Nothing New: Lesson Learned

When at the beginning of this year Sash at Inked in Colour started her Nothing New project, I was in the process of managing and sorting our household possessions and so I thought to myself, I’ll join her. Our drawers and wardrobes were full, our cupboards were full and despite my decluttering efforts, with all the new stuff that comes with having a growing up baby, I still felt really bogged down. I felt that the Nothing New project is a perfect solution for our family and I really didn’t think that having new items would in any way add to the quality of our existence.

To firm up my resolution I decided to save the money that I would otherwise spend on my clothes and other small temptations and give them to charity towards the end of this year. Marathon runners do it. They train, they run, they sweat and they raise funds. I thought I would exercise my strong will and I’ll do the same. In the village where I grew up generosity has always been seen as a core value. I would not feel at ease with myself if I did otherwise. After all, this project is not only about buying nothing new but also about sharing. These were my purposes: decluttering and sharing – but actually there are other things at stake here… things that I have just recently learnt to fully appreciate…

There is something disconcerting about human nature and this is our capacity and tendency to neglect the old when the prospect of the new emerges… I’ve seen it many times… you must have too. Stopping the inflow of new items into your house makes you really aware of it, makes it all overt.

Perhaps the most wonderful side effect of the Nothing New project is that it makes you more caring. You care about what’s at your hand, about what’s present and about what’s around you. You care and you take pride in it because you are making a visible difference to what’s just next to you, to your surroundings and you train yourself to make the best and long-lasting use of it. You learn to truly and wholeheartedly love…

…the environment.

You don’t want to consume mindlessly or you just don’t want to consume like you used to…

…it’s no longer a comfortable norm to follow.

“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” —Jane Goodall

Nothing New: Too big to be eaten alone

My neighbour is one of the most generous people I’ve met in the UK. She’s always got something to give, share or offer starting from time and tea, through to garden flowers, toys or even pieces of old furniture. What her body language and attitude communicates is…

…that there’s always something that we can give, that there is always something we can share…

Isn’t this true for all of us? I haven’t bought anything new for myself or my son this year and we still have enough… enough books to spread around, enough items of clothing to give to charity shops, enough toys to donate to poorer children, enough jackets to give to those in need… we have enough…

…because last year I was buying new things and a year before too, and two and three and four years ago as well…

…because we’ve been receiving presents this year, last year and two and three years ago too…

…because we and our family members have been sentimental about our childhood and adolescence and we’ve got those things too, things that are much older than our son, things that come from our past, things that are as old as we are… we’ve got them too.

And so we are full, our house is full, our life is full.

Some of you may say that this is a perfect state of being, that this is self-sufficiency, that you don’t need to borrow and that you don’t need to be too ingenious about dealing with your daily life, because for so many of us, a lot equals security, a lot means being safe…. and it’s so easy to believe it… so easy to think that… and to store, and to hoard, and to collect and to gather, and to keep and to hold on to… and to store, and to hoard, and to collect and to gather, and to keep and to hold on to… and it goes on again.

Our grandparents used to do that because they didn’t have enough… because they had plans for those items… because they knew what will happen with them. Often every one of them.

We do that because we think that we don’t have enough and because we must have it… because we feel insecure without having it all. The thing is as individuals we should not be really striving to have it all because as a society we have enough, we can swap and share the goods that we have, we can borrow from each other, from the libraries, from hire centers. There is no crime in doing this as long as we respect the goods that are available and treat them as if it was our pocket that paid for them, as if it was our hard work that purchased them.

Just yesterday our close friends came to our house to borrow some garden chairs for their party. We had a tea together, we had a chat together and we shared our news and ideas. Sharing created an additional opportunity for socialising, a spontaneous occasion to get-together…. Don’t we long for them?

This cake of goods that we store in our rooms, garages, garden sheds and attics is too big to be eaten alone… It’s time to invite others to the table.

Nothing New: Reuse, Repurpose, Multiply

Old baskets, old flowerpots, old bricks and panes, old herbs, old seeds, and my old book… used, reused or re-purposed today. It’s shocking how many useful things hide in our houses, sheds and garages…. I needed those things today and they were there… waiting for me… most likely hoping that I hadn’t entirely forgotten about them… I must admit… I had, but it’s my resolution not to buy anything new this year so this morning I eagerly looked around our house and our garden and I found them and then I was just scrubbing, cleaning, digging, planting and assembling… and the whole process made me really happy… it still does…It’s nice to know that you can rescue things… that you can give them their second lives… It feels good.. It empowers.

Nothing New: Repair

It’s just a matter of days now… soon the little man and I will be in Cyprus. I am hectically trying to tick off items on our travelling checklist and it is actually quite a thing if you consider that I have pledged that nothing new will be bought this year. The fact that we’ll be jumping seasons makes it even more interesting… clothes-wise and shoe-wise.

My wardrobe has very little to show for itself. I keep on wearing the same pairs of trousers ever since my son was born and those trousers are looking really sad now. They are frayed and damaged and have been in need of repair for almost three months now … so today I eventually organised myself to take them to a tailor. I couldn’t mend them myself – the damage was far too extensive – a professional was needed.

I also had a few items to repair for my son like his trainers and shorts but these I decided to fix myself as the repair cost far exceeded the purchase cost of these items. It was just about simple sewing anyway and my box of threads and needles proved to be sufficient for bringing those items back to their original look and function.

In the corner of my wardrobe there’s a bag of items of clothing and accessories that need repair. We all have them, don’t we? Often they are not bags only but attics and garages that store those items in need of fixing. Those things make me really uncomfortable. I feel that I should be doing something about them and so I am now. I decided to take the bull by the horns and I’ve created a list on my desk of all the things to fix and I’ll slowly work my way through them this year… just because the time seems right for this and I feel like giving them a second life. At the end of the day, repairing is part of caring, is it not?

So I gave myself a promise to fix at least one item per month before they clutter our house further or end up in landfill. Are there any items that need repair in your house too? Do you think you could also try to fix some of them this year?

Would you like to learn more about Nothing New Project? Visit Inked in Colour.

Busy calendars are not so bad really

A lot is happening in our family life recently – so much so that I find myself having to sit at the table more often than usually in order to plan. And this planning is no longer only for a week or two and no longer for work only – I am trying to organise our next three months. A few travels before us, some family events, some house maintenance to do, deadlines to meet, projects to complete, routines to carry out and ideas to capture. So I am sitting in front of our calendar today and am making lists of all those things to do and the things to remember about and I am feeling slightly overwhelmed by our commitments. But I am hopeful and positive as most of the things and events are of positive nature and I think that ultimately it will give us a lot of joy to attend to them.

So many of the events and commitments in our lives are of such character… they are supposed to enrich and fulfil us in some manner… bring us joy, pleasure, satisfaction, happiness, dignity… there’s always a bigger and brighter purpose behind things… behind things even as ordinary as ironing… because it’s not about the chore really… but about carrying your human self with dignity, respect and grace… Isn’t it?

And so I’m thinking today that I don’t want to complain about too many things to do anymore… because actually there is something bigger than me and bigger than my tired body and busy mind behind most of them… there are family ties behind them, there’s health and well-being of my husband and son, there is a community of determined and caring people, and there is love and knowledge and growth of me and many. There is a strong purpose behind most things in my calendar and I am very happy that I can make these plans and hopefully carry them out in the coming months.

Calendars are those funny things that are not really what they appear to be… they make a pretense of being packed with duties but in fact they chock-full of strong and serious meanings…

No wonder we like to fill them up so much…

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