I deeply admire people who have the ability to create beautiful details through upcycling. Beyond the creativity they can manifest in this aspect, I admire the memory they have to remember the materials they have and the mental order they can maintain with respect to any useful material they have in their homes.
Particularly, I have been pleasantly surprised with beautiful details made by some friends using upcycling. A technique that undoubtedly contributes to the welfare of the planet, to the economy and to the satisfaction that some of us feel when we are flattered by a humble but full of love gift. However, I am a total failure with upcycling. First of all I have a very bad memory, so what I save to supposedly reuse at a later date gets so badly stored that over the years it's no longer useful. Simple I occupy for years a space that detracted harmony to my environment.
Reading this week's proposal about upcycling, I thought of some cardboard boxes lined with beautiful colors that a friend gave me six years ago before leaving the country. She wanted to make some folders and give them to me as a gift to keep some of my work but as her trip was very fast she gave me the material for me to finish them and I still haven't done anything at all. I didn't even remember that I had that saved, it was when I read this week's proposal that with much affection the minimalism community encourages us to reflect that I remembered that I had that saved. Congratulations, they are still in good condition but I decided to give them away because I am very bad at handicrafts.
Taking into account my bad memory, my little interest in crafts and my lack of creativity I must admit with total frankness that upcycling does not help me to keep order nor does it bring me any comfort. It sounds a bit selfish but it is the reality, therefore, I throw away everything that I consider that I can't use for the reasons I mentioned above. Plastic cups, cartons, bags, scraps of fabric, bits of cardboard, in short, everything I throw away. In some cases, and there have been very few of them, I have given away some things that I know will be useful to some friends who love upcycling and can really keep order or at least it doesn't hurt them to have something stored for so long.
I usually spend my time taking out of my room what I don't use and I don't have in my mind that philosophy that since I don't use it anyway, I'm going to keep it because at some point I'll need it. No, that's not in my mind. When I clean the house my mom is behind because she is afraid that I will vote something that we will need later, the point is that later in my case it almost never arrives and when it arrives I don't know exactly where I kept that thing that was supposed to be useful to me.
I reiterate my admiration to all the inhabitants of the planet who use upcycling to make beautiful things and can keep order in their homes and above all contribute to the welfare of the planet. I am sorry I don't belong to that team because my mind really stays calm with more empty spaces and unoccupied drawers.
All photos are my own, taken with a Realme 7i.