Then the Clutter Went Away
Posted on January 16, 2020 by dragonspitapothecary
When you begin to use more natural products in your life you for some reason also become more conscious of waste and clutter. You look to extend the life of what you have and up-cycle what is used for new purposes. There’s interest in seeing what you don’t need or what can be done differently to not only reduce cost but what you end up throwing out or storing and having to organize. It sort of happens just naturally it seems.
I didn’t set out to become this ultimate DIY up-cycle mom who reuses everything and is intently interested in things that don’t come with a lot of packaging. Ok well that last part isn’t true as I really hate trying to open some of the hard plastic wrappings and containers like for make-up or my son’s toys. I also am not a fan of all the peanuts that come in shipping boxes and end up all over the floor as you work to get your items out of a box. Meanwhile the dog is thinking those peanuts are toys and treats so you’re having to pull those out their mouth. That aside, I didn’t intentionally go about looking to change these things either, it just sort of happened.
.For well over two years now we have been changing out what we use at home to more natural options. If you’re new to reading this blog I encourage you to scroll back on this blog to see our journey. In the course of these changes I realized our cabinets like the one in our bathroom that used to be crammed with cleaners on the top shelf is much less cluttered these days. That’s pretty interesting to me. We have lived in our home for almost 15 years and we have decent sized cabinets and closets. Over time though they have become filled and at times there will be these big projects to take everything out of them and organize it all. More than once in those types of activities my husband and I have said we simply have too much stuff!
In general I think most of us can say we have too much stuff. Our shelves, closets, cabinets are full and sometimes we even buy extra cabinets and storage items to store and organize our things. There are piles we stash away when we know someone is coming over. We have to spend weekends organizing and sorting to make sense of what we have periodically. Some of the thinking behind it is we just never know when we’ll need something and yet when we need that thing we usually can’t find it. Or that just might be the case in my house which happens quite a bit.
When you add in the fact that most of feel we pay good money for the things we have there is some angst about just getting rid of it even if we’re not using it. I totally get that and trust me our house has it’s fair share of things that falls in this category too.
When I changed our home to natural cleaners I stopped buying multiple bottles of things that were on sale or that were handy to have a spare on hand. I stopped needing several cleaners all together because I found ones that worked in multiple areas. I also stopped needing several bottles, cans, and sprays. Through just the normal course of swapping out these products the areas where I keep cleaners looks drastically different now. Like that bathroom cabinet top shelf where I keep the bath cleaning stuff. It has
A bottle of white vinegar
Box of baking soda
Bottle of doTERRA OnGuard Concentrate
An air spray I made
Glass cleaner I also made using the empty spray bottle
doTERRA Purify oil
doTERRA Lemon Eucalyptus oil
A couple scrubbing sponges
Once upon a time there were at least 2 bottles of glass cleaner, at least 2 air sprays, couple cans of bath and tile cleaner, multi-purpose cleaner and of course sponges. There was usually a bottle of drain opener too because well I’m a girl and I have hair that likes to clog drains. Now though there’s room now to put other stuff up there. None of the things I use today are toxic so I technically don’t need to store them so high up either. Oh the possibilities! I had never considered what I could have my bathroom cabinets look like if I didn’t need to store cleaners out of reach! Imagine not having to use special locks and those annoying pulls on your doors to keep children from not getting into harsh chemical based cleaners!
Now that we’ve made several changes in our home and I can notice things like extra space in our cabinets I’m realizing there is just so much other stuff we could seriously organize better or get rid of. Imagine opening any closet in your home and seeing it perfectly organized and easy to get to something without stuff falling all over you or not finding what you need! This simple switch I made in cleaners has completely opened up the idea that I can maybe organize my entire house and have it look like we are a super organized, well put together family!
If you had told me that using natural products in my home could equate to organized and neat closets where things are pretty to look at and not crazy when you open the door I would have laughed hysterically. All the piles of stuff in my office from making quilts and running a small business neatly organized and easy to get to. Or the pantry where good luck if you need to find a box of noodles. And yet, here I am the one telling you this is what’s happening in my own home as a result of realizing there is room when you stop using what you actually don’t need and that isn’t good for you anyway. Here I am the Queen of stuffing things in a closet so no one sees the mess telling you I no longer have to do that. There’s like real space in my cabinets and closets!
Even if you think things like essential oils and natural products are baloney for changing your health this is worth checking out. If you’re tired of your closets being a hot mess that falls on you upon opening then this is how you change that and save money in the process. I didn’t think it was possible but yep sure enough it’s happened and without me even intentionally working on that! Who knows you may even feel better too from using them. Ready to try? Click here to get started: dragonspitapothecary.com/natural-journey-start-point