On joy and decluttering

I follow this wonderful steemer, Tamara, since I started Steemit. She was one of the first ones who supported me, out of my inner circle, and the other day she posted this wonderful post about decluttering. While @tamacvet focused more on the decluttering of the mind it reminded me that I am in need of some home and closet decluttering myself. I have hoarding tendencies and if I don't check my self every once in a while things tend to get messy and overcrowded. And that makes me feel anxious and overwhelmed. When you have a house full of stuff and animals and kids it can become impossible to clean. I am not a neat and tidy person by nature so I have to put some extra effort into keeping my house clean. If I skip a day because I feel under the weather I am doomed to an entire day of cleaning after that. A friend of mine introduced me to some minimalistic videos and the concept really made an impression on me. I liked the idea of carelessness and the fresh, clean, look of the apartments in the videos. So I decided to give it a go and I loved the whole letting go process. But, as I got sick, new mountains of stuff found a way to our place and now it's time to let go once again. But as a proper internet junkie, I first have to pinterest a plan and youtube my vision before I actually get to the point of taking out trash bags and start to purge, which I will make my New Years' Resolution #6! Purge all the stuff, beliefs and people that don't bring me joy. And I thank Tamara for the inspiration to do so.
I am considering giving the KonMari method a go. If you never heard of it here is a video from Today Show that can help you get to know the concept. It is basically a cleaning concept made by a tiding consultant Mari Kondo from Japan that became massively popular in the west few years ago. Here is the explanation from the official website, on which you can find all the info you need:

The KonMari Method™ is widely regarded as a new approach to decluttering based on Japanese values in order to surround yourself with items that spark joy. The charm of the KonMari Method lies in its power to change lives, beyond being a helpful guide to tidying your home.

There are a few rules to it:

1. Commit yourself to tidying up
2. Imagine your ideal lifestyle
3. Finish discarding first
4. Tidy by category; not by location
5. Follow the right order
6. Ask yourself if it sparks joy

I will try to do a post on how that goes for me and a before and after preview. I will also be following the ''Principle of 5 hands of giving''. That is something that always comes around on social networks in form of cute inspirational images around Christmas. It's basically my philosophy on interacting with people. Even tho it may seem simple it is much deeper than 5 catchy rules because it has an impact on the way we consume things and in the way we spend time with others. The way we consume things is deeply intertwined with the way we affect the world around us, in my opinion. If we are prone to consumerism that is fast and seasonal we support the exploitation of underdeveloped places and if we always run after the cheapest and the trendiest we support the mistreatment and underpayment of the working class in those places and enable the enrichment of the richest. I am no perfect saint here, I do my eBay shopping for stuff like mobile cases or I buy fake cheap sunglasses in china shops. But I really try to keep it minimal. So what are the 5 hands of giving principles?

5 HANDS OF GIVING

1. HANDMADE - buy handmade stuff from real folks. I would add buy locally from your local craftsman or artist. If you don't need any more art buys gifts for others with this principle in mind. There is this great event in Šibenik that goes on throughout the Advent time and it's called ''Adventura'' (if you plan on traveling abroad or inland next Christmas forget Zagreb and Viena, come visit Šibenik. Great concerts, great food and wonderful people) and they have provided stands for small artists to sell their handmade Christmas decor, jewellery and art. The one we liked the most this year and decided to support was from the art association ''More'' from Vodice and one of my all-time favorite artists, I definitely plan on supporting more in the future, Anita Franin Pečarica. If you are lucky enough to live in or visit France, or more precisely Nice, checkout @alain-bellino. He is such an amazing artist that deserves much more love, upvotes and resteems, here on the platform. You should definitely check his art out. Check out his artwork here: http://alain-bellino.net or follow him on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/bellino.sculpture/

2. HAND-ME-DOWN - If you don't need or don't care for something in your life anymore but you see it can be useful for someone else give it away. I dress my kids by this rule. My husband rolls his eyes everytime I have girlfriends over because someone always comes or goes with a bag of clothes and he's like ''Are you bringing more bags of clothes to the house?'' and I'm thinking like dude, be grateful for my thriftiness because you get to spent your cryptos on stuff other than kids clothes. I have maybe ten friends or so with kids that are close to my children in age so we always give each other clothes that we have no use for or are too big or too small. The result is a season worth of great clothing for all three of my kids and not a dime spent.

3. 2nd HAND - If you find yourself in need of something always give 2nd hand stuff advantage in front of buying new things from shops. This way not only are you going to spend less money you will not be part of the fast fashion circle of spending. Did you know that, according to EcoWach, the fashion industry is the 2nd biggest polluter in the world? So not only does your house get messy when you keep buying new stuff you are getting our planet into a pretty big mess too. I get my clothes from a great shop we have in our city that's called ''Free shop''. It's a space intended for the trade of used goods. If you have a good coat or a tv that works and you have no need for them but you are in need of new shoes or a cage for your hamster you go there and you leave your used goods and pick up something you need that was left by someone else. I love the concept of trading goods for goods, not just goods for money. I get all my clothes and shoes from there (and from hand me downs from my friends) and I occasionally volunteer there and I really enjoy it. It is a project made by Šibenska Udruga Mladih - ''Š.U.M.''. (Šibenik's youth association) and it is just one in a long list of cool and eco-friendly projects and ideas they have. I plan to bring all my clothes I purge there. There is also a ''Buvljak'' in one of Šibeniks best clubs/cafes Azimut. The Caffe provides space for folks who have extra stuff they want to get rid of and they can sell or trade it for other goods there. I bet your town also has lot's of places like this if you just search for them.

4. HELPING HAND - Always lend a helping hand to others. Maybe your neighbor needs someone to chop some wood for him or your grandma needs someone to drive her to the store or your local youth or parenting organization is in need of volunteers. Either way, you can always lend a helping hand to someone and I am a true believer in the ''you get what you give'' saying so I have no doubt that if you truly and with a pure heart help a person, or even an animal, in need it will be repaid back to you. There is a great project in Zagreb called ''''Biciklopopravljaona''''. The concept behind Biciklopopravljaona (or BicPop as it’s more commonly known) is to provide space, tools, and advice on how to repair a bicycle to anyone who wants it. They have a wide range of bike tools and volunteers are available to help you fix anything you don’t know how to do yourself. There’s no charge for their help either.

5. HAND-IN-HAND - This is just spending time together with others. That may be your loved one you decided to move in with after a longterm relationship or it may mean spending time with your grandpa, kids, friends or even meeting face to face with your fellow steemers. It's about being genuinely present and engaged when together. Passionately debating, sharing experiences, cooking together, reading to your kids, playing sports. Whatever it is, just make it loving and genuine and be really present. Don't be with them and think about all you need to do and places you need to be other than with them. Put your phone down. Hell, lock the damn thing away. And fully engage in the interaction with your fellow human. Or dog. Or cat. Or iguana. Or bunny. Especially your bunny. Who am I to judge. Whoever makes you happy. Just be there, eye to eye and hand in hand.

Free Shop in Šibenik. Photos by my talented friend @sanjalydia

It's still January so if you liked some of the things I wrote about today and want to implement them in your day to day life you can make them your New Years' Resolution. If you do so, be sure to tell me which one it is in the comments and steem about them using the tag #nyr so I can find you and give you my two cents.

The world is in my hands by Pan Sin Yi, age 15. Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur (2015). Third place winner for ages 12 and older.''Image: International Cartographic Association''

And just to pay a small homage to one of my favorite singers ever who passed away <3 My girlhood would never be as movieshly magical without her.