Road to Minimalism

CHAPTER 4: MOM'S ROOM OF CLOTHES

"...getting the excess out of the way to make room for what's truly important."

- The Minimalists

One of the struggles of minimalists is living with non-minimalists. It has been mentioned by some of my favorite minimalists because each of us are individuals and we have different views in life. Matt D'Avela, one of my favorite minimalists, is living with his girlfriend, who is a non-minimalist. Their secret is to respect each other, and, in the end, his girlfriend found that being a minimalist makes you a better person.

The Minimalists, Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus also mentioned this on their podcast: If you can't change the people around you, change the people around you. So far, being a minimalist had changed my life into a better one. I can say I'm a better and healthier person than I was before. If people around you see the positive change it has done to your life, you inspire them to become like you.

Matt D'Avela, Joshua Fields Millburn, Ryan Nicodemus, Jay Shafer (although he started tiny houses, the idea of minimalism is there and his amazing tiny house designs) and most especially Fumio Sasaki inspired me to become a minimalist. I had already read about it and tried it but listening to an audio book about Fumio Sasaki's "Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism" really hit home. It inspired me a LOT. Then came the others who inspired me greatly. After starting with my room, I stumbled upon my mom's room of clothes.

My mom's room of clothes is not cluttered. They are kept on a big cabinet full of clothes where you have to be careful in opening and closing or else you will be buried by an avalanched of clothes. I am not exaggerating. There're also side cabinets filled with very old white linens, which have been untouched since 1985. I said that because I felt, smelt and seen it. It is surely from 1985, the year our house was built and moved into.

I asked her if I can clean her room. And by cleaning, I mean taking off what you don't need. I think until this day as I am writing, she had not understood why I did what I had done. Hopefully, if she ever stumbled upon this book and read it (or someone told her about this section), she'll understand. The cabinet of clothes brings a lot of memories. I remembered some of her clothes and dresses she wore on our graduation and other events.

I remembered when I was young, I didn't have to worry about bills and taxes. It brought a lot of memories but that did not stop me. I brought XXL garbage bags and stuffed her old clothes there, segregating it. One bag for shirts, one for jeans, one for clothes you can wear at home and one for clothes/dresses you can wear on a formal event.

I also stuffed bagsfor my late father's clothes, also segregating them and put sticky notes onthem for me to know what is inside those bags. I also found old bags that aretorn, look beaten up, damaged or just plain weathered. I know my mom doesn'tuse all those anymore because I bought hera new one and last year, she bought one, too.

I contacted my Aunt Mary Jean, who knows a lot of people who might find those things useful and she picked upa lot of stuffs in our house. I also found a cabinet full of old toys and my old bags. I had already packed and segregated my own things and gave it away. Itold my aunt that if she can sell some of it, she is free to do so.

Cleaning and segregating did not take a day, because I have a full-time job but thankfully, I work at home. It took more than a week. When all those stuffs are removed from our house, I felt like I can move freely, and my mom had a space to put her other useful documents without them piling on top of the side table. She kept all important documents inside the now empty cabinet. She still has clothes left, though not too many like before.

Yesterday (when I say "today" it means the day I wrote this), she mentioned that she just keeps on wearing the same clothes. I said "minimalism" but she shrugged and thought about the clothes we gave away that might still be useful to her "just in case". Now, this is also mentioned on The Minimalists' podcast that "just in case" is a very dangerous mindset.