Use It Up and Wear It Out

A scarf about to be rehomed ...

With the words of the 80's disco hit ringing in my ears, this has basically been my theme tune for January - in order to clear the clutter I need to Use It Up and Wear It Out - or get rid of it.  Yes, I've felt the need to have a serious declutter and, in particular, my creative space which also doubles up as the spare bedroom (or is it the spare bedroom that doubles up as my creative space?) has become a bit of a dumping ground over the past few weeks and its seriously been getting in the way of my creativity.  Feng Shui experts believe that clutter is stagnant energy that has knock on effects both physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  Apparently junk and clutter can hold us back and by clearing what is not needed, we can transform our lives.

To make my task less daunting, I'm tackling things a little at a time, in fact it may even take me all year, because I am a bit of a hoarder and hate to throw anything away which might just come in useful one day and I also hate sending anything to landfill.  But now I'm starting to realise that if I nolonger have a use for something, then perhaps someone else will.  So this is my new goal for the year as I'd like my life and home to feel more streamlined from now on.

I started by getting rid of all the clothes that are too big for me as I'm a dress size smaller than I was this time last year and I don't intend to put the weight back on again.  It feels good to have given other people the benefit of my unwanted clothing via the charity shop and the clothes bank.

I'm going through the cupboards and seeing if there's anything I really need to hang on to - so decisions are now being made - use/repair/e-bay/give away etc, etc.  This is where "use it up and wear it out" comes in - suddenly I'm lighting candles every day (how come I've stock-piled so many?!).

I've even managed to recycle one of the old candle jars as bathroom storage now for my lipstick and lipgloss collection.

I've been rummaging through the kitchen cupboards and I've also been out in the garden and started clearing weeds, dead plants and anything that doesn't need to be there.  Its a big garden and lots to do but half an hour's effort here and there and I'll be making progress.  One of the veggie growing areas was cleared last week-end and new compost added but looking a little too inviting for the cats who may be tempted by a "just outside the cat flap" toilet facility in the cold weather, I felt the need to fill the space with cat deterring obstacles.

with the weeds cleared and new compost added, the back door veggie beds are full of new energy and ready to do their job of providing home grown veggies in the spring - I just need to decide what to grow in this space this year ....

newly dug and composted soil with cat deterrents