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the great goobab purge of 2025

i've always liked to collect things. i'm the type of person to assign an extremely disproportinate amount of sentimental value onto something admittedly pretty stupid. over the three years ive been in my current apartment, ive amassed an impressive amount of little goobabs and trinkets. however, its all gotten very overwhelming at this point. especially since ive been having a terrible time mentally, having all this stuff cluttering my sacred space is slowly turning from a comfort to something that is suffocating me entirely. SO! today started my journey of purging all my unnecessary items, and i already feel so much better now that ive committed myself to it. i wanna share this so someone will bare witness to what im doing and ill feel bad if i wuss out, haha. this is your sign to cherish what you have and cut away anything that does not serve you anymore. 🫶

@avawasastar

Jan 30, 2025

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letting go of possessions

Goodbye Things by Fumio Sasaki, The New Japanese Minimalism I picked up this book at the used book store today (didn’t buy the book, but spent an hour reading it, as I realized owning it would be contrary to the point of it all) The author gave 55 ideas to start, and I took photos of the pages with those that were most useful or that challenged me, and pasted them here: Minimize anything you have in multiples. It's easy to minimize things you have in multiple number, go on, take a look. Do you have two or three pairs of scissors? Do you have a bunch of unused ballpoint pens? Too many paintbrushes? We often lose track of how many of the same item we have because we don't have a designated spot to keep them. That's often how we start cluttering up our space. And the more you have, the harder it is to know what you have. If you have three pairs of scissors, you can start by throwing away one of them. It's easy to choose which one that will be: the pair you aren't particularly fond of or the pair that you don't use. You can still cut with fewer scissors. You can still write with fewer pens. Try to reduce the multiples of anything you have to one. Get rid of it if you haven't used it in a year. One essential method for reducing your possessions is to discard things you haven't used in a year. You should also get rid of things you have no firm plans to use in the future. You don't need to throw away the blanket, or the down jacket, you're going to be using come winter. The same goes for the bathing suit you always wear in the summer. But if you haven't used something during the past four seasons, you probably don't need it. The one exception would be the emergency equipment and supplies that you keep in case of a disaster. Dust isn't very pleasant but it is a useful sign that tells us maybe it's time to consider throwing an item away. The heavier the layer of dust, the less we've used something. An item that you haven't used this past year probably won't suddenly become necessary next year or the year after that. And if there is something you happen to use once every three years, why not rent it when you need it? Let's free up all that time and energy we spend maintaining things that we never use. There isn't a single item you'll regret throwing away. Since the days of my old messy apartment, I think I've tod my possessions to around 5 percent of what I used to own. Thats 950 out of 1,000 items. And you know what? There really isn’t a single item that I miss. Even if there had been such an item, I can't even remember what it was. That's how insignificant all those things were to me. There really isn't a single item that I think about and pine over. It seems to me that this fear of regret is what prevents us from saying goodbye. It's certainly understandable; we all have these types of fears. But if you're wondering whether you might need that ten-year-old jacket that's been sitting in the back of your closet forever, or those sea shells you picked up on the beach when you were a toddler, go ahead and tell yourself that there's probably not a single item that you'll regret throwing away. Start with things that are clearly junk. The best way to get used to discarding things is to make it a habit. Let's say you want to make it a habit to go jogging early in the morning. An effective way to do this is to aim to go to the door on the first day. The objective for the second day is to do that and put on your running shoes. You gradually keep adding to your small accomplishments to achieve a bigger objective. Ichiro Suzuki, one of the best baseball players in Japan and America, said the accumulation of small achievements is the only way to do something incredible. The same applies to throwing things away. Maybe you start by throwing away some old torn-up flip-flops. The next day, you get rid of some ancient boots with holes in the bottom. You feel emboldened and throw away your moldy old raincoat the next day. Bit by bit, you build on your achievements. But before we get into any of that, a good basic first step is to start with what anyone would consider garbage. Throw away empty cans or food containers that aren't being used. Check your refrigerator and get rid of the expired food items. Discard clothes with holes in them. Throw away broken appliances. Start by clearing out the things that have clearly become junk. Take photos of the items that are tough to part with. Call me sentimental, but I like to take pictures of the thing in about to part with, to soften the blow. This is something that I still do from time to time; just the other day I took a picture of an old pair of nail clippers before I got rid of them. You are probably wondering what I do with these images. I don't think I've ever even looked at them myself. I take them to preserve the memories that are associated with these belongings. I think throwing away your material possessions and throwing away your memories are two completely different actions. As long as you still have the images, you'll be able to recall your experiences. A work of art that your child made in grade school, a souvenir from a trip, or a gift that someone gave you-take pictures of them and it'll be easier to throw these things away when you feel like you can't. I can say from experience that it's very unlikely that you'll actually go back and look at the images. I've taken thousands of pictures and I think I'm just about ready to delete them. When I do, I know it'll mean that I've started to become more focused on the present. Until the day comes when I can discard unnecessary things without a second thought, I think I'll continue to snap away. Tackle the nest (storage) before the pest (clutter). Here's a huge tip for throwing things away. Normally, we clean up by gradually reducing the clutter in our storage space, after which we are finally able to throw away our storage containers themselves. But let's take a moment to think about how we get rid of household pests. Do we go about killing insects one by one and then finally get started on the nest after such a tedious process? Of course not; those pests will be multiplying faster than we eliminate them. The same can be said for the nests that we call storage. Even if we clear it out thoroughly, we'll eventually start filling it up again. So the most effective method for cleaning up is to do away with the nest itself. Get rid of our storage containers? I can sense your skepticism from here. Our possessions are going to be scattered all over the place if we don't have a proper place to store them. They'll wind up sitting around in piles. Fortunately, most of us can't bear such a sight and we'll feel compelled to do something about it, like start throwing things away. When our possessions no longer have a comfortable home, they'll be just like those pesky insects without a nest—they'll eventually start to disappear. Leave your "unused" space empty. When we talk about home organization, the concept of "unused" becomes important. We see an area where we haven't put anything, and we think of it as unused space. Naturally, we put our various skills to use and try to fill the void. For example, we set up our washing machines in a designated  space at home and then notice the unused space overhead. Particularly with the limited size of apartments in Tokyo, we try co make efficient use of what we have. So what we often do is set up a rack over our washing machines where we can store towels, laundry detergent, fabric softener, bleach, and so on. But of course that isn't the end of it. We often put up a pole from one wall to another, place hangers and hooks onto it, and rejoice in the ingenious storage space that we've created. But this is actually a step away from downsizing, from living in comfort. Once we have extra storage space, we inevitably start to store extra things. The items on that pole will eventually start to overflow. A storage area packed with our possessions is like a crowded commuter train. It isn't a soothing sight. And it takes more time and effort than we think to maintain its initial state. It's actually open space, left empty, that gives us peace of mind. While your brain may at first think of them as "unused" spaces, these open areas are incredibly useful. They bring us a sense of freedom and keep our minds open to the more important things in life. Discard the things you have already forgotten about. I think the ideal minimalist is someone who can give a rundown of every item that they own. We should be able to recall our possessions if they're all necessary things that we use regularly. In other words, if we've forgotten that they even exist, then its pretty obvious that we don't really need them. When you're combing your apartment for things to discard, there will be times when you'll come across something and say to yourself, "What, I had this?" There are bound to be clothes tucked away in the bottom of your dresser or far back in your closet. Or you might think, Yeah, yeah, I remember buying these. Naturally, you'll start wondering if those old items might work with your current wardrobe, but wait a minute. You've managed without them all this time. They wouldn't have been buried wherever you found them if they were things that you needed. You won't need those knickknacks that fell into the narrow space between your TV stand and the wall. You would have desperately looked for them if they were important. Do you have boxes you've left unopened since you moved into your current home? You probably won't be needing those, either. Boxes filled with things you've forgotten about can almost certainly be discarded without a second glance. Go ahead, open them up and take a look if you aren't sure. But don't forget what we just discussed. Don't get creative when you're trying to discard things. We can get amazingly creative when we don't want to part with something. For example, you might stop and say to yourself, "This empty cookie tin might appear to be useless, but wait ... what if were to reuse it as a container for storing my medications?" "I really should say goodbye to this worn-out tote bag ... But hey, I could use it as a place to keep my paper bags!" "This perfume bottle may be pretty, but it's about time I got rid of it. Oh, hold on, I've just come up with a splendid idea! I'll go to the hardware store-one of these days—and pick up the wires I need to hook it up as a beautiful lamp!" Chances are, the beautiful lamp that you've just envisioned will never come to be. Most of these thoughts are desperate ideas that pop into our minds because we really don't want to part with our old possessions. We are never more creative than when we're trying to throw things out. No matter how fantastic these ideas might be, it's probably wiser to do your best to ignore them. Feeling the spark of joy will help you focus. In her best-selling book on the magic of tidying up, Marie Kondo came up with the killer phrase about sparking joy. The simple method of touching objects and leaving only the things that spark joy can be very useful. Things that you aren't in love with but cost you a lot of money, things that you have not been able to use well that have become more of a burden, things that you've worn down from overuse-these tend not to spark joy. This test can be quite reliable. Paying attention to what sparks joy is a way to focus, not on the past or the future but on the present. It's simple enough, and requires minimal amounts of time. As the bar can be surprisingly high for something to spark your joy, possessions that we haven't been able to throw away for no particular reason will also make their way into the trash bag. To throw things away, it's necessary to ask, "Does this object spark joy or not?" This is an effective way to become more aware of our senses. As we minimize, and our focus strengthens, we may even be able to go beyond this question about sparking joy. We'll return to this idea in the next section. Use auctions to take one last look at your things. I was able to get rid of a considerable amount of my belongings through a local auction service. There are of course online auction sites as well, like Yahoo! Auctions, but they require a bit of effort—you have to take pictures of each of your items and fill out all the product information, not to mention ship the goods to your customer. Kouta Itou, one of the people I introduced earlier, thinks this extra effort is actually what makes auctions the best way to part with your belongings. Kouta used to be surrounded by his musical instruments and gear, and got rid of them through auctions. He recommends auctions because the effort of preparing photos and compiling descriptions of your possessions gives you the chance to revisit the feelings you had when you first obtained those things. And then you can also think about the reasons why each item is no longer needed. The auction preparation leads you to reflect on what those possessions had once meant to you. Kouta says it's during these procedures that he promises to never again buy something he doesn't need. Saying goodbye to his things at auction lets him move forward. If you lost it, would you buy it again? A key way to gauge your passion for something you own is to yourself, "If I were to somehow lose this, would I want to buy again at full price?" If the answer is yes, that item is something that you trul love. It's a necessity for you. On the other hand, if you aren't the least bit interested in buying that same item again, there's clearly something abou the product that you dislike. Maybe you're keeping it because it's "good enough." But that's not good enough; say goodbye to those ho-hum things. It's the things you'd be willing to buy again that give you true satisfaction. lf you can't remember how many presents you've given, don't worry about the gifts you've gotten. Presents are very tough to discard. We feel guilty about throwing something away that someone gave us as a gift; it seems heartless. But take a moment to think about something you gave someone as a present. These things don't usually stay in our minds as clearly as the things we've been given. I've never asked someone if they're using something that I gave them. And if one of my gifts turned out to be something useless for the recipient, I'd hope they would feel comfortable getting rid of it. The last thing I want is for my gift to take up space in their home. If you have a gift at home that you feel guilty about not using, it's better to just come clean and part with it. If someone actually gets upset when they find out that you've thrown away something that they gave you in the past, it means they're not as concerned about your relationship in the present. In that case, you may want to distance yourself from that person anyway. I know I wouldn't want to become someone who can only convey feelings of love or friendship through material objects. What if you started from scratch? In a thought-provoking documentary film called My Stuff, the protagonist takes all of his belongings, puts them in storage, and allows himself to retrieve only one item each day. On the first day, he really does have nothing on him; he runs to his storage unit wearing nothing but a newspaper to hide his private parts. He retrieves a coat on the first day and sleeps on the hard floor. The film was an experiment to see what's really important. Though we might not want to go to the same extreme, we can imagine doing the experiment ourselves. Ask yourself which of your items would truly be necessary if you were to start with zero belongings. What if everything you owned was stolen? What if you had to move next week? Which items would you take with you? There are probably a lot of things we have sitting around in our homes for no particular reason. Think about starting from scratch, and it will become clear which items are essential. Say "see you later" before you say goodbye. When you aren't sure if you really want to part with something, try stowing it away for a while. A technique that minimalists often use is to gather all the things they're considering getting rid of and place them in a box or in the closet. The trick is to tuck the items away in a place where they do not usually belong. They can even be placed in a garbage bag, so that they are on standby for disposal. Even though they're sitting in a garbage bag, it doesn't mean that you have to actually throw them away quite yet. A week or a month goes by—the time will depend on the type of items-and if you've managed just fine without them, there's your answer: they aren't necessary for you. If a need arises for some of the items during that period, you don't have to throw those away. By saying "See you later," you put some distance between you and your possessions, which will allow you to think about their true meaning to you. It's kind of funny how your relationships with your things can be a bit like relationships with people. Think of buying as renting. A friend of mine buys a lot of clothes but makes a point of saving all the tags in a bag. He wears his clothes for one season and then he sells them at auction, together with the tags he's saved With the tags, he can sell his goods at better prices, sometimes for more than he bought them for. He tells me that he considers his clothes "rented from the stores," and when it comes time to "return" them, he sells them to someone else. I think this is quite an intriguing idea. When you treat the clothes that you buy like they're rented, you handle them with more care. Then you can recycle them in better condition, and you won't be letting anything go to waste. If we think of our purchases as only temporary possessions, it keeps us humble and allows us to better appreciate them. If it's not a "hell, yes!" it's a "no." When we think about discarding something, sometimes we get stuck weighing its pros and cons. Consider this, though: When we go back and forth like this it's because we think that the two choices have equal value. We're not trying to decide between a gift of $10 or $100, for example-we're deciding between $1 or $1.01. If that's about the extent of the difference we're facing, we might as well be brave and say goodbye to the item. If you're thinking about reducing the number of things you own, then I recommend discarding something as soon as you start wondering whether or not to do so. There's a phrase I like that goes, "If it's not a 'hell, yes!' it's a 'no?" When we ask ourselves, "Should I get rid of this?" we can turn that around: "If it's not a 'hell, no!' it's a 'yes.'" It'll help us discard everything except the things we absolutely can't part with. And we'll be able to manage just fine.

@hotassbeat

Dec 16, 2024

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going thru things

loooooove getting rid of things i don’t use anymore………was borderline a hoarder for most of my life, but something shifted recently and i just wanna get rid of things…….a little tasteful clutter is nice, i’m by no means a minimalist, but i think i just reached a point where my things were overwhelming me instead of comforting me. doing my best now to crack down and get rid of anything that’s just collecting dust

@bl4nkc4nv4s

Jan 30, 2025

Top Recs from @alleebear

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Ok lol

@alleebear

Jan 6, 2025

2

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Posting something in Filipino because no one will understand

Huh no I'm not gonna write a curse word. But if you wanna tell someone you love them MAHAL KITA is not enough. It should be INIIBIG KITA NANG WALANG KAPANTAY NA ANUMAN DAHIL IKAW ANG NAGBIBIGAY-KAHULUGAN SA BAWAT SANDALI NA NAGIGING MALIGAYA AKO AT NAGBIBIGAY NG PAG-ASA NA MALALAMPASAN KO ANG MGA MALULUNGKOT NA ARAW. (i love you with a kind of love that is incomparable to anything in this world because you give meaning to every moment that i feel happiness and the hope to overcome loneliness)

@alleebear

Jan 16, 2025

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Well well

Saturday ! Another week accomplished for 2025. Here's to more. Treating myself with some Japanese noodles--UDON. (i'm always anxious when i post my face but i guess there's no harm at all right?)

@alleebear

Jan 25, 2025