Recently, you might see a lot of furniture below your flat and our town council who offers to remove bulky items by appointment had seen an increase on such requests. Sometimes, people might even try to salvage some of the thrown items which is still in pretty good condition. Some charitable organizations received large number of donation of unwanted furniture during this period but some of the receivers of these furniture complained that the items received are not in working condition. You could read this article to see how you could dispose off your furniture responsibly.
I guess this is a yearly ritual that most of us goes through to declutter before Chinese New Year approaches. There is a Chinese saying “旧的不去，新的不来” meaning that new things won’t come to you unless you lose the old ones.
Many big ticket purchases were made towards the end of last year before Singapore’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) increase from 7% to 8% this year. The below mothership article also mentioned about the increased in sales and some merchants even allow the newly bought furniture or appliances to be stored in its warehouse for the time being for safekeeping. Many people also leverage on the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) schemes that are readily available nowadays and our Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) had to issue reminder for consumers to consider if you really need to buy now, or can the purchase wait.
Many people might be pondering about replacing their old electrical appliances which might still be in relatively good working condition. So the common human psychology is to replace the electrical appliances that you had used for sometime as the item might be approaching the tail end of its limited shelf life. We were also contemplating to replace our 7 year old TV but we shelve that thought as the TV is still in relatively good working condition. Anyway, we could easily purchase the TV through the many shopping platforms available nowadays should the TV break down one day. Anyway, from a financial and environmental perspective, the 1% GST increase will not be as significant as compared to extending the usage of our old TV for another year.
Being a minimalist doesn’t mean you don’t have to declutter every year. It just means that you spend lesser time decluttering so that you could focus on the important things in life. Things like your children outgrowing their clothes and shoes, items that you don’t use anymore or spoilt electrical appliances due to wear and tear are unavoidable. Please choose to declutter responsibly by donating, giving or selling them online if they are still in good working condition.
As this is almost my 8th year of my own minimalism journey, I will share some of my thoughts on living with less.
Self Discovery and being grateful
When I first went through the decluttering process, I took out every single item and asked myself “Does this add value to my life today?” This constant questioning allows me to delve deeper into why I made those purchasing decisions in the first place (most of the time, many were impulse purchases). When there are lesser stuff in my life, I have lesser distractions and could focus more on what truly matters in my life like my relationships, health, passion, personal growth and contribution to society. If you really search deep within yourself, you might realize that they are already there and be grateful about it.
Living with less and feeling adequate
Being less dependent on stuff for happiness in your life is a very powerful force. It makes you confident about your future when you know you need very little to live a happy and purposeful life. With the constant online marketing that shows you that life will be perfect if you own certain things or adopt certain lifestyle, that led to many unhealthy comparisons on social media and people always feel inadequate. The main objective is to detach your self worth from physical possessions and this will curb our insatiable desire for having more. Having less stuff doesn’t mean you are inadequate, it just means you have more time for things that truly matters.
Protect the environment and enjoy nature
When you have lesser stuff in your life, you will directly reduce your carbon foot print. Lesser consumption equates to lesser waste. Every purchasing decision is made deliberately like choosing to give experience to your kids rather than physical gifts, choosing to pay more for more energy-efficient electrical appliances rather than buying because it it cheaper, practicing the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) consistently etc. Spending more time in nature allows our family to truly appreciate what our mother earth could offer and our desire to protect it in order for future generations to enjoy the beauty of it.
Learn how to let go
This is the hardest for most people. When I went through my mementos, I had to learn how to let go of some of the items that might be sentimental in nature, but no longer add value at this point of my life. Things you value in the past might not add value to you now and this might be the time that you are ready to discard them. Doing this removes the chain between the item and your memory which creates that sentimental link. Memories will stay with us for a long time and letting go of the clutter does not remove those memories.
As we approach Chinese New Year this year, this is the first time that we will have lesser restrictions on home visits since the onset of Covid-19. We will be able to visit most of our loved ones in a big way and wish that this year will be filled with abundance of family warmth and appreciate the time we have with them.
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