The Art of Imperfection

Haha ok apologies in advance if this post sounds a bit frivolous. 

Just wanted to share a small tip I learnt when I was at the hair salon last saturday that fills me with a very strange sense of happiness (as in I don't know why I am so happy also).

You see, I always wondered how people could get hair partings that looked so natural. For years, what I'd do is to comb my hair up when it's wet, find the parting and then comb it straight down on both ends. Which often left me with a "perfectly straight" parting.

The stylist shared that I should find the parting when it's wet, and refrain from combing it through again when I blow dry, leaving it to fall naturally on its own. Finally,  I should leave a small gap at the front and comb perpendicularly straight down at the parting, towards the back of my head and just leave it to dry.

It's just that simple! I don't know why I took so long to ask. I guess things often look unattainable until we discover how do-able they are.

Kenny's Tips: Recycled Materials

I have more photos of my drawers after cleaning and updating them. Added a scotch tape dispenser at the back of this one, which can come in handy (found it unused in the study room downstairs). Today, I shall continue sharing Kenny's Tips, covering: organization with recycled materials!

One thing I find super useful are boxes and little containers, such as those you might receive gifts in. I flatten the ugly cardboard ones and recycle them straightaway. But I've always kept a small collection of quaint lil' boxes, not knowing what to do with them. They could have been sentimental keepsakes, subconscious pillars, or worse still, signs of a hoarder to be born.

However, somewhere between ending my career in the university and beginning another in the hospital, I got inspired by sites like Workawesome, and got to creating a functional workspace for myself. And while trying to organize the first — and most accessible — drawer with the things I use most for work — stationery — it struck me that I could make use of the boxes to segment the space, so things don't just roll all over the place when I open and close my drawers. So I whipped the boxes out and worked them like a jigsaw puzzle, fitting pieces not meant to be together with each other.

I like that my stationery and organizational boxes don't look like a sterile minimalist set; they look like they were collected over time, over places. And within that pastiche are personal memories attached: the two clear plastic boxes at the left are from City Chain where my Dad bought my current K-Swiss watch; the two blue ones on the right housed a pair of Oakley sunglasses, given by my army peeps when I ORD-ed; some of the stationery, previously imprisoned in my box for sentimental stuff, like pencils, Hello Kitty eraser, one of the rulers, were given by classmates; other stationery were garnered all over the house, some I used since sec sch, jc, uni.

I like this idea of recycling materials for organization. They don't incur cost. I imbue them a sense of renewed purpose. Interestingly, while everyone at home used to hunt high and low for stationery in pockets of spaces all over the house where stationery could be, only to ask my mum, "where is the -insert tool- ar?" at the end of the day, nowadays, they just comes into my room, take it, use it, and put it back. I think this fits into one of my goals for Room domain: Every item in the room has a space where it belongs.

So I've shared some tools I use to support me through my journey towards awesomeness. What are some tips and tools you use?

Kenny's Tips: Receipt Holders

Welcome to a new series on Kenny's Tips, where Kenny shares little random tricks he uses to perk himself up on the journey towards A Better Self.

Today's tip involves both the Room domain, and probably Finances domain. In my drawer, I hold all my credit card receipts, until I've settled payment. In the past, they'd fly around in the drawer and become a ridiculous mess. I had to re-organize everything and it was hard to keep track if I've already paid a particular bill. Last year when I had some spare plastic sheet, I cut out small strips and with the labeller at work, I made them into holders!

So I have three of these small holders, for three of my credit cards. With that, the receipts are sorted and clipped nicely into the respective groups. Now, my purchases can be verified and the (non-sensitive) receipts can be recycled after I've settled the bills. It's also a nice clean way to visually keep track of which card I'm using more and what my credit card expenses could be just by seeing how many receipts I've accumulated (though it's also included in my expense budget). I like that it's made with recycled material, I didn't buy anything new, and I've been using it for months and I find it useful for me — no more Drawer of Flying Receipts! Simple & Happy.

At the risk of letting you know what's in my personal drawers, here's seeing it in action:

Click for bigger picture