Thursday 11 November 2010

Working on Clutterbusting philosophy 2

Morgan and Ian - it is the, 'you never know, it might come in useful.' feeling. The feelings from parents brought up in the war. Darling father saves all screws, nails etc, because you just couldn't get them. Now you can buy them for pennies in Wilkinsons.

Part of me doesn't want to buy them for pennies at Wilkinsons because I don't want to spend any money at all. Part of me is frustrated when something perfectly usable has to be thrown out. At one point I saved all the formula tins for little bear, as they were a great size. But anything damp rusted them, and they just mounted up. The day I thought, knickers to this lot, was a wonderful day of liberation. However I was still desperately frustrated that while they went into the recycling bin they were, potentially, extremely useful. I also hate the amount that goes to the landfill. Because I am struggling to get to ebay or charity shops - even before the shoulder incident I was so tired - I often don't have any other choice but to get rid of stuff into the bin.

It is a huge clash of philosophies and feelings. I don't want to add to landfill, I don't want to have to keep buying expensive (okay, inexpensive) food containers when I have a perfectly good bucket formerly holding honey. I don't want to buy a box for nails when I have perfectly good former Vanish tubs. I love having things handy to store yet another of little bear's treasures.

I also feel comforted by large quantities of bedding, especially blankets - no idea why. And I feel really comforted at the bulging cupboards and stocks of supplies.

BUT I HAVE NO ROOM

(and another Approved Food order on the way)

2 comments:

Ian said...

Why on earth did you order stuff from Approved Foods when your cupboards are already bulging at the seams?

The question of whether something is useful or not can be answered, partly, by whether you actually have stuff to put IN the said container. If not, then you have no use for it. And if you're not going to put something in it in the next 6 months, then you're not going to be using it either.

Morgan said...

I suspect that WS suffers, as I do, from a tendency to buy things when they are on offer because when she and I actually run out of said item, it may not be on offer and we will be kicking ourselves for not buying it when it was! Hence I have 3 packets of 4 loo rolls and 2 packets of 9, all on the shelves in the utility room, because they are on offer and a brand I like. I have a huge temptation to buy even more when I go to the shop which has them on offer and I am having to work hard to resist!