Assalamualaikum wbt and peace be upon you,
You know, I browse 'The Simply Luxurious Life' blog everyday and tonight I saw the writer mentioned the 'Miss Minimalist' blog. When I took a look at the blog, I feel very excited coz my mom has been practising almost all of what she suggested. So maybe I can call my mom, Mrs Minimalist huh?
.
Anyway, these are some of the items that are similar to what my mom does:
.
1. Sleep on mattress on the floor. My mom got rid of the bed after baby bro died.(There's a story behind this, but I'll tell you later). However, we children still have our own beds.
.
2. Have naked windows. (Yes, the bay window in our hall is naked, coz dad put up blinds at the deck. However, my mom has purchased a curtain last week and it will be ready next week. When I asked my mom why she suddenly feels that we need a curtain, she says she'd like to draw the blinds to get the lights in.However, she said she bought the cheapest material and it cost her only RM96.00. (Some of my neighbours have curtains which cost thousands of ringgit and I think it's a waste of money. I'd rather spend it on a holiday, don't you?).
.
3Television. We had 2 sets of TV but when one exploded after my mom rearranged its place, we are left with one, and my mom says that's enough.
4.Collectibles.We don't collect anything, except my dad. My mom can't tell my dad to give up his collections, and we have to respect his decisions. but basically my mom does not encourage us to collect and hoard.
.
5.Books. We hardly buy any books nowadays. Whatever books that we don't want will be sent to my mom's friend who's an Associate Professor with the understanding that if one day we wish to get our hands on the books again, he'll give the books back to us.Now when we want to read, we'd borrow or look up ebooks. We used to have a mini library at home but now we have only one shelving unit of books and my mom is planning to downsize further (but my dad does not like the idea, so my mom is cooling off for the time being).
.
6.Kitchenware. My mom does not collect sets and sets of china or silverware like my grandma. In fact she hates it. We are so deprived of chinas that my dad's friend, Uncle John who came back from the United Kingdom decided to donate one of his beautiful collections to us. My mom only uses it when visitors come. As for us, we keep on using the mismatched plates and whatnot.
.
7.Bank Accoount. My mom used to have many bank accounts. But now she has none. When she went to her bank recently with my dad to terminate her last remaining current account, the bank manager hugged her twice (upon seeing her and when she was leaving). Mom only has the Pilgrimage Account now while dad maintains one bank account and the Pilgrimage Account. We also don't have any bank accounts except for the Pilgrimage accounts.
.
8.Heirlooms. My mom got a set of beautiful vintage gold and diamond jewelery from my dad's aunt. However, she gave it away to her sister-in-law (My dad's sister). She also sold off all her gold jewellery. And finally, she gave away her diamond wedding ring to another sister-in-law (my mak long) coz she said the ring was purchased by my late grandfather and not my dad. She only keeps the engagement ring which is truly bought by my dad.
.
9.Wardrobe. My siblings and I still have many clothes coz my mom says we are still young and we need to enjoy wearing nice clothes. My dad has downsized his wardrobe from three wardrobes/closets? to two. My mom has downsized her wardrobe to a suitcase.
.
Gift. In the Miss Minimalist's blog, she writes that she prefers her friends' and family's presence over presents. However, my parents are the opposite of this. They like to give presents. However, they give practical presents only. I know coz when I travel with them, they already have a list of what presents to buy to whom. However, they hardly buy anything for themselves. And if their friends gave them money as a gift before their travel, they'd use the money to buy presents for the friends and not spent it on themselves.
.
Perfume. This is another item that we can't do without coz we Muslims must wear perfume. So, my dad would spend on this.But when I read Miss Minimalist's post on perfume, I think we have to reconsider. Actually my mom went without perfume for many years before coz she said perfumes contain skatool (something which is derived from human or animal waste (human stooll???) which takes up the smell of the perfume a notch or so (correct me if I'm wrong), so it's haram and cannot be used when praying. Nowadays she uses perfumes which are made in Saudi Arabia. I wonder if the perfumes contain skatool or not.
.
There are also other items but those are also against what Miss Minimalist wrote. I'll continue to update on this when I've got the idea hokay.
.
Happy living.
Peace
Daniel Zaydi
*Sorry, the spelling is Skatole (I've looked up Wikipedia).
No comments:
Post a Comment