What have towels got to do with living better?
This entry was posted on March 27, 2013, in Space Clearing. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments (Edit)
Towels, towels and more towels!
Most people have loads of towels stashed away in their airing cupboard! And more significantly most of those towels are faded and worn out – right? When did we turn into towel hoarders? More importantly why are we hoarding faded towels? Inside my mind living better doesn’t involve faded towels. I know it’s very superficial but picture having a luxurious bath, do you wrap yourself up in a beautiful soft clean towel or a faded and worn out one?
I know, there might be a leak sometime and we’ll need some extra towels but really, do we need that many? All these things were discussed when I was helping someone clear out their stuff to create a living space they could enjoy. This household of 4 must have had between 30-40 faded and wornout towels in the airing cupboard (and 2 new good sets for everyone). The end result: 5 spare faded bath sheets were kept (for emergencies), the rest were put out. Now the family has 2 good sets of towels that they use all the time.
I was lucky to be bought beautiful navy blue towels when I went off to university. 2 Bath Sheets and 2 Hand Towels was plenty for me. There was always a spare set for me inbetween washings or if a guest came to stay. Then when I moved in with someone, he had lots of towels too and when we moved into our first house my lovely Mum bought us some hand towels for the toilets. So I can see how we accumulate towels throughout our lives. But if we have enough towels out for everyone and a spare set for everyone in the airing cupboard, do we really need to the rest? My solution, get rid of them and use the space it creates to store your bedding and free up a drawer somewhere else in the house.
Or at the very least get rid of the faded and worn out ones! And please, please use your nice towels, they’re no use to anyone sat in an airing cupboard. Enjoy them! A truth that is always close to my heart is ‘enjoy the best of what you’ve got because you never know how long you’ve got’. When I think like this, it encourages me to find and enjoy the luxury I already have.
What would you do with an airing cupboard if it wasn’t full of towels?
Having less stuff is totally contrary to modern consumerism but isn’t it an inviting idea?
Radical changes are always interesting to watch or read about but in my experience most of us like a more step by step change when we have to do the work ourselves. Let’s consider the bathroom.
Here is a simple and effective way to make it look better straight away.
Put everything that can be lifted into a box
Only take out stuff as and when you need it
Give yourself 2 weeks and your bathroom will be useable and have much less stuff in it. Now depending on how you’re feeling and how your finances are, you can either throw out/give away all your unused products or promise to not buy anymore products until all the ones in the box are used up. I did this very same thing two years ago and it took about eight months to get through it all and we saved a lot of money in the process.
I like tackling the bathroom first because it’s one of the easiest places to start where you get to enjoy it straight away. Come on spill the beans, how long do you think it’d take to get through the products in your bathroom?