It has been a really long time since I’ve last deep clean my room as my excuse is that I have been busy at work and do not have time to even clean up my own mess, not to mention that I’ve been away and out of the country near the Chinese New Year for the past few years (cheers to more excuses!).
But 2018 is different as we have quite a few major changes lined up throughout the year, so naturally, we are putting things in place in preparation for those changes. One of them is a major clean up for our house.
So what better time (an excuse) than to clean it up for Chinese New Year? Every Chinese descendant is now busy preparing for the festival which is just around the corner. The same goes for my family and household. So what do you do with all the rubbish or old stuff that you no longer need or want? BLESS Shop organised their annual donation drive over the weekend with Sin Chew Jit Poh in section 19 and all our unwanted stuff, which are still in good condition were sent there. BLESS Shop channels all the donation back into their shop, so that the less fortunate can shop there and pay whatever that they can afford. They also redirect some of the resources to the refugees and children’s homes. Bless ’em for such a kind and loving act!
The cleaning was such a hassle at home, but the drive-through donation process was such a breeze in comparison. Since this is an annual event, the team has probably worked out the perfect system over the years for the public to just drive in with a full load of items that they would like to donate, in a drive-through fashion. All we needed to do was to follow the instructions of driving up the queue, and once you stopped the car, the volunteers were there to help unload the items. You just need to tell them what is in the bag, and they will be able to put it in the right pile, then off you go. That’s it! The whole process has taken a maximum of say, 2 minutes? Versus the hours and days that we have put in to clean our house and sort out the items into the different bags.
During the cleaning up, I came to realise that I have 2 major possessions – clothes and books. I have purchased wayyyy too many clothes and wayyyy too many books. It was a tough job having to part with them, and that is also when I realised that I probably am a hoarder too! But I have told myself that I have to follow the criteria that I’ve set, and that is any piece of clothing that has not been worn for more than 2 years, it goes into the bag. Any books that have not been touched for the past 3 years, it goes into the bag too.
But….there are always things that you will not part with regardless, such is my Harry Potter and Shopaholic series. Those went into a box for safekeeping. Same goes for my LBDs and winter clothing as they required quite a lot of investment when I was making the purchase initially. So they too went into the box for safekeeping. So did I end up giving away much? Yes of course! I gave away one full bag of clothing, a stack of books that I no longer read, and in fact, some of my old pieces of jewellery too! My parents gave away a bag of clothes each as well. It felt good knowing that whatever that we have given away will be redirected to better usage and along the way, it will help the less fortunate to be on a more levelled playing field. On the bigger scale, we are also recycling so that we create fewer wastages and rubbish for planet earth.
(photo credit: BLESS Shop Facebook page)
Moving forward, I will make it a point to clean up and join this campaign once a year. In fact, I will pledge to use more secondhand and recycled item to do my little part in saving planet earth by reducing the wastages. If all of us can do a little part in that, Mother Nature will thank us by rewarding us with less natural disasters and better air quality. That is my sincere belief.
So people, do your bit to save the earth so that we can all live a bit longer on it.
If you have missed the donation drive, not to worry, you can always drop the things off to any of the 7 BLESS Shop outlets located in and around the Klang Valley. Check out their Facebook page here for more info. While you are at it, check out the list of unique charities in Malaysia by clicking here.
PS: I was too busy with the cleaning and dragging the bags around, no photos were taken. All photos in this article were taken from the BLESS Shop Facebook page and all credits go to the photographer who has taken them. Will put a mental note to take pictures at every stage in the future.