My biggest project between now and July 25th (my departure date) is to empty and clean my apartment. The process actually started a couple months ago as I began to sort my clothing into "Keep" and "Don't Keep" piles. But now that I'm working harder on getting rid of the clutter, I'm starting to look forward to seeing my apartment when it's entirely empty. It'll be a sad moment, since it means the apartment isn't mine anymore, but I think that's when I'll feel like I can let go of it.
Until then, I'm appreciating having a cleaner apartment than usual. I feel better when things are more in order, but my habits are such that I tend to keep my place a mess. So now that I'm forced to clear the unnecessary things out, I'm really enjoying how light and spacious the apartment is becoming. It's surprisingly satisfying to put all the junk in garbage bags and see how much open space there is on the floor, or in my dresser, or in the closet. Of course, the many garbage bags are currently making my kitchen look like a disaster zone, but that'll have to wait until garbage day.
Although moving internationally is a major pain, having to pay a lot to ship anything home is teaching me a lot about what I really use on a regular basis, and what I absolutely don't want to do without. Hopefully I will actually apply some of these lessons once I'm back home and have a new space to fill.
This next list of points is probably more for my own benefit than anyone else's, so you can basically consider this post finished.
Points to remember:
- Beyond a few favorite items, I don't actually wear that many different articles of clothing.
- Small decorative items left on flat surfaces are mostly useless, are quickly forgotten, and make cleaning difficult.
- Papers that can be ignored for more than a week are generally safe to throw away. Organize important papers immediately.
- Leaving anything on the floor is a strong disincentive to vacuum.
- Don't leave anything sitting on a table for more than a few days, or else that portion of the table will become covered in small things and no longer usable. (I have not used my kitchen table for eating since my first year in Kochi).
- Experimenting with new hair products results in a large collection of unused sprays/shampoos/oils, which are annoying to store and difficult to get rid of.
- Only keep stuffed animals if they are very significant and you have a place to put them. (This one is a compromise. Probably most women my age would say, "Don't keep stuffed animals because you look like a psycho.")
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