Last night I carried on working on the little batches I began the day before, and although I've only finished one complete badge I have lots nearly finished (just needing their pinbacks & stitching together) and lining them all up makes me feel very satisfied:
In other news, I've managed a full month of my project to give something away every day in the run-up to Christmas. None of it has actually been given away yet - it's all in boxes in the spare room waiting to go to charity shops, a charity book sale, and friends & family - but the big pile I have accumulated is incredible (terrible photos, sorry!!)
Some days I have got rid of more than one thing as I had a mini-clearout that day or added, say, two t-shirts to the pile that day, but every single day since the end of October I have found something in my house which I do not need & which can now go to a better home. It's really great planning things to give away instead of just buying stuff as one normally does at this time of year, and I do love to declutter.The second month will definitely be harder than the first, but as someone who hoards endlessly "just in case" I might want something in the future I think it will be a very useful experience! I would definitely recommend a month of it - perhaps give away 24 things every December as an alternative way of celebrating Advent? I am rather tempted to add this to my Christmas traditions!
Thinking of de-cluttering, way back in April I put most of the contents of my wardrobe away to test if I ever actually wore it... and now here we are about to start December and I still have two and a bit suitcases of clothing under my bed! Some things have gone back into my wardrobe (and are now worn all the time), some have been given away as the months have passed and several are in a kind of limbo state where I'm giving them a trial run in my wardrobe before deciding whether or not to get rid.
I've also been trying not to buy new clothes, but I have rather failed at this - especially yesterday when I bought 4 totally crazy things from a charity shop on my way to the Post Office! This is the pile of new stuff I've aquired since April:
Two £2 skirts (one worn, one not yet), one orange cardigan from a free stuff party (now a wardrobe staple, FREE), one fancy Zara dress from a charity shop worn to many garden parties in the summer (£5), one crazy 70s velvet skirt bought yesterday for work (where it is COLD; £7), one slightly mental green knitted jacket that I might be giving straight back to charity in the next few weeks! (£5), 1 toasty warm orange jumper (£1.50), 1 summer wrap dress from my mother-in-law's wardrobe (FREE), 1 mustard yellow cord skirt bought yesterday (what do I wear mustard yellow with, exactly?; £4) and the only thing I've bought new: an excellent scarygoround t-shirt (£9.50).I guess that's not too bad for almost 8 months, is it? We will turn a blind eye to all the bags and jewellery I've bought from Etsy in that time and say Hurrah! :)
Inspiring stuff! That's a really good idea to give stuff away every day. It's not until you fill the back of a van with uni things which you took from home but haven't touched all year that you realise how little stuff we actually NEED. I'll be going back in 4th year with a toothbrush and a box of wool and needles.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the anti-advent is an awesome idea. One I really should be doing as well. My place is so cluttered it's ridiculous. I'm also pretty enamoured with your red flower pins. Are they poppies? Beautiful.
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