I have too much stuff. I thought about doing this as a video on my YouTube but I chickened out after a few attempts of putting it together. Maybe it’s something I’ll work towards. But for now let me tell you more about having too much stuff and how I want to change that.

I’ve been trying to get better at using things up and carefully considering what I want to purchase when I do finish certain things off.

There are some skincare brands I want back in my life, for instance, but if I can’t get back into the routine of using the average products I have daily then it’s hard to justify the spendier purchases. So I need to try work through some moisturisers, cleansers and things like face masks to make it a routine and a habit again, as well as get rid of older products, before I can come close to bringing other items in.

If you’ve been around here for a while you’ll also know I’ve found myself in harder times recently and whilst I’m now in a far better place it did mean that there were moments where I bought the “average” stuff or have been gifted some “basic” things too. I’m thankful for being given those items, they really saved me in that pinch, but I still have some of those things left that I need to get through. Things like basic shampoos, shower gels/body washes and toothpastes. Below are a couple of toothpastes I used daily and then some basic body wash I’ve finished off.

I’m now at a point where I still have one peachy clean toothpaste that I’m using alongside some Oral B. I still have a wide variety of body washes and things going on; Some from things I brought back from the US with me, some from things I had here in storage and some from things I was given. The same with shampoos. These things will take me a long long time to go through. I do have some “good” shampoo and conditioner too that I use on days when I’m leaving the house but I need to get better at using the rest too.

And here’s the thing. I need to get back into using makeup and things too. I only have a small selection of my items with me. Some other things I might be reunited with in March. To make room for that and make the most of them being back in my life I need to start to use things more. I want to open and finish the mini mascaras I have, work through a lipgloss/balm or two and return to panning some eyeshadows that I was working on a fair while ago. Doing my makeup, even on a basic level, brings me joy and I just need to stop making excuses like “not having the time” to do it.

It’s not just things I can use on myself that’s an issue though. I went through a phase of buying candles and not using them. Where it’s been the depths of winter I have changed that. below are a selection of ones I’ve finished off. There’s a bundle of tealights and wax melts that still exist, as well as a few candles, and I want to try use a lot of them before summer hits. Not only that but I want to reconsider my candle habits because it creates so many glass jars and things that I will never actually clean out and use and yes, if I clean them, they can be recycled but I still feel I can reduce my waste creation by going for tealights and wax melts more instead. Until the container I have is completely empty, unless it just has unscented tealights in, I’m not buying any more melts or candles!

If you do watch my YouTube you might have seen me making reference to this already. I want to sort my kitchen out. I was able to do a big, huge in fact, stock up of items right as I started work in the summer thanks to a £70 voucher I received. But that, combined with then buying a bit of this and a bit of that for different recipes, means my kitchen and even outside my kitchen just has bits and bobs of ingredients everywhere. When I use one type of pasta up, say tagliatelle, I need to hold off buying more of it and instead find ways to make spaghetti or one of my many other pasta types work for it instead.

And that also applies to things like the fridge. A quarter of a sauce bottle here, a dollop left there and the odd other thing forgotten about that I end up buying another of. I need to be more mindful, take stock of everything I have and finding ways to adapt recipes to make it all work. For a while life meant I grabbed anything I seen on super sale to ensure that I had things always in the kitchen. Shifting towards the mindset of being in the luxurious position to know I can afford to buy whatever I need when I need it is honestly challenging. I don’t want anything to go to waste or go bad so it’s now a case of making magic with the random things we have. So if you look at some recipes over the next months like ?? odd choice of items this is why.

It’s not just about using things up though it’s about sorting through things and making the most of what I have. Do I have some really tatty socks that can go (trust me, I have a never ending supply of socks)? Do I need all those paint tins or should I just keep a few and pass the rest on or take them to the paint disposal point at the tip? Do I need to buy another book when I have a bookcase of ones still to read? Am I making the most of the recipe books I have? Have I done that art and craft project yet?

The reality is I am always doing something but my time isn’t always used very smartly and I could be a lot more efficient to increase my productivity without really increasing time or energy output. I need to get into better habits with caring for myself, caring for the environment and loving the things that I have around me.

At the end of each month of 2026 I’ll try do a catch up post with all of this and be sure to document things that I’ve used up, discuss things I’ve got rid of and where I’m at with making room and doing a reduced to no buy of things as well. I mentioned in my 2026 goals that I want to save more and the only way to save more is to use more of what I have and buy a little less.

So join me on this wild ride and let’s see whether I can actually make progress at all! I believe in myself. And if you are embarking on a similar goal this year, I believe in you too!