on throwing things out
my friends and i were talking the other day about how many of our parents and grandparents are borderline hoarders.
to give a bit of context, we are all asian-americans with immigrant parents and/or grandparents.
one of my friends brought up how it's probably because they grew up with very little, so reusing things and spending as little as possible was important.
my friend said, "they think, 'it's a perfectly fine box, why throw it out?'"
what's interesting is that somehow this mentality has been passed on to me and some of my friends as well, albeit things are a little different.
i have a tendency to buy a bunch of things once i get into a new hobby or interest, and when the motivation dies down, i'm just left with a bunch of unused items.
i won't keep an old box because it's "perfectly fine" but i'll keep things because i feel that it's a waste to throw out something that i haven't used or barely used.
it's like when you keep something in your closet thinking, "i'm definitely gonna wear this someday," or "i can definitely come up with an outfit using this," but you never really do.
btw the above is something i also do lol.
in terms of my household, my parents aren't exactly hoarders, but they're always too busy to really clean out the house.
we have a lot of old clothing, machines, and miscellaneous things lying around the house that could probably be thrown out, but no one has found a good reason to do so.
however, i'm starting to run out of storage in my room.
and as things start to ooze out of their designated spots, i get more and more overwhelmed.
but doing a huge cleanup of everything would take a lot of time and energy which i am not sure i have in me.
the thought of it makes me dizzy and puts a knot in my stomach honestly.
so, i started just throwing out one thing a day.
if i'm ambitious i'll throw out two. or three!
starting is always the hardest part, but once i do get started, i tend to keep going until i finish.
one day when i have more time maybe i'll tackle a section or a group of things (like my third drawer or something).
it's still hard to throw out things that have barely been used or are new.
but i think it's important to tell myself, if i'm not going to use it, and it's not feasible to sell it, donate it, or recycle it, then it probably should just be thrown out.
today i threw out a partially used lip mask; i got a new one that worked better so why was i holding onto it anyway?
baby steps.
but as long as i'm still moving forward, right?