Hi everyone,

How did you all go with the Use It Up challenge? I am quite happy with my efforts, not only because I got rid of a few things but it also encouraged me to do a bit of craft.  I was excited about getting through as many “left over bits” as possible. My plan is to keep going with the challenge for myself until I have depleted a lot more of my craft supplies and a few more toiletry products.

Here is the list of things I used up…

• A box of adhesive tabs (craft supply)
• The last of a roll of Terrificly Tacky Tape (craft supply)
• The last of a tube of craft glue
• A bottle of shower cleaner
• A small bottle of body wash
• The last of a bottle of UnDo photo cleaner
• A sample bottle of face cleanser
• The last of a jar of hair sculpting paste
• A bottle of metal cleaner

There were only two items that I used slightly differently from their intended purpose. I used the shower spray  for cleaning the kitchen bench tops and the toilet as well as the shower. I had bought the metal cleaner to polish up a silver tea set. Then I decided I didn’t want to keep doing that painful task for the rest of my life and gave the tea set away. I used the rest of it to clean my stainless steel kitchen sink and my ceramic cook top.

Now I am curious to know what you all managed to Use Up over the last two weeks. Please send in those comments I am expecting big results.

ITEM 171 OF 365 LESS THINGS

Today’s offering is of course the items from the Use It Up challenge. I got a little over zealous and threw away the first couple of containers but then remembered to keep the rest.

I received a lot of comments on Tuesday regarding the Use It UP challenge it seems there are lot of readers out there who can relate to this topic.

We have already discovered alternative uses for two products..

• Mouthwash can be used for several different things according to The Frugal Duchess.
• Shampoo can be put in your liquid soap container and used as a hand cleaner according to Patricia in her comment. I suppose you could also use it as a body wash like my son does when he washes his hair.

I also have a post from back on day 77 with my take on multipurpose uses for cleaning products.

So now, not only would I like your feedback on what you used up but also any creative, out of the box methods utilised to achieve your objectives. I would say Willow, who has some nasty mouthwash, may end up with some clean computer screens and a sparkling white toilet if she uses the advice from The Frugal Duchess.

ITEM 161 OF 365 LESS THINGS

Today’s item is a pile of  books of my husbands. He is still doing a champion job of decluttering his stuff.

I want to lay down a challenge this week to all you readers out there.

THE CHALLENGE

Find at least 5 consumable items in your home that have been lingering on a shelf somewhere. My definition of consumable is something that can be depleted or worn out by use.  Concentrate on choosing these items over similar items you prefer to use until they are all used up and no longer cluttering up your home.

Possible reasons for lingering

• didn’t live up to expectation
• for some reason you just stopped using it
• just have so many of a similar item to choose from
• bought a similar item you like better
• Something from a pass-time you don’t do so much any more

Items examples that might come under the term consumable…

• Bottle of perfume
• Craft supply item
• Cleaning product
• Toiletries product (Shampoo, body wash, moisturiser etc)
• Food item
• Product samples

I know I have a list to choose from and I am sure most of you have your own little secret stash. I will give this challenge two weeks and I will share with you on Sunday the 20th of June how the challenge worked out for me and I would love some feedback on how you all went.

I am looking forward to the challenge I hope you will join me.

ITEM 159 OF 365 LESS THINGS

This dome clock was a wedding gift, its pendulum was damaged during a move some years back but we kept it all this time because it was a gift. It is long past time to let it go.

Sometimes when going through the home uncluttering we forget the pantry and the refrigerator which is one place that we should visit on a regular basis to make sure there aren’t foodstuffs that are past their used by date.

Now I do tend to do this fairly often because I have one of those not so well designed pantries that are so deep you can lose things in the back reaches that won’t be seen until it’s too late if I am not vigilant. But because I thought this was a good topic to write about I had a look anyway and found the items in my photo below that were in some cases waaaay out of date.

The puff pastry was overdue for eating in 2008 which is pretty outrageous but I kept thinking that I would eventually use it for something and since it was frozen it should keep. Now on reflection I am sure that the used by date on something that is meant to be stored in the freezer was probably designed to meet those conditions so 2008 meant 2008.

The desiccated coconut was more of an open and sniff test as I had put it in the Tupperware container without transferring the used by date so that I would know when it expired. I knew it had been there for some time though so I had a reasonable idea that it was time to go as coconut contains oils that can go rancid over time.

The apricots were a no-brainer as I only had to look at the colour of them through the bag to know they were well and truly past it.

As for the canneloni shells, pasta tends to last for just about ever without spoiling and there wasn’t a used by date on the box but I just knew I hadn’t used them in a long time so I decided they could go too.

There are two lessons I have learned while doing this little food purge…..

1. When putting ingredients into Tupperware containers make sure you transfer the used by date by either tearing it off the box/bag and putting it in or taping it to the outside of the container or make your own label and stick it on the container.
2. Don’t be temped to buy in bulk if you aren’t absolutely sure you will use enough of the ingredient to make it economical. The coconut was one of those items that was lets say $2.50 for 150g or $3.00 for 300g so it makes economical sense to buy the 300g unless you only end up using 100g before it is past it’s used by date in which case you have wasted 50c and 200g of coconut.

ITEM 107 OF 365 LESS THINGS

On January 15th my give-away for the day was wedding invitations that I made for a friend’s daughter’s wedding. My husband said that was a cop out and not really purging anything yet I thought this was one of my best donations yet. You see I have a lot of papercrafting items such as tools, cardstock , paper, adhesive, embelishments…. but I really haven’t been doing a lot of papercrafting lately.

I have previously made the invitations for the engagement party and when I was asked to do the wedding invitations I thought what a great oportunity to contribute to their special event and purge some of the supplies I had sitting useless in cupboards and drawers.

This generous offer of time, effort and supplies made me feel good not only because of the purge but because I have saved the couple quite a few dollars as well and enjoyed the creative outlet.

Don’t forget the object of this exercise of 365 less things. The contribution doesn’t have to be big it just has to be everyday to make a difference.

Today’s object was another item we sold on eBay.