No buying until I’ve used up ALL my stashes

jackieblack

Brambleberry said:

jackieblack said:

I’ve just Googled 1970s Nescafe jars and realised that my Dad has a whole shelf of them in his garage, holding screws/nails/washers etc - they’ve been there as long as I can remember so I guess my mum brought them when they were full of Nescafe originally.  

Finally! I've always wondered what the jar was from that my gran used as a salt cellar. She kept a little blue tbsp measuring spoon in it as a scoop. Now trying not to let myself fall down an ebay rabbit hole!

I’ve remembered that my grannie also had a row of these on a shelf in her kitchen with all the things in that she used frequently - one had salt in and one had sugar but none had labels and we had to be careful that we used the right one! I remember one had oxo cubes in and, I think, one might have had cornflour 🤔 

jackieblack

DiamondLil said:

Welcome, DiamondLil 🙂
Well done on your ‘Declutterber’ - are you finished using up your food stash or will that continue into the new year?

Er, no, not nearly finished;  I have a lot of dried goods, freezer still at least half full, and some canned (bottled) stuff still to use.

I grew up in the fifties when war rationing was still a very recent memory for my parents and grandparents. So am deeply enshrined in the "full larder" mentality. If only I was as good at collecting money.

I can understand that 🙂
I live in a fairly rural area and, in the past, we have experienced periods of being snowed in and not being able to get to the shops so I feel I need to have at least a fortnight’s worth of food in stock ‘just in case’ - more recently, the prospect of potentially having to self isolate and being unable to get a supermarket delivery has reinforced this.

At least using up the stocks = buying less for a while, so hopefully you’ve been able to squirrel the ‘unspent’ funds away or utilise them differently 

Caramac

Can I join. I need to reduce my stash of toiletries and yarn which has been an ongoing though unsuccessful target. I retired during 2022 and have started dressmaking again and dabbling in patchwork and am acquiring stashes of fabric faster than I can use it. I also have a couple of embroidery kits to make up.

My problem is that I like what I have in my stashes so don’t wanted to declutter it but also don’t want to add to it.

Sometime in January I am going to tackle the wardrobe of doom where a lot of it is stored.

jackieblack

Welcome, Caramac (I used to love Caramac bars as a teenager 😁)

I’m the same, I bought this stuff because I liked it and wanted to use it - I plan to declutter it by using it for the purpose it was purchased for! 

Katiehound

It's made more difficult if you have a squirrel in your family tree!

I suspect I have a whole forest filled with squirrels and their hordes.

guilty as charged: yarn, fabric, card making stuff etc....... bits of which do get used.

Struggling under a paper mountain- all this stuff that needs filing, torn out recipes that might never get made and so on.
Really tried to declutter last year (yes 2021) but somehow it didn't work.

Will press on with the kitchen. One day soon I am going to have to tackle the plastic boxes with no lids/ wrong lids. that will be a .. ....marathon.

So far have filled a large shopping bag with things for charity shop & given quite a few dishes away. Drop in the ocean, except I can now get the slow cookers put away.

wondercollie

I originally found MSE by joining the makeup/toilletries stash busting thread.  It's still going strong.

I have too much of everything.   There I finally said it.

I have wool/yarn for future projects.  Embroidery and needlepoint kits.   Books galores and more makeup than I can use in this lifetime (I spend ages today looking for a Clarin's lip oil that I just can't find).

So, tomorrow, all the makeup stuff is getting dumped on the bed and sorted.  It's in various containers in a rough sort but I also know that there are things I will never, ever use.  So, I'm boxing that stuff up and taking it in to work.   I've done it before and the younger women I work with love seeing what appears.

My excuse for the craft supplies is that when I retire, I won't be able to spend the money on a needlepoint kit because I like it.

I'm a bit better on the book buying front as I started using our library more.   The books I do buy are usually read and swapped out when we are on holiday.

newlywed

Caramac said:

Can I join. I need to reduce my stash of toiletries and yarn which has been an ongoing though unsuccessful target. I retired during 2022 and have started dressmaking again and dabbling in patchwork and am acquiring stashes of fabric faster than I can use it. I also have a couple of embroidery kits to make up.

My problem is that I like what I have in my stashes so don’t wanted to declutter it but also don’t want to add to it.

Sometime in January I am going to tackle the wardrobe of doom where a lot of it is stored.

I read one tip on craft decluttering… write a list of ALL the craft projects in your head that you are planning for… yeah, loads.

then put them in order of what you would love to do first…

then when you get to number 30, ask yourself when exactly you think you will get to it and whether you honestly need to add any more to the list.

And yes I am a crocheting, bead hoarder, stationery addict… who occasionally sews small projects.
but did give up cross stitch, knitting, stamping, card making, teddy bear making… erm yeah 

jackieblack

wondercollie said:

I originally found MSE by joining the makeup/toilletries stash busting thread.  It's still going strong.

I have too much of everything.   There I finally said it.

I have wool/yarn for future projects.  Embroidery and needlepoint kits.   Books galores and more makeup than I can use in this lifetime (I spend ages today looking for a Clarin's lip oil that I just can't find).

So, tomorrow, all the makeup stuff is getting dumped on the bed and sorted.  It's in various containers in a rough sort but I also know that there are things I will never, ever use.  So, I'm boxing that stuff up and taking it in to work.   I've done it before and the younger women I work with love seeing what appears.

My excuse for the craft supplies is that when I retire, I won't be able to spend the money on a needlepoint kit because I like it.

I'm a bit better on the book buying front as I started using our library more.   The books I do buy are usually read and swapped out when we are on holiday.

All the best with your makeup sort - I don’t wear makeup so that’s one thing I don’t have a stash of! (🎉)

Books though… I have to plead guilty 😁 - I don’t count these as a stash though, more like friends who reside with me 

jackieblack

Happy New Year, everyone!

Joint of beef taken from the freezer last night as I have family coming today 😊 I will also be using a box of Aunt Bessie’s Yorkshire Puddings and some frozen fruit 

ariarnia

i'm going to join this if i can. but in a limited way. we need to tackle the food situation. 

i think i've been in panicing mode since the world ended in 2020 and ive now got so much stuff (cuboard stuff mostly but also two freezers) that its bagged up in heaps in my pantry area (so i can't actually get at the stuff on the shelves) and stashed all around the house in cubprds or draws or under beds. 

not a 'problem' as its stuff that keeps and that we eat (and 6 months of cat food and 30 rolls of toilet roll!). but three years of just picking up a few extra things 'just in case' we run out or theres another lockdown or a 'supply chain problem' or most recently with inflation and prices going up. 

oh has been complaining for a while and he's right. enough is enough and we now need to move from hording mode to using mode. it also ties in with our bigger plan to try and cut our expenses down to one salary so we have more options for early retirement or doing up the house or helping the kids when there ready to spread there wings in a few years. 

first step is trying a no food spend jan (excluding school meals a couple of times a week and anything needed for cooking classes or work trips where its on expenses anyway).