It Feels Like I Have An Amazon Warehouse In My Cupboards and Wardrobe

My home feels like it’s packed to the rafters with ‘Stuff’.

Now that I’m retired, the pace of life is so much slower. However, I still seek constant challenges every day. Perhaps after a lifetime of plugging into constantly being busy and striving, I’m still addicted to the satisfaction of achieving.

When I had a full-time job, a side hustle of Mystery Shopping, and running an Airbnb at weekends, all at the same time, there was very little time for anything else.

My days were filled, so too were my shopping bags. I’d buy things, often telling myself that I actually needed ‘this thing’ or ‘that thing’ without too much thought. I was so busy that I couldn’t afford to walk away and come back ‘later’ — probably because there wasn’t a ‘later’.

… And so the headlong dash into rampant consumerism took up what little free time I had left in my hectic life.

We’re Making A Bonfire Of The Entire World

Our shopping habits are starting to have a real impact on the world. Very little of what we buy is recycled; many things can’t be recycled once they reach the end of their useful life.

If you had told me twenty or maybe even thirty years ago that old, rusty metal advertising signs would be worth a lot of money, I probably wouldn’t have believed it. But now I watch them sell for serious money at auction.

My shopaholic tendencies have been justified in my mind. There are four seasons in the northern hemisphere where I live in Europe: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, and I need clothes, underwear, shoes, boots, and handbags for all the changes of weather.

I also needed smart business dress for work, smart casual clothes for Mystery Shopping, and socialising. Gardening clothes and waterproof footwear; hygienic clothes for cooking and baking. Warm jackets and coats in the winter, gilets and scarves for the spring and autumn, beachwear for the summer.

And, as you can see, it is a small fortune to maintain even a modest lifestyle.

Add to the mix all the things you need to make a home comfortable, and to have the tools to fix broken items or renovate your home — the amount of ‘stuff’ becomes enormous.

Now, however, these days I’m more selective. I try to choose items with a variety of uses and adapt them.

There was a great series on the BBC, which has just finished, entitled ‘The Great British Sewing Bee’. It's still available on BBC iPlayer. Every week, there is a section for ‘Reuse and Re-cycle’ which I love.

Many clothes can be altered by replacing buttons and adding trim, or wearing with different accessories.

My quest is now to use all my clothes in one way or another to get the most out of them, and to stretch my imagination.

I hope you enjoy looking at your possessions with ‘new eyes’ and see endless possibilities.

Thank you for reading to … The End