I am not in support of wasting things thereby throwing them away when I could just bring them back to life to make them more usable for me. Unless I am sure of not needing a particular item, would I throw it away or even dash it out so I could have smaller space in my room. If you enter my room, you will see how organised it is with me bringing some old items back to life. A friend even laughed at me for doing such when she knew I could throw it away and get a new one. I love to save money and whatever isn't necessary to buy, I don't once I know there is something similar in the house which I could just bring back to good use again.
What I just portrayed above is a process called "upcycling" which means turning an item or object not in use back to life which can be reused again. This time around, for another major purpose in the house. I got to learn this process from my aunt some years ago and it has been a part of me to upcycle rather than wasting items or resources.
Her neighbour who lived at her previous house, but living upstairs threw a big and condemned kettle away. She saw it and decided to revamp it and give it a second life. The kettle was already bad and the lids weren't there, but when she finished working on the kettle, no one could believe it was the same item thrown away, even the neighbours exclaimed, hailing her for bringing the kettle back to life. She still uses it to boil water till now.
This particular big bowl got damaged by the side and I couldn't get a repairer for it. I was using it to fetch water in my room before as we lack water in my city and this method has helped me not to get into the problem of lacking water for use. It got broken one day when I wanted to wash it. Since it got broken, I decided to throw it away. I had a rethink because it was worth $5 when I bought it then and hasn't been used for a year. I thought of what to use it for instead of throwing it away and I settled for storing my foodstuffs in it which has been helping me and also preventing rats and insects from eating my raw foods.
There was a time I had two empty noodles cartons in the house and both took a large space in my room. I couldn't breathe especially having lots of my academic books scattered everywhere. A friend came in to take those cartons, and as I wanted to give them out because I do not need them, an idea struck my mind knowing it could be useful for me.
I looked at the area where my books were kept and scattered around the house, I told my friend those cartons were about to be given a new life. She laughed and said why do I need them again as they are of no use to someone like me. This was before I bought the daily rack above. Those cartons served me for five months before I threw them away. Rats and cockroaches ate both as they didn't find any leftover foods to eat 🤣 I kept all my books and creams in them. My room got to receive fresh and new air and I could also breathe in my room.
Another time I did this process was with a condemned stew I made which I aimed at throwing it away. Before I did, there was no money on me and the little I had could get some ingredients. I thought over what I could do instead of throwing the stew away, and by the time I was done with the whole cooking, I smiled at myself because I knew what could have occurred if I had wasted it while having a little change on me which won't take me anywhere in satisfying me for the day. The stew used three more days because of how I brought it back to life by adding more ingredients to it.
I have a friend who chose to turn the bottles of minerals that were stored in a corner of her room into funnels; one was used to measure groundnut and palm oil into another container, and another was for pouring water into a big litre of kegs and lastly, she uses one for measuring liquid soaps as she sells as a source of income for her daily living. Instead of throwing those bottles away, she upcycled them for her use.
Being a minimalist comes with management and being able to think wisely so you won't end up wasting resources which you could give a second life while saving your money for something else. With this process of upcycling, I have saved a lot of money for something else and it has also taught me how to be responsible and manage my things well especially making my space neat and clean.
Both images are mine, taken with my Samsung Galaxy A14
