The act of keeping things because they can be utilized for other purposes, the act of repurposing or refashioning items for another use, the act of upcycling is something I've been practicing for a while now but I never really thought about a suitable term for the act. There were certain behaviors and actions instilled in me from small and I grew to see it as a regular household trait. Little did I know I've been practicing waste minimalism.
There's this particular thing my mom always made us do everytime we bought something and were given nylons to package whatever we bought. When we got back, other than dispose off the nylons, my mom will remove it's contents and send us to go keep it in a bag we termed 'nylon bag'. That 'nylon bag' is a polythene bag which we compress other polythene bags into. That way, we rarely ever lacked nylons in the house.
I can't begin to count the number of times that nylon bag came through for me. For instance, when I take some of these bags to school, because they are airtight, I use them to preserve food items. Or in situations where the bag that was used to pack something got torn along the way, I can easily replace it from my nylon collections other than go purchase a new one. This was one action that was incorporated into my subconscious as a very normal thing till I got to school and experienced life different from the one I was used to.
There's also the utilization of outdated newspapers. My dad is a lover of newspapers and being in a line of work that offers free daily newspaper supplies, we always have an insane amount of these papers at home. And because they are outdated, there's basically no use for them except for reference purposes which happen very rarely. So, for these newspapers, other than dip them into the closet, let them melt and get flushed away, my mom gives them to me to utilize when going to school. You see, at school, we're assigned these very old wardrobes with aged woods that aren't quite ideal to use like that because they've probably harboured cockroaches for generations, so these newspapers come in really really handy for me. I layer them on each layer of the wardrobe very well before I arrange my things into it. Helps with the reassurance that my clothes are in a clean place for the time being.
Now, there's this one I do with my empty body spray cans. No one actually taught me. It's just one of those random inspirations that hit you when you least expect but need it. If you've used them, you know that body spray containers have little to no usefulness the moment their contents are finished. If you're a girly girl like me, one essential hair accessory is scrunchies. And these scrunchies are very easy to misplace but a difficulty to be kept properly. So, what I do is I wear them on the empty body spray cans. That way, they are in one place and aren't clustered around the table however. This has actually helped me save a lot of space and I'm grateful for the initiative.
Wasting less is a great way to reduce cost and at the same time, invent something from existing materials you have at home. One aspect of minimalism I never termed but had been practicing ever since. This is my entry into the #wastelessWednesday prompt posed by The Minimalist Community.
By the way, we don't flush newspapers where I come from😂. Just me being me.
Thanks for reading me.
