August 5, 2009 at 12:26 pm (Consumption, Gratitude)
Tags: de-cluttering, Gratitude, hoarding
So part of this project has been the one-in-one-out policy, which has been making me a little fanatical. I have been trawling through the house looking at ’stuff’ I can get rid of.
The surprising result has been the re-discovery of some really nice, and useful things. Knowing what we actually have has also made me feel very grateful for the many things we do own, and has lessened the urge to buy more.
This has started me thinking about the role of gratitude within consumerism. I wish that I had started the project last year by being more grateful for what I owned already as this, I now believe, is an essential foundation for beginning to re-define my relationship with stuff, consumerism and modern lifestyles. So often, projects such as this start from a place of sacrifice and deprivation – to go without, to cut back, to have less. It becomes ‘work’.
Whereas if the mental mindset was of abundance – being grateful about how much we had, rather than what we lacked, the urge to have more, to consume, would have been less.
-Tammy
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July 6, 2008 at 10:41 am (Buy Nothing New)
Tags: Buy Nothing New, de-cluttering, hoarding, stuff
Defining the project:
Yes folks, I can still buy shampoo and shower gel ……BUT…… first I want to use up every little end-of-bottle and sample bottle I can find – girls you know what I mean. At the age of 32, I have been “making house” for almost ten years, and the stuff that has been collected is frightening. It reminds be of a tide-line of plastic tut that use to wash up on Cornish beaches.
So only until there is no shampoo in the house, may I buy more …… BUT …… one bottle of what I need. No ‘oooh, this looks good’ or ‘that looked good on TV’ or ‘my girlfriend swears by this stuff’. This applies to shampoo, conditioner and shower gel. I will also need hand cream, as my knuckles swell and crack since my pregnancy. But that is it. No trips to ‘Lush’ or any other shop, no matter how ethical their products.
I went into the roof to hunt for something that I thought I could use. My Gods! What a lot of stuff! Surely it is time to re-assess it. Not buying, for us, is about challenging materialism and consumerism, not about hoarding. It is about re-addressing our relationship to stuff. I guess those good folks at Freecycle are about to be gifted with many a treat from the attic and shed!
- Tammy
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