Things in the house I have more than I need of

As an aspiring minimalist, I'm constantly looking around the home for things to declutter. I'm generally pretty good at it, and I don't hang on to much once we've finished with it. But as I look around I'm always being confronted by the things we own that we have far too many of. Here is a list, which could also be titled 'things that should be decluttered, but I just can't bear to'.


Drawstring bags. Those simple bags that often come into the house as a freebie. My husband and I both use one to hold our swimming gear for the gym but other than that we never use them. I just can't bring myself to throw them away in case they should be useful.

Freezer packs. I have about eight in the freezer. Even in the height of summer when we are out for the whole day I only ever use about four in our largest cool bag.

Candles. I had a huge clear out of candles a few years back but I still seem to have more and more, and I don't ever seem to buy them. Some of them are big candles that I like to keep for emergencies (even though I've never experienced an emergency where lighting candles was necessary). Most are scented ones that I do like to burn but I'm paranoid about leaving them unattended, especially with children in the house, so I never seem to get round to using them.

Post it notes. Where do they all come from? I have packs and packs.

Moisturiser. I always pick up little tubes from hotels, I can't help it. They are useful for the gym and for travel but I have many more than I'll get through in a reasonable time frame.

Lanyards. Another thing that always seem to be given out for free and it seems such a shame to throw them away.

Cardboard boxes. I can't resist a nice, sturdy box. You never know when you might need it, for posting something, storing something, or for a child's craft project.

Bubblewrap. We have a big roll that we were left with when we last moved, and I save any that comes in parcels, it's such a waste to just bin it. I gave away a big bin bag full on Freecycle last year and it has just built up again.

Buttons. I love buttons. I have some sorted out in little pots by colour, then I have a large tin full of random ones. I do love buttons though.

Marbles and glass pebbles. We have so many marbles. Some are with the toys, some are in a decorative bowl, glass pebbles are in my craft drawer. Mia went through a phase of collecting them so I bought her a massive bag of coloured glass pebbles on Amazon, they are everywhere.

Scrap paper. When I was little the only paper we had for drawing was scrap paper, with 'writing on the back'. Our children are spoiled and they ask for the fresh new paper from the printer, the won't contemplate starting their artwork on a piece which has already been written on.

Suitcases, bags and rucksacks. We travel a lot and go on day trips so we have a large selection of luggage options. I've tried to cull them before, but each one serves a specific purpose so it's really difficult to find ones that we don't need!

Gift bags. I've never purchased a gift bag. I've never needed to, because whenever I've needed one I've always managed to find one in the house that suits the purpose. I'm not sure where they all come from as I don't get that many gifts!

Light bulbs. When we moved in to our house, every room seemed to have different light fittings so we needed a huge collection of different sizes and styles. Over the last couple of years we've been upgrading to smart light bulbs, but they are expensive so if we ever move we'll be taking them with us, meaning we need to keep a stock of old light bulbs to put back in.

What do you have too much of cluttering up the house?

Unicorn pencil holder craft

This month the theme for my Bostik Bloggers craft box was Creatures, and with unicorns being so popular at the moment among my daughter and her friends I decided to make a Unicorn Pencil Pot from a cardboard tube to sit on her desk.

Being in diet mode

A few weeks ago I reluctantly stepped on the scales and discovered that I was at my heaviest weight ever, excluding pregnancy. I know I'm not overweight, but since having children and no longer any stomach muscles, any excess fat settles around my tummy and I can really feel it. I generally start to notice extra weight around this time of year, after the excesses of Christmas and a failure to successfully complete a New Year diet when it's cold, dark and I can't resist the biscuits.

I don't like to call it dieting, so I tend to refer to it as 'watching what I eat for a few weeks'. I don't use the word diet in front of the children and I don't draw attention to the fact that I'm cutting back, as I want to do my best to avoid them having any issues with weight as they grow up. Luckily I've lost extra weight in the past successfully, so I'm pretty clear on what I need to do without getting too obsessive over it.

Theatre review - Gangsta Granny Live on Stage

At the weekend the four of us went along to the Pavilion Theatre in Worthing to watch Gangsta Granny Live on Stage, the award-winning stage adaptation of the book by David Walliams which is currently touring the country.  

"It’s Friday night and Ben knows that means only one thing - staying with Granny! There will be cabbage soup, cabbage pie and cabbage cake and Ben knows one thing for sure - it’s going to be sooooooooo boring! But what Ben doesn’t know is that Granny has a secret - and Friday nights are about to get more exciting than he could possibly imagine, as he embarks on the adventure of a lifetime with his very own Gangsta Granny!"

Entertaining children on holiday - then and now

Last weekend the children wanted to play a game together, and from the cupboard they pulled Boggle. This particular Boggle set has many many happy memories for me. When I was younger it was one of our 'go to' family games, and we played it over and over. Although most often on family holidays - all my memories are of playing it on the ferry and in tents across France.

Having recently returned from a family holiday, it set me to thinking about how differently children entertain themselves on holiday now. I'm not talking about our mad Disney or city break holidays where we are constantly out and about on the go, but the more relaxing holidays with plenty of downtime in a cottage, hotel room or by the pool.

My cross stitching wish list

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I'm currently really enjoying my cross stitch. Because I try to be a minimalist crafter I'm not a great hoarder of craft materials. When it comes to cross stitch, I like to buy a kit, preferably a large one that will take me a long time to work on. Then I won't even think about buying a new kit until I'm very close to finishing it. So I only have a few completed cross stitch projects, my favourite being the Moira Blackburn Three Things sampler which took me seven years to complete!

Just after Christmas I started working on the Design Works Christmas ABC Sampler (affiliate link) which is another large piece. It has a box for each letter of the alphabet plus a small one for Merry Christmas at the bottom. I decided that it would be too much to try and complete it for Christmas this year, bearing in mind I'd want it finished and framed by the end of November at the latest so that I could enjoy it on display over the Christmas period. But I'm getting on pretty well with it and I'm starting to think that maybe, just maybe, if I get a shift on, I might manage it in time! I've finished seven of the boxes already...

CLOSED Giveaway - A box of crafty goodies

Now that the children are back at school, I decided that it was time for a new giveaway! This is a crafty box filled with some unused spare bits and pieces from my stash, and some unused crafty things which I've received as part of various collaborations on my blog.