May Declutter, Days 1 & 2: 1 Item & 2 Items: 3 total

There was a Guardian  article in my newsfeed this morning about the danger of becoming enslaved to our stuff, and while I actually consider that my stuff is pretty well under control, and I do regularly get rid of things I don't use/which don't fit/which are broken/whatever, I also always feel the appeal of a declutter idea. A friend recently got rid of a bag of stuff a day for 40 days (a Lent thing, I think?) which was fun to watch - I don't have that much extra stuff, probably, as I have a MUCH smaller house than she does to start with (she's in the US where houses are Big, lol) - but there's always stuff which doesn't really need to be there. A lot of my stuff which looks like clutter (actually, it's very neatly organised) is actually art materials, and sewing stuff, so most of that can't go - which isn't to say it can't have a going through to sift out stuff which won't ever be used.  But that doesn't mean I can't apply the idea in principle in the house - perhaps the kids would like to have a sort through as well - though again, we regularly do that anyway, so we aren't quite as inundated with stuff as many people, regardless of what my husband might say...

Anyway. The idea mentioned in the article was to take a month-long declutter and get rid of one item the first day, two the second, three the third, and so on - by the end of the month you'll have got rid of 564 items, apparently. I didn't check the maths*. I'm not sure if I'll carry through to the end of the month, because if it gets silly and I'm getting rid of paperclips or paper bags to make up the numbers, that's not really the point, but I thought that as it's the beginning of the month (more or less) I'd have a go at it, for at least a while.

So, yesterday's item: this kettle, which is our backup kettle - it leaks a little. But honestly, if our kettle breaks, we can get a new kettle the next day, probably, and can always heat water in the microwave in the interim.

Today's items (Day 2): these little dishes for putting snacks in - cute but not very practical, and I don't use them much - I'm counting them as one, as they are a set - and a little thing for putting used tea bags on. I have another, pretty pottery one, so I'll probably never use this. I think it came as part of a gift set - probably from one of my pupils as I work in a school. I probably used the tea and stuck this in the kitchen basket with all the misc. stuff in it.  What will tomorrow hold (more kitchen stuff as that's where I started!)

*Having subsequently checked the maths, I'll state here that it's 465. Or as I'm doing it in May, it would be 496.