Tag Archives: declutter

Death cleaning

Posted in Books, Everyday Life, Reviews by

Death cleaning is challenging. It requires focus, physical stamina and a level of detachment and ‘unbotheredness’ to even start the process.

My brother is planning to get hitched soon and has the intention to bring the bride back home for a while before they find a place to rent. The current house is our family home and over the course of time it has become quite worn out and full of ‘things’. After all, we have lived in the house for over 10 years and when it comes to a family of 6, that is a lot of things.

The initial plan was for all of us four siblings to get together and tackle the problem. However, some of us did not get our leaves approved and my sister, had a last-minute course to attend. So it was just me battling against the dust and clutter. I managed to sift through my late mother’s wardrobe and it was astounding to discover how many clothes she had – both worn and new! It seems that she used to have a habit of buying those buy1 free1 items but never actually got to give those garments to people she was meaning to give it to. Thus, ended up with me being puzzled at the site of so many T-shirts with the same design in the wardrobe.

I shared my experience of decluttering on Instagram that weekend and an acquaintance recommended me this book. I managed to find it at Shopee for RM59.94. Quite a splurge for a softcover book but I’m excited about it’s content. It did not disappoint me at all.

I felt so connected to the author’s problems and felt that her thoughts on this subject matter were familiar yet fresh and very insightful. It’s like having a cheeky grandmother telling you what to do now before you die. In a way, it’s about decluttering and making life simple so you wouldn’t leave too much trash for your loved ones to pick up once you’re 6 feet under.

I am inspired to do my own death cleaning too. In fact, I feel it is an instinctive thing to do every so many years as my family’s life cycle changes over time. Now I am discarding old baby clothes, baby gadgets and toys as I am clear that I have no plans to conceive another baby. I have been making trips to the bin at Lotus to donate my old clothes that don’t fit anymore and those that are out of fashion. This included linens for single beds causing our house to have double beds only. The single set was from both of our ‘single’ years.

I am into house chores again this time of the year. I believe there will be a time when I’d enjoy photography suddenly or journaling and all that jazz. It’s a cyclical process.

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Purchased RAK BESI and started sorting stuff

Posted in Everyday Life, Good Things, Mama Minci, Online Store, Reviews, The Good Wife by

My husband pissed me off. So I was on a Cleaning Mode. Lucky bastard! By the way, if you’re reading to find out what he said, you’re not going to find it here. Anyway, I get into this really zealous mode of cleaning whenever I get mad at something. The energy has shifted from reckless driving & shouting in the car to Marie Kondo mode. Then, I start throwing everything into the trash or donate everything to the recycling clothes bin. Sometimes I forgot to say thank you to the stuff.

I ordered 4 sets of steel racks from Rak Besi, a small enterprise based in Melaka. The racks were delivered and assembled at my house and upon completion, I transferred the money online to the seller. Total damage was RM675.00.

I rearranged my kids toys in the dark, activity room. I am still finding ways to make it cozy. The husband had a lousy design idea when he renovated the house. So we will have to make do with what we have.

And then I took on the big task of sorting out the porch. The porch which is rarely swept, rarely cleaned yet housing all sorts of junk. Including a big, unused motorcycle! It was damaged in an accident where my husband dislocated his finger a few years. He is having a hard time to let it go. I honestly don’t know what he plans to do with it.

I underestimated the weight of the bike as I soon discovered handling it is no small feat. But because I had so much anger, I had enough strength to maneuver it around as I also, dragged the biggest rack of all from my living room to the porch. I am expecting a 500g weight loss on my scale coming morning with all this heavy lifting!

There’s still a lot of things to be done. I still need to clean the porch floor. Declutter my storage area. Sell my books. Once I get all that sorted out, I can start with my garden project, sell my car and then maybe, plan a holiday.

PKPP will start today till 30th August 2020.

One can’t just go buy a new house whenever you feel like it. A house needs to be maintained and given a fresh makeover every now and again. We should learn how to fix things or at least know how to find someone who can do the fixing for you. As homeowners, we should schedule yearly cleanups of some sort like cuci tangki.

Same thing with having a wife. Some men are lucky they have wives who can maintain themselves and schedule activities to alleviate personal stress and such. Some wives kurang bernasib baik as they don’t have the means to do so. Consequently, some men end up leaving them and look for prettier pastures. Eh, tetiba.. marah sgt neh.. hehe

Memory Lane & Another Learning Curve

Posted in Everyday Life, Ponderings by

It is the long weekend and I’ve got my house chore’s list all ready. It is Ramadhan and I try not to over exert myself. Yesterday, I decluttered my kitchen area. Rearranged my pots, pans and Tupperware. Cleared stuff under the sink. Assassinated a cockroach but I think it is still alive despite pouring lots of peppermints on it. It is still under a used tupperware on the floor for the past 24 hours. On top of the cleaning, I managed to steam Siakap, fry turmeric chicken, made milo jelly and assemble kerabu brokoli for Iftar. Man, my feet hurt like it walked on glass.

Despite the holidays, Mr Husband was at work. First, he had to replace someone who did not turn up for extended hours at the nearest klinik kesihatan. Well, he volunteered to cover. Nak ngelat cuci kipas siling lah tuuuuu. Hmph. That someone better have a good excuse. After he finished for the half day, lo and behold he went to his office plak. Turns out the state has a few new positive cases for Covid-19. So that took some time too. Public Health never rest.

Today I am going to just take it easy. We are having Pizza for Iftar.

Early this morning after Sahur and Fajar prayers, I went through my pictures on social media and did some sorting and filing into my external hard disk. Found an old photo account on Photobucket. It’s not free anymore so I saved those old images and kept it in my drive. Took the chance to stroll down memory lane i.e my old blog LittleHealer.

Blog entries during my student days were emotionally charged and full of passion. I am glad I kept a blog because I honestly do not remember half of the memories I did during medical school and early housemanship. I had no idea I was that fun as an individual back then. Ha ha ha. I was on LittleHealer for a good 4 years and here on Mincisensei for a good 8 years now (and counting!). I suppose I needed a fresh start after the 3 years hiatus from blogging.

But hey.. did I mention that I am now on a fresh learning curve? Starting on Square One as a part time degree student? That part of my life I am documenting on NotaMinci. I think I explained some time ago about a possible Mid-Life Crisis. I guess as medical doctors, you are just itching to study something. LOls.

PKPB is starting tomorrow. May the 4th be with you.