Re-use

I am too creative for my own good sometimes.  Or maybe I'm just cheap.

I know that part of my clutter problem is that I have the ability to see multiple uses for lots of things, and so I hang on to them because I know I can use them again.  The pretty tins that Barnes and Noble tea comes in...I've seen tea tins used as herb planters on Pinterest.  I can put the cheap tea I buy in big cardboard boxes from the grocery store in them to keep it fresh.  Maybe I could use them like a vase...We try to avoid storing food in plastic (because the Physics teacher is pretty convinced of the science about nasty chemicals leaching from the plastic into your food), so we re-use glass containers for storage.  Peanut butter and spaghetti sauce jars are great for most things, but sometimes you just need a little container, so I've got a ton of jars from artichoke hearts and those fancy jellies you get in gift baskets.

Of course, those are easily recyclable and every so often my partner goes through and edits them.  But I really think that the root of my problem is that I love getting a second use out of anything that most people consider to be a one use item, AND I hate having spent money for something and not being able to use it forever if it's not something obviously "consumable."  To me throwing out those tea tins is just wasteful and I grew up in a family where waste was considered to be one of the seven deadly sins. 

However.

My parents don't keep things like that.  My sister doesn't.  My brother doesn't.  Just me.

My friend Polly is right that we need to think of those things as doing better "out there" if someone can use them rather than letting them take up room shut away some where in our lives.  And I don't have as much trouble getting rid of them for the move as I would if I were just trying to clear out space for myself.

Perhaps the solution is to re-phrase the question "Do I have room for this?" to "Am I willing to give up space for this?"  and to be intentional about keeping things, because I think I just sort of keep them without a lot of thought. 

I'm also committing to the 40 bag challenge, starting today, to get rid of one bag of "stuff", whether it be garbage, recycling, or donations for the next 40 days or until I run out of stuff I can truly get out of my life.  I'd like to think that I would run out of days before I run out of stuff.  I'll let you know.