finding pleasure in my own 'stuff' again....

**sabrelvssammy** · 01-30-2009, 09:53 AM

so this morning i spent some time cleaning out my coffee mugs of the coffee and tea stains with a sos pad... it has been one of those things that has driven me crazy for awhile..but obviously not enough to anything about yet...i guess i figured they came out of the dishwasher...they must be clean....

so this morning...it was time.... and now they are as 'sparkley' as the day they first came to live with me.....

i find myself doing more of these things now...trying to take better care of the things i already own (it's not like i allowed it all to fall apart...fortunately..or maybe unfortunately...my ocd does not allow for stuff like that to happen).... i have just gotten kinda 'lazy' with things and they tend to start showing it after awhile...then you look at them... start to dislike them... and think i need something NEW...
well maybe all you need to do is take a little time...freshen up the item...and then MAYBE it will start to take on a 'new' appearance and you will stop thinking... 'i need something new' and you will have a new-found appreciation of what you already 'have'...

so do you find that you have been taking better care of your stuff lately? or is it just me......(please say yes...so i don't feel like a have become a lazy slob....) haha

**Laurie in Bradenton** · 01-30-2009, 09:57 AM

Yes! Thats why my mending box came out today. Last night as I was digging out some jammies I noticed that several pairs had slight tears in them. In my sewing room several other items have been dumped because of needed repairs. So today fixed seams, replaced buttons anback into service. All part of my "No new clothes in 2009" campign.

Laurie in Bradenton

**Debbie-cat** · 01-30-2009, 10:25 AM

No, it isn't just you. I have been feeling the same way lately. I find that once I start deep cleaning something...it makes me love it again and I remember the first time I feel in love with it. I think that helps me alot from buying new things.

**jenloveschip2001** · 01-30-2009, 11:31 AM

Yes I think I have been doing this. I also have been thinking more about my childhood lately because I didn't grow up with much money so I learned to be grateful for what I had and take care of it so it would last. I seem to have lost that way of thinking through the years but now I am seeing myself returning to that way of life again. Like at Christmas we were at my husbands grandmothers and they were talking about some coffee cups that were being used that day and that they had been used by his grandmother for like 35 years. I think that is so cool. I hope that I have stuff like that so when my greatgrandkids are using something my kids can say I remember using that when I was a kid.

**IntlMom** · 01-30-2009, 12:41 PM

How funny that you posted this.
Just this morning, I cleaned...I mean "cleaned-cleaned" my stainless steel teapot. I looks lovely, good as new, and I could even see my reflection in it!!
So, I know exactly what you mean!

**pollypurebred39** · 01-30-2009, 02:17 PM

I finding myself doing more and more of this. I never really got rid of much to begin with, hence all my clutter. But as I've been going through my clutter to send either to the garbage, goodwill, my Sister's, to repurpose or to keep I've been finding things I forgot I had and have fallen in love all over again.

**Grayce** · 01-30-2009, 03:29 PM

I changed a room in my house from and office to family room. I was wanting something to put the TV on. I was thinking that I would have to buy something. I as poking about in my overstuffed basement and found a nice coffee table leaning up against the wall. My DH cleaned off a bunch of paint splatters and now it is good as new. I am planning to do more "shopping" in my basement and make the things that I use last as long as possible.

**Nana2two** · 01-30-2009, 10:18 PM

I know this feeling. I have been decluttering the basement.Its amazing what i find. I have redecorating with the stuff i found.

**Thrifty Mom** · 01-31-2009, 08:31 AM

I have been "shopping" through my closets. I intend to get rid of some stuff, but I find that I am wearing a number of things that got pushed aside. Someone at work asked if I bought all new clothes.

**shoiji** · 01-31-2009, 01:55 PM

I have also been trying to keep much better care of my things. I have also been trying to upgrade items I need. Hopefully this will help to make an item last longer by buying more quality than quantity.

**nancycg56** · 01-31-2009, 02:09 PM

I've been feeling this way, too, lately. I love my stuff and I should take better care of it!

**momof2joys** · 01-31-2009, 03:59 PM

I was just thinking about this last night!! I was just skimming my closet and found a few things that we don't wear or use anymore, and I was thinking...What could I do with this stuff??? Your post has given me the energy to see what else I can find in my house and re-use or re-purpose into something brand new!!!

**rosey7415** · 01-31-2009, 07:35 PM

this is why i have such a hard time parting with my stuff. if i originally loved it when i bought it, got sick of it, banished it to the cellar or back of the closets and gotten new..........i find it and love it again......roflmao!! i find that i can actually get rid of stuff that so and so has given me now, before i couldn't. you know aunt margaret gave me this thing that i don't and never did like, but can't part with? i am sooooo getting over that ....FINALLY.......

**pollypurebred39** · 01-31-2009, 09:46 PM

I don't do this however I have a girlfriend who did. When a friend of mine decided to lose weight she went through her closet and found that she had sizes that went from a 6 to a 22. She was never one to let go of anything either, lol!!! She boxed up each size in a tote and stored in her attic. As her diet progressed and she found herself drowning in her clothing she would bring down from her attic a tote, clearly marked with the next size down. She then would go shopping in her tote for new clothing. She loved when she could pull a new tote down and pack up the clothing that was too big for her and send it off to Goodwill.