After having received a mouthful from my mom-in-law for having thrown away the readymade baby food bottles (after their use mind you), I had ensured that the next batch was promptly handed over. It was a pleasant surprise to see a few days later, a set of transformed sparkling clean tiny bottles neatly arranged in perfect rows on her kitchen shelf: with jeera, mustard, methi seeds…
One man's clutter, another man's (or woman's) curios. Is junk only worth throwing away? Or should we give it second thoughts considering we are living in a recycle, re-use and conserve-energy era?
A friend had a simple solution to the ‘junk' – anything that was not used or touched for the last one year had to be either thrown out or given away. But that's easier said than done for most of us. Our attachment to the couch the fondness for the old jeans from college or the sentiments for the pram your first baby used maybe too overwhelming.
And it is with deep fondness that we remember those days before the air-tight containers and zip loc bags invaded our lives when we used old powder tins to keep tennis balls, carom coins or marbles. And don't some of us (secretly at least) still have a soft spot for those ‘foreign' biscuit boxes which were the store houses for all hair accessories – hair clips, rubber bands, safety pins and bands? And so (with warmth and affection), we make room for these knick knacks on the lofts, under the bed or in the corner of a balcony… often knowing fully that we would for the most part of our lives not use or hardly see these ever again.
Less space, less junk
When Ashwini Gupta moved to Bangalore recently, she was on the lookout for a ‘large' two bedroom apartment. Her logic was simple, “I believe in Spartan living and while I want a spacious apartment, I know from experience that the third bed-room invariably becomes the junk and clutter room, either consciously or otherwise”. She says that her dream two bedroom home, automatically acts as a check on accumulating any new ‘junk' or continuing to store the older stuff.
Another self professed anti-clutter queen, Vaishali Kasture says, “I'm a person who likes to have contemporary stuff around me. And I like to keep changing the decor of my house every couple of years. But for this I also follow a simple rule - throw away stuff that you have outgrown. Over the years I've given away stuff from washing machines to television sets and recently I gave away a beautiful crockery set to my maid. She was thrilled and I got to buy new stuff so I was thrilled!” she says laughing. She adds, “The best part about giving away junk is that there are so many people around you who would welcome the stuff that you label as clutter!” She however adds that she has a special little box for her toddler Krishna, “where I store sentimental stuff for him like his first dress, his first hand painted picture, among others”
On the other side of the spectrum is Rani Mathew, someone who uses as much creativity as possible on every item that makes its way into the house. She says “Over the years I have given vent to so much of my creativity by transforming seemingly mundane clutter into useful, beautiful and even aesthetic little pieces” She elaborates, “Glass bottles, if painted in dark colours are excellent holders for money plants or other water plants, bamboo fruit baskets, filled with pieces of bricks, broken mud pots, coconut fibre and coal are excellent for orchids to grow and I have even transformed thick cardboard cases to double up as vases or petite little flower holders!” She adds, “The joy of creatively transforming something that would otherwise be wasted, into something that's pretty and useful is sure very fulfilling and satisfying.”
So ultimately it's a trade-off between sentiments or space, give or get, creative recycling or clutter in the corner. And obviously what works for you is what works best.
Often old clothes, old bottles, old notebooks, even plastic bags unnecessarily lie around in our homes unnecessarily taking up space
Once in a while it's a good idea to take an objective standpoint and see which ‘clutter' can be transformed or given away
It maybe common to experience a post ‘give-away' dissonance (joke intended) but seeing the happiness in the one who is at the receiving end is all it needs to get over it!
