Are We All Done?
It’s official, we all have too much stuff. It must be true, as there are so very many TV programmes dedicated to showing us how to throw it all away. Of course we have to dispose of it in a responsible fashion and be diligent about it before we are swamped with our excess.
Rampant consumerism with shopping being one of the most popular hobbies of all time means that it is easier and easier to end up with purchases that have little or no sentimental, monetary or aesthetic value at all.
Recycling rubbish has become a worldwide obsession with rules and regulations changing everyday.
It’s only a matter of time before the Battery Police turn up to arrest me for putting a 9volt straight in the bin. Of course, I don’t really put batteries in the bin. The guilt would overwhelm me, I put them in my car and ferry them around for a month or so before remembering, finally, to take them in to the village shop where they have a plastic bucket under the post office counter for such things. I compost kitchen waste along with recycling the big three – papers, bottles, and plastic. I crush all cans, flatten all cardboard, reuse carrier bags and old clothes go to the charity shops.
Soon we will be spending more time at the recycling centre than actually using the stuff we are recycling.
It may be time consuming but it is important to play our part.
It is the Life Laundry lot that upset me; what if we don’t want to downsize or clear out our clutter? What about treasuring memories or leaving our possessions for our children? As those women gallop through people’s houses, filling skips with glee, they are destroying the Nation’s heritage. As they implore people to let go of the past by throwing away letters, photos, their first doll and worse, my heart breaks. If it’s not hurting anyone and you don’t have to tunnel through piles of old newspapers to reach the kitchen then what is the harm?
Can you imagine if one of those minimalist Life Laundry people had popped round to Samuel Pepys place, been met with a teetering pile of dusty diaries, then said ‘What you want to do is shred all that so you can have a clutter free desk with just a tallow candle at one end juxtaposed with a single quill at the other, a cluttered desk is a cluttered mind Mr. Pepys.’
On that note we must thank Leonardo Da Vinci’s cleaning lady for not throwing away, but rather smoothing out, the crumpled pieces of paper littering the studio floor and carefully tucking them into his portfolio.
Thankfully the Egyptians did not give a hoot about having too many possessions and made great efforts to take it all with them to the next life.
Programmes like Time Team and Meet the Ancestors prove there is a deep-seated fascination in our past.
We enjoy popular television programmes such as Antiques Road Show and those where people spend up to a year living exactly as the Victorian farmers did, in what appears to be total misery by today’s standards. Farming is not the only subject to be examined in this format but also shopping and eating, hobbies and crafts, vehicles, exercising, ceremonies and even death. Utter bliss and I watch every one of them with undisguised joy.
The sale houses of Christies and Sotheby’s do a roaring trade in the things that made the cut and did not get thrown away, with outrageous prices being paid for militaria, doorknobs, jewels, paintings and things from shipwrecks. It is not just the object, but the story behind it that makes it desirable.
To throw it all away would be a tragic mistake. How are future generations going to avoid our mistakes or know how the common man lived if we have disposed of all the evidence?
Leave the love letters tied with ribbon in a trunk in the attic, pack away your beautifully tailored coat, write the names on backs of photos, have a little weep over that first pair of baby shoes and do not be bullied into getting rid of every shred of your past. There is a world of difference between hoarding and saving and most of us can spot it.
Recycling and reducing energy levels are good in so many areas that there seems no reason not to be doing our bit in the beauty world.
If you make some of your products at home you won’t be purchasing packaging, plastic or cardboard. Look in back copies of this magazine for a wide range of recipes.
Making your products do more than one job is key to reducing your bill at the chemist and the impact on the environment. If you allow the shampoo being rinsed out of your hair to run over your body in the shower then you are only going to need the merest whisper of shower gel/lotion to finish the job. If you ignore the big beauty companies that tell you its imperative to shampoo twice you will save shampoo, save water, save heating and save time. You can do the rinse and repeat thing at the weekend if you must.
Haunting the ‘reduced’ section at the supermarket means you can cheaply buy fruits and vegetables no longer great for eating but fantastic for making scrubs, masks and conditioners.
Stop putting your towels in the drier. Air-dried towels act as an exfoliator and circulation stimulator as well as skin cell renewal turnover being hastened through friction.
Use an air-dried flannel before your shower for your dry body brushing. Saving energy in this way is going to transform your skin.
Make your facial masks more effective by wearing them in the bath or shower where the steam will encourage pores to open so more of the product will be absorbed. If your products are chivvied into working more effectively you will buy less and save more.
When your make up is clearly at the end of its working life, reuse the containers if you can. The stubs of lipsticks can be squashed into old eye shadow palettes and applied using a lip brush. When your mascara is dried out and no longer giving you the Liza Minnelli eyelashes you desire then throw it away but save the brush. Clean these brushes in eye make up remover or surgical spirit and use them to customise your look in conjunction with the brush in your new mascara. And on that note only run one tube at a time as the introduction of air into the tube means the drying out process begins the minute its first opened.
A little thought goes a long way.
Happy trails, Readers, Happy trails.
One I made earlier
Beauty in the kitchen for March
With the emphasis this month on reducing the use of energy and the amount of recycling created, here are a few simple recipes to make at home.
Obviously, this way of preparing beauty products means there are no hidden surprises such as nasty chemicals or incidents of allergic reactions, however if you are allergic to a certain food then putting it on your skin will have the same effect as eating it so be aware of that.
Nail Rescue Remedy
Take a lemon and squeeze the juice into a small bowl. Top up with hand hot water and a teaspoon of baking soda.
Soak the nails for ten minutes. You could rest your elbows in the lemon halves to lighten the skin and let the citric acid in the lemon nibble away at the dry skin that annoyingly seems to haunt this area.
Use a small child’s toothbrush and whitening toothpaste to scrub the nails on all sides. This treatment will soften and cleanse the skin while the acid will exfoliate your cuticles.
Foot Refresher
Take 2 tablespoons baking soda and mix with a few drops of lemon juice and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Massage this mixture into the lower legs and feet then rinse well. Do this treatment at the same time as the Nail Rescue Remedy and you can use just one lemon. This treatment will cleanse, soften and moisturise the skin as well as some exfoliation taking place. It would not hurt to give your toenails a once over with the whitening toothpaste and small brush. Put the lemons on the compost when you finish.
First Published March 2011 By The Dart
