Many times our clutter consist of items we once used but are no longer using them. When this happens we really only have two logical choices to make. Either figure out a way to use the item again in our current life or lose it.
The Use It or Lose It idea has helped me make decisions on some of my stuff. These are things that have ended up in a closet, drawer, or storage room just taking up space and gathering dust.
Here are some questions I ask myself to help determine whether an item is worth keeping or letting it go.
- Is this something I can use in my current life if it’s cleaned up, refurbished, or repurposed in some way?
- If it doesn’t fit in my current life in some way, why not?
- Is it time to let it go?
Re-doing My Office
A few years ago I had a small bulletin board hanging up in my home office. This room is on the main floor with open doorways to the front hall and the family room.
When we remodel the whole main floor with new wood flooring and painting, I decided to get new office furniture. The old stuff was inexpensive furniture from the discount stores and had seen better days. . It was not going to look good with the beautiful wood floors.
So I got rid of most of the furniture and bought a new desk and two bookshelves from Wayfair. That old bulletin board went downstairs to the storage room.
Refurbishing the Old Bulletin Board
Recently I decided I wanted to put a bulletin board up on the wall above one of the bookshelves. But there was no way that old one was going to go back up there. At least not in it’s current condition. So I did a little research to see how to refurbish a bulletin board with paint.
I enjoy painting things but rarely do it. Even though I’m not highly skilled in it, I decided to paint the bulletin board plus add a little stenciling. If it didn’t work out, I could either donate the board or trash it.
I bought some acrylic craft paint at Walmart and some seashell theme stencils online. I decided to keep it simple by using only two colors. One for the board and another for the frame and stencils.
First I taped off the frame. The cork board ended up taking 3 coats of the acrylic craft paint to get it to look good. Next time I will use some kind of primer first.
When the cork board was dry I painted the frame white. Then did the stencils.
I think it turned out pretty good. It’s cute, a little whimsical, and looks a lot better than before. I took a piece of clutter in my storage room and made it a useful item for my office.
A Different Way to Look At Our Clutter
We don’t have to always look at our clutter from the standpoint that it has to be let go. It may have outlived it’s usefulness in it’s current state but we can repurpose it to a useful item in our current life.
If we don’t think we can repurpose/reuse it in some way it’s probably best to let it go. It just might become a trash to treasure item for someone else.
To a lighter load along the way.
Janice
If you’re on Facebook be sure to check out my groups on decluttering.
Beautiful! Loved the makeover.