"Use it up" - simple steps to help stay decluttered. 💚

Just a few small words that can make such a difference in your home!

The full piece of wisdom that was coined in the "Depression" era goes further - "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without". Even just embracing the “Use it up” element is is something that can really boost our decluttering efforts and perhaps more importantly, our ability to STAY decluttered over the longer term.😀

The benefits of using up toiletries, stationary (!), food, craft supplies, medicines, make up and more are clear. It will :-

· SAVE us money.

· be more ENVIRONMENTALLY friendly than overbuying.

· save precious TIME (Don't need to shop as much).

· ultimately give us MORE SPACE (less to store and clean).

· give a lovely warm feeling when you get to the end of something !

Most of us already KNOW it's a good thing to do but are we (And the people we live with!) actually DOING it?🤔

The start of a New Year (And decade!) is a perfect time to have a good ponder on this topic, question ourselves and consider the HABITS that will help. I’ve picked 3 common areas to delve into but the principles can be applied to any consumables.

1) FOOD

FOOD WASTE has been rising on the national agenda for a while due to its damaging potential Some suggest it has a similar impact to plastic waste. The stats do not make good reading. “Which?” estimates that over £15 billion worth of EDIBLE food is wasted in the UK each year (Approximately £70 per month or £840 per year for a family of 4). We can all take action on this front.

During the festivities we are likely to have had a "leftovers" meal or 2 😆. How often do we do that during the rest of the year? Is there an opportunity to plan in a weekly “Use it up dinner”? How do you shop to avoid having way too much of certain items ?

Let’s freeze items that are just about to go off, be creative with our meal planning and happily munch on ugly fruit and veg. The internet is choca block full of handy tips in this area if you’re not feeling fully inspired.

2) TOILETRIES

Despite my best “simplifying” efforts we still had more “goodies” entering the house than necessary over Christmas. T