors finally left. After almost half a month of using this room, I could not stop myself promoting this concept.  What did I do with this room?

1. I put almost all toys into the wardrobe, in a tidy manner so that I can fetch a specific toy in a minute. I labelled them all and they were all stored upright, or in the drawers. It's actually a variation of Marie Kondo's style!  After that, my toddler loves to ask mommy, the only authorized toy library staff, to borrow one toy at a time to play with, then returns the toy and puts it back to the original position with mommy.

2. When playing with wooden balls of pool-ball size, we love to close the door of the bare room and make full use of the floor.  We needed not worry we have to find the balls under any furniture and the sound of ball bombardment, just made me feel like we were as participants on a pool table.

3. I could continue my decluttering process one bite at a time inside the bare room, with no distraction.  If I couldn't finish the one bite in one day, I might continue on the next day without any disruption.  I just put another bite into the room as my task to be completed for tomorrow. 

4. I also made use of the room for ironing and for laminating teaching materials for a toddler.  Using iron is always dangerous if you have a toddler around.  

5. Any family member, when s/he needs to talk over phone for important matter, can always go into this bare room.

6. When I need a quiet moment, I can just go inside this bare room, close the door.  Surely family can interrupt by knocking the door but with the door, your chance of being interrupted would greatly be reduced.  This is really a great escape from a hectic life, especially the room is free of clutter visually, which can give you peace.

Why not give a try if you can afford? I will update you when I find more ways to use this bare room.

Figure: I was advised to turn the bare room into a study room and tempted to put a hi-tech height adjustable desk / standing desk inside the room.  Thank God I didn't follow the advice.  I love this setting much more as an ironing board could be folded and is far more space saving!

 　

Paperless Bookworm

Can that be? I would rather say may not be 100% but this could be a process and one day I'll achieve.

Joining the kindle family would be one of the best investments in my life. I started to buy my very first kindle 4 in 2012 after a trial with using kindle app for 2 years. I recalled I finally finished autograph of Dr. Marie Curie in 2 weeks, comparing with that I had spent 2 years with my kindle app on my tab, yet finished!

Since them, I fell in love with my kindle. I expanded my knowledge on how to use this little device for different formats of e-books, and where to find the books I liked. All of sudden I noticed another advantage: I needed not buy books in paperback or hardcover anymore unless this is a book about cooking or photography. I needed not find new spaces for books in my 80% occupied little apartment.

In 2013 I was forced to move to another apartment. The hardcover and paperback books caused me trouble and headache. As there was only a walking distance between my old and new apartments, I didn't hire moving company at all. Instead, I packed my stuff into my suitcases, moved them one by one, day by day. In a month, I moved most of my stuff. Tired but manageable. The last item was my books and hand-writing notes that i have kept since university. After pondering for a little while, I threw most of my notes away and kept only the books I loved. But I still couldn't manage so many books. Finally I signed a 6 month contract to  rent a storage of 13 boxes, plus the box moving services. This is the shortest lease I could find. I thought I could deal with my books after I settled.

In fact I did. In 2015 I started to declutter my home. More books were taken out and given to charity. Remaining notes were scanned and trashed. I hoped my life could be getting more easy. At the same time, kindle and other third parties app were getting more mature to deal with PDF files, articles posted on web to be saved under Pocket etc. I also learned to make my own e-book using Sigil. I used my kindle more often. At the same time I switched to a kindle paperwhite for other reason (not so much about fancy for a new item). Thanks to the backlight, I could use this little device when I was waiting for a bus at night or when I snuggled in bed.

Another move happened in 2017. Again, I had to use the same storage again for moving books. But I bought more e-books instead of paperback. My paperback collection shrunk. I also stopped keeping magazine published by the professional institutes I joined.

In 2019 I made a big move, from Hong Kong to Singapore. This time my book collection was limited. Before the move I scanned and shredded another batch of notes. Almost all boxes of books were for my little monster. And I tried so hard to let her know what kindle is for. I will definitely buy her one after she is able to read chapter books. Kobo could be my choice for her as Kobo supports borrowing books from public libraries. I really want to share my kindle with her but regrettably, we do not live in the States so we cannot use kindle for the public library services.

One funny thing is, after moving, I could hardly receive any magazine with insightful articles from the professional institute I joined. After liaison, I was told that I could view from web. Eventually I found a way to convert the magazine into PDF format and push to my kindle. I used to read one paper magazine in two weeks and now I am able to finish one in 2 days. Only the articles interested me would be kept in my hard disk. How great it is!

I also joined a Facebook group about e-book reading at Taiwan. I can learn and share a lot with group members.  Features of different brands, different systems of e-book readers and platforms of buying e-books etc. That really excites a bookworm like me!

I hope someday I don't need a bookshelf at all, even for my little monster! I used to have a set of three bookshelves long time ago. Thankful God I realized the trouble of keeping physical books before my bookshelves were fully occupied!

P.S. I did write a simple guide for kindle first time user. The last update was 2017. Feel free to contact me if you need this simple guide.

Josh told me: Don't quit

More that a month that I couldn't write anything about decluttering or zero waste here. I was really not able to write under the pandemic. Bomb shelter has been filled with rice, toilet rolls, noodles, cooking oil, flour, milk, preserved food in cans etc. while the fridge was full of eggs, food for daily consumption. Whose kitchen, store room or bomb shelter isn't under such an atmosphere? You have to feed your family anyways. Every time I went into the kitchen, I just felt headache and defeated.

Not only bomb shelter, my room was stuffed with a brand new printer, paper, stationery these kinds of office equipment, plus my partner has to work from home. The last piece of land has been occupied that I could no longer take out any item for sorting or taking photos for selling or giving out via secondhand platforms! Not to mention your little monster surrounds you 7x24 now and you have one more role to play on top of the caregiver and parent: yes, being a teacher!

Okay! What teacher should have? You got it! teaching materials! You may argue total items at home won't be increased as you only use your existing paper to print your teaching materials. After cutting the paper, or painting, paper waste generated and you have to deal with them all. Either to recycle bin or to be used as a single side paper. Another load of tasks to be handled!

When I aired my frustration in the Facebook group "Becoming Minimalist", people gave me very good suggestions. Not so much about how to declutter but take the opportunity to get closer with family, you can wait a bit for decluttering. True but sad. Until last night...

While I read the book "The More of Less: Finding the Life You Want Under Everything You Own" by Joshua Becker. He said, "Don't quit!" He shared that he almost gave up his blog after a year of writing, also for about a month (Feb to Mar 2009). When he published a short post encouraging people to donate old prom dresses, a woman he had never met, left a just 3 words comment: "Come back, Josh." She was encouraging him to continue!

And now, he's encouraging me to continue on my decluttering journey! As he said, "decluttering a home is both physically exhausting and emotionally draining." Why not receiving this little encouraging words "Don't quit" as my motto. If you're under similar situation, please DON'T QUIT!

Declutter vs. Zero waste - can they co-exist?

I noted there are quite some controversial articles on web discussing darkside of decluttering.  The article claimed that people purge their clutter unmindfully, which harms the landfill or people regret afterwards.  I may not be in a position to comment as decluttering could be a personal journey and my significant half just believes the same, and thus keeping more than purging, selling or giving out.  This makes my decluttering journey not smooth as I expect.  Nevertheless, I still attempt to find a way out to purge in a more mindful way or make full use of my clutter without jeopardizing achieving the zero waste goal.

1. Before buying, I really try to think through before going ahead.  Home space is limited and new items could just be my headache in the future.  Recently I was tempted to buy a laminating machine for preparing homemade teaching materials for my little monster.  Eventually, I used an iron with cork board, and a cloth napkin to make this happen.  After all, I don't need to laminate stuff daily and making teaching materials isn't my daily job.  The extra laminating pouch being bought could be a limit for my future headache.  Another temptation was a child standing easel at deep discount amidst of covid-19.  While my little monster shows much interest in drawing recently, we don't have extra space for the child easel.  After discussing with my another half, no conclusion was made.  I then hanged my cork board with a ribbon onto her learning tower, added three empty glass jars for her color pencils etc, and provided water color dried on several empty eyeshadow palettes.  Hope she like her new art corner.

2. I tried to sell valuable items via web, or give them to my friends who may find the items can be of use.  Why not?  You may not be able to sell them or giving them out immediately but decluttering is never a race! We couldn't have a quick fix anyway. Why don't we do it slowly and progressively? The platforms I used in Hong Kong and Singapore including carousell, freesth, and Facebook marketplace. You may find one or two suits your need in your countries.  Power to sort and search could be crucial to find a suitable platform but culture of users is also important.  After all, you don't want to be stood up or disappointed all the time.

3. I always try to buy from the second hand platform.  Not only that you may buy the item at deep discount, you don't have to create additional wastes to Mr. Earth.  You also may have to wait for the suitable item to pop up and this waiting period can serve as cooling off period.  So you may think through before committing. The process will let you know more about the item (you may talk to the seller discussing on the item), the place and culture if you are new to a place as now I am experiencing.  That could be a funny experience.

Boc n Roll

Cannot believe that I left my series of eco wrap aside when writing up the first article about my zero waste journey.  Probably coz I use this series of products so frequently and they are indeed part of my life.

Trying these in early 2016 coz I always dining out at that time while I haven't yet married.  I didn't want to leave leftover as food waste in the restaurant but sometimes it could be quite heavy to bring a glass food container along whole day.  Again, I hated dealing with plastic containers provided by the restaurant if I didn't bring mine.

Boc'n'Roll, recommended by my sister, apparently suits my need. I could put this almost weightless wrap in my handbag so I could use it whenever I need.  For examples, wanna buy pastry and bread from bakery, pack untouched spaghetti if my family ordered too much, pack freshly made panini from cafe near my office, pack fruit back to office, surely also leftover from restaurant.

After using Boc'n'Roll for a little while and I confirmed that I loved to use this product, I got a chance to redeem more from Delifrance. Four in total! Eventually I gave one to a flight attendant so she could pack unfinished meal from flight, and another to my auntie living in Paris who loves bread very much.  Right now all of them would be used to pack homemade bread.

(My previous posts on using Boc'n'Roll:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154066329772311&set=o.995618230509780&type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154022582267311&set=o.995618230509780&type=3&theater)

The second product I own was Snack'n'Go snack bag. This was bought for my boyfriend coz he didn't get used to eating bread in a wrap when he was driving, which could be too messy for him.  Again, the first was redeemed from Delifrance.  The second one was redeemed for packing milk bottles as I became a breastfeeding mom who needed to pump everyday in my office.  Last year, my child loves to eat a slice of homemade bread packed in Snack'n'Go snack bag after school and sometimes I would put kid's cutlery into the snack bag when dining out.

The third product I obtained was Snack'n'Go pocket. Really forgot why I took it but eventually it is perfect to put all my medicine in after visiting clinic.  Two pocket design allows me to separate drug in liquid form, or in pill or capsule.  This product however should be no longer on the production line.  I couldn't find this on the Rolleat webpage.

The fourth product I tried was Snack'n'Go tube.  Why expanding my collection?  Being called as a monster of soup, I just wanted to use it to fit my Joseph Joseph soup pot so I could reduce use of plastic bags.  Now it is always used as my child's snack bag as she is able to firmly hold the ring as the tube opening.  Again, I think this is no longer on the production line.

The fifth product I had was Eat'n'Out.  It was a bit silly of buying this and I didn't think through before making the decision.  Yet, we now always use this for packing my child's meal when dining out.  After all, the adjustable shoulder strap provided allows you to make it as a cross bag or shoulder bag so you can have free hands to hold your child.  Quite thoughtful design.

Last product of my collection was Grab'n'Go.  I was invited to join a focus group discussing design of the product at that time so surely I love this product.  The first one I bought was for all my sterilized pumping accessories.  I felt far less guilty during my entire breastfeeding journey as I used almost no plastic bags.  My child also loved to play with the buckle when she was about 1 and now uses it as her little handbag.

(My previous post about breastfeeding with Snack'n'Go snack bag and Grab'n'Go:
https://www.facebook.com/995618230509780/posts/1889400854464842/)

Some people indeed asked me a lot about this product and I don't mind at all to lend them to give a try before committing.  They can make a more sound decision afterwards.  I recalled a mom said she didn't want to have a Snack'n'Go for her son after trying.  Instead, she could modify the design and made a tailor made snack bag for her son.  Nanny of my child and my helper asked me separately to buy them one or two Boc'n'Roll for their family.  Why not share your joy and experience with others who wanna try a taste of zero waste life?

May be you would challenge me that they are made of plastic. Shouldn't we avoid plastic?  I have no definite answer but as long as I can reduce the use of disposable plastic bags, why not?

Here comes with some useful links if you want to know more about this brand and get more ideas how to make use of them to help you achieve a zero waste life!
https://rolleat.com/asia-world/
https://rolleat.com/shop-online-reusable-food-transportation-products/
https://www.facebook.com/ecowraphk/?tn-str=k*F

MoonCup

I am not an expert on mooncup but just an experienced user who have been using this for more than 5 years.  Because so many friends asked more about this product,  here comes with my story and my tips for first time users.

When I considered using mooncup, there's not so much about environmental consideration.  Just that I felt itchy when using sanitary pads, probably because production line has been moved to the mainland China by then.  Being affected for a short period of time, my boyfriend, now my husband read a newspaper article about mooncup and suggested me to take a look.

It wasn't easy to accept this at first but the monthly challenge was really annoying. Finally I made up my mind and searched a bit on website where I could buy a mooncup.  At that time this wasn't too popular.  Yes, you might be able to get one but the cost could be much higher than now.  I had to commit for at least 2 years to make this investment worth (comparing with cost on buying sanitary pads).  Turn out I bought one from UK mooncup (the original silicon menstrual cup), size B which is for a woman under the age of 30 who have not given birth vaginally.

When it arrived, I spent quite some time to read the online instructions. Okay, you just
1. need a small pot to sterile it (by putting it into boiling water for 5 to 10 min)
2. need to know that you cannot have it inside your vagina when going to no.2
3. need to trim the stem to fish the mooncup when you want to empty the cup every several hours (which implied that some practice can be made to adjust length of the stem).

I did give a try before that important day, with a biology lesson given by my boyfriend (He got a better public exam result in biology 😂)  With his verbal assistance, I successfully put it into my body and took it out. Okay, another round of sterilization.

Finally, it was the day. A little bit discomfort coz the long stem despite I had adjusted beforehand based on my cervix on the day of practising.  But it was still too long.  Never mind, I could adjust more with a pack or two alcohol wipe, a scissor and headed to the toilet cubicle.  Sucks! All surfaces inside cubicle could be too dirty for putting my mooncup on.  Okay, packaging of the alcohol wipe would do but I would buy a milk bottle, with a ring lid so I could put the mooncup in together with the rinsing tap water.  Why not buy a glass milk bottle from second hand market? Perfecto, all set!

I recalled this was a hot summer in Hong Kong with high relative humidity.  I experienced three or four carefree menstrual cycles that summer which I have never experienced in my life.  Since then, I needed not to be annoyed by the hot and wet weather, and to worry about night time leakage!

A year after using this little product, I bought another 3 for my sisters and a size A to myself to plan for the future.  At the same time I gave all my pads to a young girl.  Since then I have more space in drawer under bed, and need not pack so many (pads) for my long overseas trips, and I could describe exactly volume and color of my menses to my doctor.