Last night I decided to clean out the cupboard of my kitchen island/cart. It was completely filled with candles.
Now, don’t get me wrong – I like candles. The light is gorgeous and the scents incredible. But if you were to ask the average visitor to my home if they had ever seen a candle burning, the answer would probably be no.
Candles really just represent the trend of pre-lightened Lori: buy a whole bunch of things you really like and intend to use (probably at a really good price), fill up a perfectly good storage space with them, then either forget you have them or just never get around to using them. I have cursed the darkness – this clutter nightmare in which I have found myself – for years, when what I really needed to do was just light a candle, figuratively and literally. This purging, sorting and selling have been a step in that direction. I’m proud of the work we are doing now.
After pulling all the candles out and spreading them on the table, I sorted through them with the help of Lynette (who went home with a fine supply of candles for herself), deciding which I would really use and where and when I would use them. I boxed them back up by categories, put votive holders in the places I had decided I wanted candles, and packed them back away. They now take up half the space they did before. I put my giant CrockPot on the top shelf, clearing off a nice section of kitchen counter.
I am very pleased with myself. I will be more pleased when I start actually using up the candles I decided to keep.
Tell me – do you stockpile useful things and find that you do not use them? What do you have a soft spot for?
Daily Check-In:
- I’m grateful! that my family let me sleep all day. I think all this work around the house is tiring me out. I simply could not wake up and I was having all kinds of psychedelic dreams in which I was volunteering to student teach again while simultaneously at a Creative Memories convention and also mountain climbing. (I’m not on any unusual medications at the present time, either.)
- I’m lighter! Many candles are gone, and we are now closing in on $800 from eBay in November. In other news, I slept right through church because my alarm did not go off. This was bad, because I was supposed to sing with the choir. I did a bit of soul searching and sent an email to the group in which I a) apologized profusely and b) resigned. In the month since I joined, I had been late twice, sick once, and mysteriously absent today. Apparently it is not a good fit for me at this time in my life, and I would prefer to enjoy the singing from the pews and maintain non-disappointing relationships with the members, all of whom I like very much.
