448 items short of 2016

Remember back in March last year when I hit on the slightly crazy idea of having a declutter with a difference? The idea was I'd try and replicate the idea I'd read about where a family committed to throw away the same number of items as the year, and they did this for more than one year. I was curious to see how many things we would get rid of, and not starting until March made it a tougher task.

But it started well, by June there was only 1778 items to go and I was pleased with the progress I'd made. But by October I was disappointed with the progress I'd made, as there was still 992 items to get rid of. 

And for the first time I seriously began to wonder if I'd get anywhere close to 2016 items. And I almost gave up.

Almost.

But I didn't. 

In November I had a bit of a pause, a disheartened pause I guess. But realising that wasn't helping get near to the target, I started to throw more things away.

  • I cleared out my craft supplies and all the things I thought I might use one day, well I went through those and quite a few that I would probably never use, were recycled or thrown away.
  • We replaced some everyday glasses - with these from TK Maxx - but sent more to the charity shop.
  • Packaging. Somehow I still had quite a lot of this. Well no more.
  • Old bills. No not that kind of old Bill, the paper sort. At a rough guess I shredded almost ninety, with some going back to 2013. Technically I still have the shredded bills, as they're in a sack in the greenhouse, ready to add to the compost with the grass cuttings. But I'm counting these here as they've decluttered the house and are waiting to be put to better use.  I could have recycled these, but then I would potentially have had slimy clumps of grass in the compost; mixing shredded paper in with the grass cuttings as it's added, avoids this. 
  • Bras. Old but not knackered ones.  I've sent a small package to Smalls for All, a charity who collect underwear to help women and children in Africa.

So, with those and more I'm still 448 items short of the 2016.  Given where I was in October I'm pleased, but the things I thought were dead certs to get rid of - like the old Dyson, a plethora of pictures, some china and an old coffee machine - we still have. 

That's pretty frustrating, especially that old Dyson. I've tried to get rid of that a few times, but MOH has always said, we've one more project to do where it'll be useful, and so it's stayed. Although today, he said we should get rid of it and it's as much as I could do not to stop myself from wheeling it out to the front of the house and hoping it might find itself a new home. But I resisted, because I'm sure there's a more ethical way of finally getting rid of this.

In ten months I've got rid of 1,568 items, which is quite some going. It's not the 2016 items I'd aimed for, and that's disappointing, but it's not bad going is it?

I do wonder how much closer I'd have got if I'd started in January though...  I thought about carrying on until March, but then it wouldn't be 2016 would it? But don't worry, I've no plans to repeat the process, but it was interesting to see how much we've thrown away.  

I will though carry on clearing things out, as with immaculate timing only yesterday MOH said the dreaded "we have too much stuff, we need to have a clear out..."  Which is where I think this started!  It's clearly a cyclical thing. 

Are you in the process of decluttering? Could you get rid of 2017 items this year?

The Salvage Sitting Room for #NationalUpcyclingDay

I saw earlier in the week that it was #NationalUpcyclingDay today, and while there seems to be a day for everything now - yesterday was National Pink Day (!) - the upcycling one reminded me of a display by Remade in Britain that we saw at Grand Designs Live back in May. So I thought I'd dig out those photos and share them with you today.

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You've probably seen airline chairs as easy chairs before, we watched a programme recently on how various parts of a plane could be reused. And yes that magazine rack is made of the tables that flip down often when you don't want them to on a plane. In the right space both of these would be quirky additions and definitely a talking point.  And for this one at least there won't be the person in front that insists on reclining their chair all the way back!

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The upcycled Jerry Can looked more use to me - and I love that it's still carrying precious liquid...

A JERRY CAN MINI-BAR

A JERRY CAN MINI-BAR

ANOTHER USE FOR PALLETS

ANOTHER USE FOR PALLETS

You may be thinking these aren't very homely, but things are about to change. There was a rug made out of plastic bottles:

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A revamped sideboard, looking way more stylish than its original 1970s brown colour

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Some leaded window artwork and pictures glued onto scrap blocks of wood which made an effective paperweight and picture, and would be a good and relatively cheap way to introduce some pictures into a room.

My favourite was the demijohn lamp, with its funky cord and matching lampshade I think this would also be a cost effective way of having a unique lamp. The drunken Jaegermeister bottle made me smile too, now repurposed for oils and vinegars it'd look great for those al fresco meals when the weather warms up again.

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This chair also caught my eye, it'd been decoupaged with vintage papers which gave it its unique look. With a coat or two of varnish this should be hardwearing enough for regular use, but wouldn't it just look great in a home office?

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I like the idea of giving old things a new chance of life, but don't do it nearly as much as I'd like to. I'm repainting some old iron garden chairs and giving them a bit of a revamp and when they're finished I'm sure I'll share them on here, but in the meantime for more upcycyling inspiration I'm pinning things onto my Upcycling Pinterest Board

Happy National Upcycling Day!

 

Home Etc

Recycling food waste

Well you may think I'm odd but recycling food waste is something I feel strongly about. We've composted vegetable peelings for as long as I can remember, and when our local council introduced a green bin I was all for that too.  Not only does it take all of the food waste we can't compost, such as bread, bones and fat (once it's cooled down) it helps us shift the garden waste we don't have room for in our two compost bins.   Remember the fun (!?) and how much compost we got from the first one, yes the one that looked like a Dalek... well the second one's due for emptying soon, so we'll be enjoying some more mucky fun in the next few weeks!

Anyway, I digress a little. Recycling food waste is something we can all do and it's not as bad, smelly or gross as you think. I promise. Last year the people at Recycle Now asked on Twitter for tips on how to recycle food waste, so off I tweeted about my under counter food bins which I was determined to incorporate in our new kitchen.

So when Recycle Now got in touch and asked if I'd be willing to go on film and talk about recycling food waste, I did. There's nothing like putting your money where your mouth is, is there?  You can watch my video, filmed in my kitchen last December showing how I recycle food waste here:

Do you recycle food waste and have other tips to share? And if you don't yet recycle your food waste, are you reconsidering that decision?