Jason the Ruthless Clutter Police Invades Room

In the spirit of letting go and creating space, Jason and I decided to rearrange my JAMpacked room and throw away a few things. We have very different definitions of A FEW. :-/

Random MrazGal fact: I am a sentimental hoarder who keeps EVERYTHING.  I keep bus tickets so I can use it to artify a notebook cover.  I keep letters from my best friends from ten years ago.  Unfortunately, my mom has a habit of rearranging my stuff while I am away, so whenever I get home, I come home to a superduperovermega neat place.  You'd think I would be please, but I always panic and freak out because...well, I love my organized mess.  Messy, sure, but I always know where everything is and nobody understands it.

So anyway.  Now that Jason the Perfect Boyfriend is here in Manila and we now live together, my room is too small for two.  He took one look at my everything and declared that there's just too much stuff accumulated.

"We're gonna have to get rid of a lot of things, babe."

That one sentence made me cringe, but I knew we had to do it.  I had his full support, so I was good to go!

Step 1: Rearrange Elements in Room
Let me paint you a picture of The Mess That Was My Room.  It's square and small, yet crammed with lots of crap.

After emptying boxes and moving stuff out, moving stuff in, etc... Jason and I came up with this:

We took out the TV because we never use it and all the shows we ever watch, we download anyway and we watch DVDs on our laptops, so that was useless space.  So were the two TV stands in my room (why I have two, I dunno!).  We turned my dresser (which was full of random jewelry that I never wore and makeup I hardly used) into a standing desk for when we want to use our laptops while standing up (NOTE: According to Jason, studies show that standing desks are actually BETTER for your health than sitting desks) and pulled out the hidden drawers with wheels (which used to be under the desk) so we can put stuff on it.  We dismantled the old PC station so I can place the PC on top of the desk to minimize space.  We actually put the desk where it is now with chairs facing each other, one on each side so we can both use the table when we get tired of standing at the dresser.  We put the chair next to the book shelf so we can relax and actually read my books.  We moved our bed to the new spot, but not before checking if our heads are either facing North or East when we sleep, as requested by my Feng Shui-believing mom.

All I can say is...LOOK AT ALL THE BREATHING ROOM! :)

This was taken while we were rearranging, thus the mess.  Notice the Jason Mraz-inspired Inspiration Wall above my beautiful antique dresser.

Step 2: Set up bags for things to keep, things to throw, things to return, and things to give away.  Try not to cry.
One of the things my dad taught me while growing up was the 3Ls, which can be applied to almost any situation: LOOK at it, LEARN from it, and LET IT GO.  The third one was the hardest step of all.

Here are 5 huge bags of books, DVDs, CDs and random crap to give away to the less fortunate (aka our drivers and their wives and children, our household help and their children, and some street kids who live in the mountains).  I actually cried over DV tapes of my old video production classes when I saw them while looking for things to trash, but I knew I was never going to use them again because my thesis is done, so I said my final goodbye and moved on.  The day after this photo was taken, 5 more huge bags were added to the loot full of bags, shoes, and clothes.

I let go of 50 books (Jason's guilt trip line: When's the last time you read Shakespeare?  give those away to the library, you can download almost any book online!), 15 pairs of shoes, 10 bags, two tupperwares of junky jewelry, and 4 big paper bags of clothes, 2 paper bags of DVDs and CDS, and 5 big bags of trash.

After a day, Jason actually thinks I am addicted to cleaning my room!

Jason just laughed at me when I started dumping all my accumulated bags on the floor.  How a girl can amass so much stuff amazes him so.

Step 3: Constantly look around your room for things to change.

It's therapeutic once you get past the painful stage of letting go of your old possessions, trust me.

Step 4: Enjoy your newfound space and freedom.

Don't go out and collect more stuff to replace the ones you just let go of.  Try to keep to the bare essentials, and should you feel the desire to buy something you want, make sure you really want it. 

After two days, I feel better, I feel lighter, and I feel more ready for a prosperous new year ahead.

Jason feels more at home, too. ♥