New Years Resolution II

Can anyone remember your own new years resolution. I didn't remember but it's about time to see what happened in my life and what difference it has made in my daily life. There are basically three categories which are:                  
   1. Clothing
   2. Skincare
   3. Others

In the clothing department I haven't bought a lot. I bought a jean that was on sale for €4,50, a scarf for €1,25 and a vest for €6,-, that makes the total €11,75. This amount is enough for 8 months. I think this is something I should be proud of. I didn't need to replace any coat or shoes, that's why I didn't had any huge expenses. A good pair of shoes in my size (size7) doesn't comes cheaply, at least €50 but it always has been a great value. I can were a good pair of shoes for about 2-3 years.

I just bought one bottle of tea tree oil in the sale which makes it €2,25. I already stocked up on skincare products last year that's why I didn't need to buy.

Other things which excludes food or every day supplies would be: one universal battery loader for €9,- and one Bluetooth keyboard just €8,95. The total for this category would be €17,95. That's not much but I really thought about these products before buying. I was looking for the right price drop for the keyboard and knew if the price gets under 10 it's a great buy, especially when others are still priced at €15-20. The universal battery loader is an other buy that has been in on my mind and yesterday night I found it online and today I went to the store to get it.

My grand total is less than €50,-, other expenses like traveling cost, eating out, gifts or food are of course way more than €50,- but the point is that the things/stuff I see in my daily life are they worth their price. The things I buy and keep with me for a longer period are they needed or will I trow it away.

Being happy with the things you need instead of the things you have!

Before buying the stuff mentioned above, I really had to think about it. Do I really need it, isn't there something I already have fulfilling the same purpose. What is going out if I buy it because the 1in2out rule applies with every buy.

So letting go of "useless" stuff is also a must in my resolution, I have donated a lot of clothing to H&M because they give for every bag you donate one coupon for 15% discount on their items. C&A has also been great, they gave a discount coupon for 5% for each clothing. This fall, I have to buy baby clothing for my newborn nephews and those coupons are more than welcome in my wallet.

Thinking back to the resolution, I did great.

Not Perfect

It's a fact that blogging is a great way to write things down which are important. Besides blogger.com there is also Wordpress and other blogs that offer us 'normal' people to write down our feelings and share it with everyone who wants to read.

I love the way that blogging isn't accessible through pc only. Tablets and smartphones are also an option. Sometimes when I follow someone's blog, I read it mostly on my tablet. Reading others interest is a way of relaxing. I follow one blogger because she offers the nicest manga scans and through that blog I am also following her friends whom does the same.

What I love about blogging on my phone is making pictures. One of the reason why I don't have a lot of pictures is because my laziness to upload it. And with the blog app I am able to make it when I am writing. The only thing is that the pictures don't turn or can't be placed on that specific spot that I want it. I hope that in the near future that it will be solved so I can post more than that.

And after using the platform blogger.com on different platform such as android and ios it turn out to be a different experience. At least, I don't have the feel of importance and diligence while writing in bed or slouching on the couch. And because I never learned to relax and learn or write, I find it difficult to stick at one subject. Perhaps I belong in the "old" group that thinks you can only work behind a desk. I may have to make the mind shift on working on the go. 

Working freely isn't difficult, it's the state of mind while working isn't adapting to the environment. One of the reasons that my desk is almost empty and that there is a board in front of me with encouraging text that keeps me focused on the task at hand. 

No, I am not perfect and the blog app isn't either but it's good that a person isn't perfect, that gives room for improvement. And the glitches that occurs on my portable device is something I can live with.  

Memory Lane

I just decided to get rid of one old mp3-player and before getting rid of it, I checked the contents. As a teenager I learned France. I had a hate/love relationship with this language. It's just remembering vocabulary and sentences. I never could express myself in this language. In away it's not a difficult language to learn but France speaking people always speak so fast, I can't keep up.

So the song I found is Il Divo's pour que tu maimes encore. Beautiful and luckily I understand what they are singing. I mean at the time I played the song 24/7 and the melody which I knew from Celine Dion's version made it a song I love to hear. I also made it my duty to know what they sung and searched for the lyrics.

It just happens that this week is a walk through memory lane. First the plastic bags and today music I adore and still love to hear. The things that I give away have a special meaning in my heart and by writing about it, I acknowledge it importance.

Choosing & Using

Being a minimalist is all about choosing & using. It's a concept that was new to me. Only buy when your certain about and will use. So in the process of minimalizing my belongings I should choose too. One of my biggest handicap is skin care. I have so many creme's and bottles with fluids. So one weekend I took out my daily skin box.

Be cation because most skin product are quite expensive and it's no fun to be trowing away money. That's why I love samples. Whenever I go in the store and I see sample of a product that I might use, I pick up 3 to 5 of those sachets. You may think that a sample is just for one time usage but to see or feel the result it takes more than one time appliance.

What is a little bit a shame is that there is less free samples in the store. Whenever a new product launch like the new schwazkopf shampoo there was just one store that offers free samples. Seriously, try before you buy. I mean that new shampoo cost about €4,50 and I find that a lot.

Now back to my skin box. I have a aloe gel and a vitamin E for under my eyes. I love them both but two is just to much. I needed to decide about which one to sacrifice. Luckily both bottles has been used and the price was reasonable. But I decided to let go of the aloe gel because at home I have real fresh aloe plant. This was an easy job. Goodbye aloe gel and it's a pleasure to keep you in the box vitamin E.

Trying out new things

Being a minimalist ain't that easy, especially when I have limited my spending on useless stuff. Like shopping for clothing is something I find useless or decorations for around the house. So what can I do to fill that gap of getting something new. 

There is something we all need and that's food. Trying food you never experienced is a surprise, sometimes it's great and sometimes it sucks. This week I bought some beverage that was in sale at Amazing Oriental. I picked up two bottles of Japanese soda and one Jamaican Ginger Beer. I only tried the ginger beer which was not from Jamaica but Great-Brattain. Non-alcohol beer is something I tried before but this can was just disappointing. It was just a sugar rush with just a little bit ginger flavor. I think I can make this better with carbonated water and fresh ginger. Excluding the sugar because I just don't like over sweetened drinks anymore. The can does looks alluring and that's also a reason why I bought it but next time I let it stay on the shelf. 

Those two bottles are still untouched cause I am going to pop these at a nice occasion with my siblings. The fun thing about the Japanese soda is the bottle. It's really glass not plastic and opening the bottle is not by twisting or uncapping it. No, it's by pushing the glass ball in the bottle. 

So instead of owning new things, I try out new food. Take something different of the shelves just to try it. Most of the time I let the supermarket choose it for me. Cause they present it nicely and it's on sale. Next time try something new and inexpensive at the same time. 

Nostalgisch

Soms kom ik tijdens het declutteren dingen tegen die uit het straatbeeld is verdwenen. Zo kwam ik een keer dit plastic tasje tegen. In mijn kindertijd hadden wij zoveel van deze tasjes omdat dit een winkel is die redelijke prijzen hanteert. Goch, dit is toch een leuke tas en helaas bestaat het deze winkel niet meer of is het overgegaan naar een andere eigenaar.

Het is echt nostalgisch, mijn eerste sleutelhanger komt namelijk van deze keten die destijds onder de Blokker holding valt. Wat leuk is dat na al die jaren deze zak nog in uitstekende staat is.

Plastic tasjes van nu gaan kapot omdat het flinterdun is en "natuurlijk afbreekbaar" zijn. Geef mij maar dan zo'n tas dat niet groen is maar wel hergebruikt kan worden als een vuilniszakje.
Jazeker, dit tasje gaat richting de badkamer en dient als een vuilniszakje voor de hele week.

Dit is toch een uitstapje naar mijn kindertijd. Dat zoiet's normaals
als een plastic tasje mij terug kan brengen naar mijn kinderlijke ik, vind ik geweldig. Het geeft aan dat ik niet veel nodig heb om terug te denken hoe ik als kind was.

Scrub

I like showers, especially after a long day. I go home to a unnecessarily huge bathroom with just the essentials for a clean body. My favorite is the scrub hand glove. For a lazy person as I, I want to be clean as fast possible and waste less water.

So I don't use sponges because they tend to stink and are a home for bacteria's. That's why I love my glove. It's easy to rinse and easy to air. When I shower in the morning the glove is dry when I have opened the window throughout the day for the bathroom to air. And at night I just put in on the radiator to dry. It's such a simple thing to use.

The purple one cost me (full price) €1,- and the new one cost about 60 cent when I was shopping in an outlet store. And at the time, I started being a minimalist so I just bought one. Before, I would stock up on these things. But now I should be hunting for one extra so I won't have to pay full price for this kind of glove.

Today is the last time I used the purple one, I used it to pick up the hairs in the bathroom and threw it away. The turquoise one has just been washed and hangs on the wall for usage.

Gruwelijk

Ik heb er altijd van gedroomd multi-tasken terwijl ik tv kijk. Het is werkelijk geworden. Anime kijken en ondertussen een bericht typen en alles volgen. Natuurlijk is het een plus dat ik blind kan typen maar een vreemdtalige tekenfilm kijken met engels ondertiteling en tevens in het Nederlands denken. Dat vind ik gruwelijk en cool tegelijk.

Tja, niet iedereen kan het en het heeft veel tijd gekost om dit goed te kunnen. Zoals ik eerder vermeld heb komen de beste ideëen als ik net iets zit te bekijken.

Hiervoor dacht ik een voicerecoder te gebruiken maar dat leverde niet veel op.Ik moet het sowies nog eens achter de pc luisteren en dan een lopende tekst van maken.

Ik vind het absoluut geweldig dat ik nu beter kan multi-tasken met mijn smartphone. Jazeker, op mijn mobiel berichten schrijven. Dus op bed schrijven is niet uitgesloten.Heb jij ook van die gruwelijke eigenschappen die niet normaal zijn? Probeer het eens te vinden. Elk van ons heeft wel zoiets vreselijks geweldig.

3 kinds of Sponge

Perhaps you know Sponge Bob Square Pants. I have a few of it in my home. This small yellow syntantic sponge is in my bathroom as a facial cleaner sponge. You won't find it in the kitchen at the sink. No, the sponges in the kitchen are special.

For my dishes I use 3 kinds of sponges. The first one is the regular normal cheap syntatic plastic with a green scrub side. The other is a "car" wash sponge with a net around and the last is a special wonder stain remover sponge.

I try to clean my porcelain with the regular sponge. I use the "car"sponge for anti surfaces like my rice cooker pan or my frying pan. I don't want to scratch it accidentitaly with the scrub side. And for tea stain or any other I use the magic wonder stain remover sponge

As you can see I hang my sponges so it dries up fast. It's easy and better cause it's not wet which gives bacteria no chance to spread. That's why my sponges never smell bad and I use it for so long.

New

Today, I bought a new toy. I feel so ashamed because I am a minimalist. Terrible feeling for buying a thing that I don't need but want to have. It's a bluetooth keyboard that's been on sale and I have been thinking about it for about a year. I haven't bought it because I find the price not resonable and with the sale I find it okay.

So in the afternoon I bought it and as I am speaking, I am using it to write this post. I do find it a bit small but it's okay. I think I want to put the blogger app on my smartphone so I can write whenever I want.

So this new toy is nice but I find some keys a bit difficult to type. Lets say the space bar is a bit hard to use and I haven't figured out how to turn it off. Yes, I haven't read the user manual. But it's kinda speak for it's self.

Raining Days

I never disliked the rain but when I want to put my clothes out to dry or want to walk outside it always start to rain. Especially with the summer ending I have this irritable problem that I can't fix. I don't have the knowledge to build a weather machine. 

Today the weather wasn't really bad but as said before my laundry couldn't be put outside to dry. It didn't mean I never took a step outside because the rain went by quickly. Fortunately, there is also enough to do in the house. 

The sneakiness of decluttering around the house in other rooms has already started. I throw things away that has been sitting for ages and won't be missed. I love the emptiness in a room. I slowly put away things that aren't needed in the colder days. 

And the afternoon has been spent on keeping others company. I think that sometimes being there for somebody is just great. Knowing that you can depend on someone. I went to buy bandages for the first aid kit and used one of my coupons for somebody else. 

So even on raining days, I can make my day useful.

Vergeten

Paar maanden terug had ik over energiebesparen en lampen. Ik zit net achter mijn bureau en blijkt mijn lamp nog een ouderwetse gloeilamp in te zitten. Dat is een beetje dom, alle lampen vervangen met led en nu blijkt mijn meest gebruikte lamp nog een gloeilamp te zijn.

Oké eerlijk gezegd gebruik ik de lamp alleen na de maand augustus vanwege de seizoenswisseling die ervoor zorgt dat het eerder donker wordt. Eerlijk waar, ik doe alleen de lamp aan als het donker is en vaak niet als het buiten nog licht is.

Heb ik al verteld dat als ik 's nacht een boek lees de straatlantaarn opzoek. Zo erg ben ik. Maar nu moet ik even wachten op een led aanbieding.

Methode: Distraction

Yesterday my sister came around to store her television in our attic. Some of you already know the attic became my place after she moved out. I store all my clothes in it and dumped a lot of stuff to make my bedroom a treasure room. So her tv is like 32 inch and I find it huge. There isn't a good even surface to put it on except my desk.

It takes up a lot of space but instead I get a home-cinema feeling when watching tv upstairs. While watching on a big screen without a keyboard it gives me the motivation to shrimp the amount of containers in the room. In the morning while watching an American series I have lessen again my belongings.

I think it's a distraction method that I am using. When I am only decluttering, I always find reasons to keep an item and with the tv on and following the story, I am not able to do that. Making up excuses to keep things. The container with miscellaneous stuff downstairs has always been the easiest to minimize because of the television.

Being distracted also means that the thing in your hand isn't that important or else you would be able to focus to find a excuses to keep it.

Meaning

These past few weeks has been dark. I am talking about war, something I never understood. Perhaps it's my upbringing and my naive thinking. The cause of all this is just greed and stupid entertainment. I think a lot of people get the greed but not the entertainment.

Have any of you counted program's about the war or the extended airing because of it. I mean please, even the word "antisemitism" is something I never understood. No offence to anyone but as an Asian I am called names almost ever day. In the Netherlands there is even a politician known for his bad behavior towards Muslims and that doesn't get an nice label as antisemitism.

I believe in one thing: no race or religion should be discriminated against because if one race or religion is inferior to one another that means there must be a country without any prisons, which isn't. Naive isn't it. But it's what I believe.

Sometimes I think it's better to let them fight and determine a winner and a loser. Cause most times interference from other parties is just adding fuel to the bonfire. If it's peace they want, they will eventually find each other in a compromise.

Break?

After hard work and cleaning up the house it's time for rest. Yes, a break. I had to chaperon someone yesterday and babysit today. That's ain't easy but it's worth it. I also had the chance to shop and buy something sweet. 

Yesterday, I bought two pair of  silver earrings for €7,50. They are real cause my skin detects fake one's very well. Unless they are stainless steel but those are more expensive. I once bought really nice bijou one's but my ear's were itching and puss came out. I am a walking silver detector. 

This buy was unexpected, basically I wanted to buy one pair but the action was buying a second item for just €1,-. I couldn't let this deal slip. Also I can reward myself once in a while but at the same time I found out that my earrings aren't nicely displayed or in one place. So, I think a DIY is coming up very soon. 

I know what I am going to give away and that's donating old clothes. Yes, again clothing. I think I have quite a pile to donate and getting a discount coupon at H&M. I always give those coupon away cause I find that shop quite expensive. 

The weekend is around the corner and I am prepared to lay around doing absolutely nothing!

Lof

Zo af en toe bekijk ik de folders online en deze keer kwam ik bij de website van Zeeman. Ik heb de advertentie 'goede kwaliteit voor een lage prijs' al vaker zien staan maar dit keer klikte ik op de link. Want ik wil weten hoe ze die rompertjes voor €1,- kunnen aanbieden.

Zeeman vind ik altijd een oer hollandse winkel. Het heeft iets wat de nieuwe winkels niet meer hebben een eenvoudige winkelindeling met spullen op handbereik. Hoewel de dozen onder de rekken mij soms storen neem ik dat op de koop toe. Vooral in de kleinere winkeltjes zie ik het heel goed in de grotere winkels is het minder irritant want er is nog plek genoeg.

Deze textielwinkel is tijdens de uitverkoop zeer geliefd bij mij. Onlangs heb ik een T-shirt gekocht voor mijn neefje voor €0,75, ik denk dat ik hiermee heel dicht bij de kostprijs zit. Maar de normale prijs vind ik in vergelijking met andere winkels zeer vriendschappelijk.

Wij kunnen altijd blijven mopperen over prijzen en verantwoordelijkheid van winkelsketens. Maar het is ook goed om een pluim te geven aan een keten die het goed doet. Slechtere werkomstandigheden of kinderarbeid zijn bij grotere en geliefder winkels normale zaken. Gelukkig is Zeeman er niet een van en geven zij dat ook aan.

Clean Up the Garage!

True to myself, I picked something I really dislike. The garage is getting it's turn to be decluttered. Our garage isn't big but has a lot of stuff that didn't get a home in the house. So it was about time to do something like reorganizing a bit.

Our garage is housing a fridge, six bikes and many more crap. When we moved into our current residence, we had a lot of wood from furniture. We never really want to get rid of because 'you never know when you need it'. That's why after 6 years I decided to get rid of those small planks. I am almost certain that we won't use those.

I also went through the bags that my mom hangs in it. I found plastic bags to containers. I found out that if I want to bbq I have all the equipment in the garage.

I also choose to use those strong groceries bags instead of those flimsy plastic bags. I even teared an old bag because I could. I replaced the two cartons with a huge plank that I still have. Just so I know it wouldn't be falling down. Besides that I decided that two wine racks are leaving the place. It takes too much place and it's just a hassle. I put the bottles in my pantry on the shelves.

It's just a 'nice' thing to do on such a sunny day. Cause when the fall comes I wouldn't want to do it in the cold. It's just a little bit organized and it looks great when I walk in to it.

Today

I am working on my second suitcase. Last month, I donated a suitcase full of things and after much thinking I pulled out another one and try to fill it with things. Also after waking up middle of the night because of the heat I decided to get rid of my mattress. It's been a while to sleep without waking up at night, this summer.

Also, I want to know which person assumed that sleeping on soft things is good for the back. Honestly, I am so happy for sleeping on the slatted base with just a heavy blanket on it. My grandma who's in her 80 has always slept on a hard surface and is still quite active. At least now I know what surface works for me.

Back to hording. I found old vacuum bags which the matching machine has been replaced for years. It's basically useless and that's why I threw it away. I also recycled a lot of plastic. Because of our stupid orange container side, I even recycle straws. 

But today was also planned to do some discount shopping for tomorrow between 5 and 8pm. And because of it I went scouting for things I really will consider buying. Tomorrow I will buy Pampers and some other stuff. 

All I want to do now is ZZzz

It wasn't that bad

Yesterday's message is a bit heavy. It's something I thought about writing for such a long time. I am not even in my thirties but I have to think about what if. Unless I am in a dangerous occupation that requires to write a will before I start working, I would never thought about it.

I did hesitate about writing 'What if...' it's a bit depressing but in the end we will not surpass time. It's reality and minimalism forced me to think about it. And because of it I could let go of a lot of stuff. Things I valued or value but aren't used anymore are so difficult to let go of. But by questioning myself I could part with it.

It was painful but I am happy to experience the sad situation I put myself in. And looking back, shouldn't I have done this way much sooner.

Raar

Ik heb eerder laten weten dat ik niet aan sport doe en helemaal niet aan de sportschool. Toch, zweet ik elke dag toch wel 30 minuten. De truc is boodschappen doen. Zoals sommige weten hou ik de prijzen van mijn dagelijkse producten goed in de gaten en als ik een prijsverlaging zie of iets is in de aanbieding maar niet in de buurt is, dan fiets ik effe om.

Dit zorgt ervoor dat ik toch wel mijn wekelijkse inspanning haal. Vandaag fietste ik naar de Plus om twee pakken Milner af te rekenen. Ik was binnen een halfuur terug maar eenmaal thuis zweette ik als een gek. In plaats van boodschappen in een keer te doen doe ik het vaker in de week en soms hamster ik als de aanbieding zo goed is (50% korting)

Zulke huishoudelijke taken zorgen ervoor dat ik fit blijf. Waarom naar de sportschool en betalen als ik minder uit hoef te geven in een ander supermarkt en mijn wekelijkse inspanning haal?

What if..

I am starting to regret minimalism. I have much less stuff than before but if I want to go to the extreme side I am asking myself a question that I never thought of before. If I know tomorrow is my last day what would I do?

I look around the attic and immediately point out some boxes that I would trow away cause none of my family members need it. I would shrink away my clothing so they don't need to clean it up afterwards. Basically, everything I find valuable but they don't will find it's way to the trash bin. I am doing that right now.

It's hard to think, what if I am not here anymore but most of the things I own aren't that important cause it's just laying around. Why bother to own it? It's a question that I am asking myself currently. And the process is a bit depressing but afterwards it should feel good, right. At least that's what I hope.

I am letting go of more than 70 items in one day. It's good but also painful to let something go that once was precious to me. Cleaning things up is not only beneficial to me but also to my family if something bad happens to me.

We are fortunately enough to live in a period where there is no ratio on stuff but what if you one day won't walk around on the surface of this world, would you want to bother others with your stuff?

Something good

Yes, I almost finished a writing pad. Do you know the feeling when you buy a writing pad that you think it will be full very fast and afterwards your so careful with it doesn't get full. It's one of the reasons why I have so many writing pads unfinished because I have always been so careful. So I used a very old small writing pad for daily chores.

I have it for ages and now I am on the last two pages. Considering that the chores of returning goods won't be happening cause the weather forecast is rain. But I am looking forward of ripping those two pages of and trow the whole thing in the bin. I think after another day or two this memorable act will take place.

Next thing that I will be writing on has yet to be found. I always try to find something small, able to fit in my hand and easy to write. Looking at the pad gives me such a feeling of accomplishment and I want to share it with you.

Improvement

For a long time, I have been very proud of my treasure room until I let my nephew lose in my tiny room. What he did was walking around my bed, climbing on it and he played with everything within hand reach. It made me think about the stuff I have.

On my nightstand there are just a few stuff on it but he played with everything, even my lamp. So I had to move everything over to my bookcase. The thing about baby's is that they understand they shouldn't touch it but still do. My nephew is a curious one and I have learned that as long he may hold it for a few seconds, he will give it back if I request it.

So when he was rampaging the lower shelves from the bookcase, he made me reconsider what was in my room. I looked at the stuff that he took out and reorganized my nightstand and bookcase. Afterwards my nightstand only holds the lamp, glass cup, alarm clock and paper napkins. Just the basics even my Vaseline and menthol has been replaced by a small lip balm in the glass cup.

Next is my bookshelf. I reorganized it just a bit and got rid of a carton box. My nephew couldn't reach the books because it was packed which means I didn't need to do anything about it. But the things tucked above should be cleared out a bit. In the end I decided to throw some ulcers gel away and papers laying around.

My treasure room has been in a calm state but after the rampaging from my nephew I improved it and the minimalistic essence became so clear in my room.

Zwart

Het is niemand ontgaan dat twee weken geleden heel Nederland in rouw is. Een triest gebeurtenis waarbij veel te veel mensen zijn omgekomen. De stemming in het land is in mijn ogen nog grijs. Nog steed geen vorderingen in het rampgebied. Er is vorige maand zoveel gebeurd in de lucht dat het een beetje eng is geworden. Vlaggen die halfstok hangen ter ere aan de betrokkenen.

Zwart is de kleur die het land teistert.