[2021-11-03] Use what you have
Today, I swapped my and my husband's summer duvets for winter ones.
Why "duvets"? Well, Chris and I have two queen-sized duvets on our one queen-sized bed. It's heavenly, contributing to marital bliss in the bedroom. No pulling at the blankets. No issue with a single duvet that's too hot for one or too cold for the other. No problem with tucking our respective duvets around our respective bodies. No complaining that someone let the cold in.
But I digress. In changing out our duvets, I realized that we have a plethora of queen-sized duvets: six in total between the two of us. Clearly, that's more than we need.
At the same time, my daughter told me today that her duvet and duvet cover have seen better days.
It therefore made perfect sense that I would pass a duvet—not to mention duvet cover, pillows and pillow cases—along to her. We were able to use what we had on hand to completely redo Melanie's bedding, at no additional cost to either of us.
Making use of what we have starts with a good inventory, though I recognize that making an inventory takes time, which many of us lack. We had evidently lost track of what we had when we bought a new summer duvet for my husband without realizing that we had already purchased one the season before. It was a case of out of sight, out of mind.
While sometimes we forget what we already have, other times we risk throwing the baby out with the bathwater. For example, Melanie had a pair of winter boots that got pretty beaten up over the course of one winter and, as a result, languished at the back of the closet. Melanie contemplated getting rid of them, figuring that if she weren't wearing them there was no point in keeping them.
Then she came across the website of a Canadian company that makes attractive laces in a myriad of colours. She ordered a pair that she adored, cleaned up the boots, added the new laces, and fell in love with the boots all over again. Sometimes a little embellishment turns something old into something new again.
So today's inspiration is to use, repair and embellish what you have. It's good for the environment, good for your pocketbook, and good for your well-being.
