I was recently gifted a vase as part of my bridesmaids bouquet, it’s a lovely vase and I don’t currently own one of my own. However, my boyfriend does own one. His definitely isn’t the nicest of vases, it’s made of thick, clouded glass (clearly not expensive or great quality) but nonetheless does the job.
Upon receiving my vase and bringing it into the house, we promptly decided that as mine was far nicer and as we don’t have large amounts of storage space that it would be better to get rid of the old vase. We don’t really need two vases, especially as I don’t tend to get flowers that often (although I have borrowed his vase a couple of times before). For us, it seems unnecessary to have two and in the event that I did need a second vase, I could probably make do with a water jug or bucket or even just borrow one from my mum.
This strategy is a major factor in our ability to live with less. We don’t need two vases, so we got rid of the old one. Keeping both is the perfect example of how stuff piles up in the home. You might think ‘oh but it’s just one extra, it’s handy to have two’, but this is how they get you. The vase is just one thing. Imagine this happening with 10, 20 or 30 items in your home, or more. This is how we end up with excessive amounts of stuff, it’s how we end up overwhelmed and drowning in our own belongings as we just let ourselves accumulate more and more things.
Every time you bring an item into your home get rid of one item, preferably two. One you maintain the status quo, two you are practicing minimalism. You are choosing to live with less. Sure, I could not have a vase at all and I could happily live without one, but because I do receive flowers occasionally I think one is sufficient and I’m happy to store one. Just one.
To conclude, it’s easy to bring things into our homes, and much harder to let them go. But I’d highly recommend being conscious of what comes in and the need to remove things to counteract this occurrence. Living with less is freeing, it’s how gifts aren’t overwhelming but appreciated, it’s how we don’t become overwhelmed by clutter and importantly it’s about how we have control over our space and don’t let stuff control us.
Have you had your own ‘vase’ experience?
This is Minimalism 
Interesting read- I definitely feel this when it comes to being given gifts. Though I don’t always practise the ‘one in, one out’ process, there’s definitely an immediate thought of ‘will this be kept, will it be useful, what might it replace?’ Curating items to be useful, without always having a spare, is definitely something we could all do more of!
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I think you’ve summed up one of my biggest internal struggles there- without always having a spare. It can be so tempting to keep spares of almost everything! But that’s what often really creates clutter!
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