After scooping a flotilla of plastic boats from the bottom of my bathtub, I finally got into the shower. As I reached for my usual, cheap shampoo, I saw a once-familiar bottle behind it; the dregs of my old favourite, Aveda Shampure. It’s a lovely shampoo with a gorgeous scent, but at £10 a bottle I’d had to cut back during maternity leave. Lathering my hair, I remembered the smell I’d once taken for granted. Then, I looked more closely at the rack of products cluttering the corner of my bathroom. Four shower gels. Three facial washes. Two body scrubs, and…no! There, lurking unloved at the back was another half-bottle of Shampure. With shame I realised I couldn’t even remember when I’d bought it.
I decanted one into the other and saw there was easily most of a bottle left. Probably £7’s worth of shampoo just sitting there! And that was just in my bathroom.
Walking around the house, it dawned on me that in every room, cupboard, drawer, on every shelf, under every bed were things someone had once wanted. Things that had been paid for, made, designed. Trees had been cut down and oil refined for them, and now they gathered dust.
I thought back to the day before, traipsing around the sales in the hope of finding something, anything to buy, while all the time there was a treasure trove of things in my house that 90% of the world would give anything to own.
In short, I was ashamed.
And so, ReJanimate was born.
Every day, during the month of January, I will endeavour to bring something back to life. It could be:
Beauty products
Clothes, shoes, accessories
Books
Craft, art or musical equipment
Kitchen stuff
Gadgets
Or anything else I find.
I hope to save money, stop myself acquiring new stuff and gain a new appreciation of what I already have. It starts here.
January 1st: used old bottle of shampoo.
It’s small, but it’s a start.
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