Living Room Reboot

Well, I started on my decluttering really early. 

Last night, I didn't have any knitting to do, or cooking for a family function, or Christmas get-together and so, I found myself without anything to do with my hands.

I looked around and found the four bags of junk in front of the entertainment unit calling out to be looked into. So, while I watched 'Supernatural: Season 8' I pulled out my rubbish bags and sorted through all four bags and tossed out 3 big rubbish bags of junk and I found a whole lot of things; like: 

I figured out a pile of recipes

Sorted through some fabrics

Found books I'd been looking for.

Found a pair of socks which had gone missing.

Found an address of a friend I had lost.

Sorted out my bank statements.

Emptied out a plastic box of craft gear.

And after the disk finished, I switched over to free-to-air television and finished watching a movie on there until 11:30pm - and still I hadn't finished sorting through the junk in my living room.

I put away the craft gear into their boxes, worked through the recipes on the floor into their own piles and piled up the bank statements to be filed away. I even found my log book from my old car! Woah! 

This morning, I threw out the three bags of rubbish and did out the fridge before I went out shopping and tossed out a bag of rubbish into the big bin outside. This is a big thing to be done before New Year's Eve.

So, have you started on your house before next year? If so, great to know! Let us know what you got done and how you're doing. 

Zero Wrapping Paper

Okay, you're thinking: 'Well, what the heck am I supposed to wrap the presents for my relatives in?' 

Fabric.

Before you ask me another question, I'm suggesting you go into your scarf collection, and sort through them. There will be square ones you're not big on, you've never worn and some which may well be still in their plastic which were bought for you, and you didn't have the heart to tell that person you really didn't like them.

Okay, get those square, silky and rayon scarves out and Google: Furoshiki. This word is the act of wrapping presents and items in fabric. The Japanese have been doing this for a very long time, and it cuts back on waste, paper and landfill - and it's very beautiful too. 

I've been looking at how to tie the knots and make them just gorgeous so they are lovely to look at and easy to untie. And I'm looking forward to having a collection of scarves or square fabric to use to wrap presents instead of wasteful paper.

When you think of it: paper is ripped off a present and thrown in the bin - which ends up in landfill. Fabric can be reused for other things. And if you already have the fabric there in your home - aka: square scarves - you're halfway there, right?