If you have been keeping up with my minimalism journey, then you would have known that I am in the process of decluttering and organizing my room (and hopefully life). This was no easy feat as I have a lot of things and stuff but I am happy to say that I have made progress. A minimalist life may just be possible for me after all. 

The first thing I did after making the commitment was to read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. In this book, she talks about the "KonMari" method of tidying up, which is basically throwing away everything that doesn't bring you joy. I wasn't quite able to throw away everything that didn't bring me joy. I insisted on keeping some things that made me miserable because I don't need too much joy in my life. Life is about balance after all. 

The first thing I tackled was my closet. Believe it or not, this is my closet after some major tidying and decluttering. I got rid of 2 giant bags of clothes that did not bring me joy and reorganized my closet by color. Or at least I tried to. 

The book also suggested storing socks rolled up and vertical in boxes so I gift wrapped 2 shoe boxes and did that, in the hopes of changing my life. 

The next order of business was my desk. My desk is both too large and never large enough at the exact same time Yeah, I don't know either. Using those David's Tea tins as pencil holders was a great idea though. 

And of course, my vanity. The bane of my minimalist existence. I threw out as much makeup as my heart could handle but I insisted on keeping all my blue lipsticks that I never wear. Sometimes you just gotta do the best you can and let Jesus take the wheel. This might not look very tidy to you but I assure you it is a vast improvement. 

Now some before and afters:

See? Told you it was a vast improvement. I am fairly proud of myself. It's been a few weeks since I tidied and I am proud to say that my room still looks the same. I plan to continue decluttering and tidying until my room is just a blank box of nothingness. Just kidding. But I do want to downsize my giant mass of belongings so that I am only surrounded by things that I really like. This means no more hoarding, buying new things only if I really love them, and throwing away things that are no longer useful. 

Welcome to the new (tidier) chapter of my life. Woohoo.