A Clear-out is Great for Your Health

Can You Afford to Hoard?
Have you cleared out the boxes of excess items you keep in cupboards or your attic recently? You never know what you might find. Items that no modern person today could fit into, made from beautiful material that could be recycled. Fancy dress clothing that used to bring you delight to show your children?

Now it's 2012, how about a big clear out? You never know what you might find. Maybe, get some drinks in and invite your friends around a have a rumble through.

When you've had your fun with friends and seen how much stuff you had forgotten about, why not take it to the charity shop? If you have a particularly spectacular vintage item with a story, please post it up on this blog with a picture. If you have a memory or story associated with the item, why not post that up too and say where you have donated it?

Many charity shops use bags that you can fill and leave outside for collection.

Of a Great Vintage

With a Story Attached

Charity Shop illustration by Jenny Thorne 

Vintage
Have you ever wondered what stories the clothes you buy from charity shops could tell you, if they could talk? Have you ever found something intriguing in a pocket? As vintage clothes are as popular as ever, you never know what you might find.

Every Item Has a Story
Do you think about where an item came from, when you buy it in a charity shop? Maybe, if you are buying a pair of men's work shoes, you might try not to think about where they came from. Perhaps it's easier not to know what happened, if you are buying a wedding dress. Don't happy couples keep theirs? Or perhaps the story behind the wedding dress is romantic beyond anything Hollywood have dreamt up. We might not be able to find out what the story is, but we could always make it up. Anything from a till receipt in a back pocket (secret affair), or the original label still attached could get your imagination going. If anything comes up, please post your stories to this blog.

Celebrate your Carbon Footprint

You Don't Have To Hug Trees to Save the Planet (though it is recommended) 

Whether you admit to buying from charity shops or not (more about this later) if you do, you are helping the planet by reducing waste by recycling and re-using, therefore reducing your carbon footprint. 

The one word in the 3 Rs of Recycling that may not come naturally to frequenters of charity shoppers is Reduce. Many of us are natural hoarders. Recycle and Re-use, yes. Reduce, maybe no but it's easily rectified. 

Do you have: 

• Things you never wear because they don't fit, you don't like or they don't go with your other clothes?
• Books you have read or films you've watched and won't read or watch again?
• Items that you find you don't use?
• Things that hold memories that you would rather forget? 
• Clothes that you want to slim into, that constantly make you feel bad if you don't?
• Or, is your wardrobe bulging so much that you cannot pick out an outfit easily and end up wearing the same few items? (like me).

It may be time to do a massive clear out. It is highly therapeutic, gives you more space and most importantly, it makes it easier to get to the things that inspire you. If you ever move home, it also means you have less clearing out to do and more time to concentrate on other things (speaking from experience). 

A Good Thing Going

It is very likely you have already thought of all this. Firstly, do you accumulate plastic bags. Did you know that the common, single-use plastic bag is one of the most re-used household items? 80% of plastic bags get a second use, even as a rubbish bag. This means that people use plastic bags for their rubbish instead of buying bin liners. If you have grown a huge crop of plastic bags, why not give them to your favourite charity shop.

Also, how about hangers? If you use a dry-cleaner frequently, you may find that the amount of wire hangers in your possession increases uncontrollably like Gizmo in the film Gremlins. Never seen it? You may well find a copy in a charity shop. 

When you have created more space, then finding that special something in a charity shop feels even more satisfying.