Be a user!

We purchase items to maintain our homes & lives.  Some of these items are not true necessities, but things we intend to use to make a small sector of our lives a little bit better.   Products like "Febreeze" are bought to help our home smell lovely (or hide the fact that our  home, in fact, never smells lovely!).  Products like "Dryel" can help save money on dry cleaning while still allowing us to have good fabrics in our wardrobe.  Most of us also have a drawer or cabinet where we keep things like candles, pretty serving dishes, and "the good napkins", which we save only for guests.  

I myself have an entire cabinet devoted to party supplies. I don't entertain much, but for some reason I cannot resist themed napkins, funky drink stirrers, and little wine glass charms to help seperate my wine glass from yours (which I don't really need - my glass is usually the empty one that needs a refill!).  About four years ago, I purchased some little teacup shaped votive holders (photo below) because they were,and I quote, "too cute not to buy".  I decided my new friends and I would most definitely use them for a tea party for our little girls.  Then we waited. We waited for one of the girls to get a little older. We waited for Summer. We waited for Spring.  We waited for schedules to align.  The sad fact was - we waited four years.

So this brings us to today's tip for your better life  - USE THINGS!  You bought them to make a small portion of your life better - and then may have forgotten that you did this nice thing for yourself.   Why are you hoarding the Febreeze?  Trust me - if it runs out, Target will be happy to sell you another bottle.  For what occasion are you saving the candles?  or the fine china?  or the good (and usually washable!) napkins?   Use the good stuff - your family is worth it. YOU are worth it.  And, as an added bonus, using these things will begin to free up the space they've been monopolizing in your cabinets and on your shelves. 

Your better life awaits you and you probably already have some of the items you need to get started.     I made my daughter's life better (and inherently my own) by using the things I already had to throw a lovely tea party for her and her friends.  I stopped waiting for the right moment to make our lives better.  I used things. And I'm proud of it.

We even used the good china.