Month: February 2024

Old keys won’t open new doors

~ Fridgesays ~ Leave a comment

Quote Anon

I’ve been fortunate to pass through many doors, some old and some new, some in foreign lands and my favourite – my front door to my home.

However, the truth is that not all doorways serve us and not all corridors to those doors benefit us. Ridiculously as humans, we often continue to walk pathway’s that we know don’t serve us…just because it’s familiar and comfortable, often not even noticing that old habits lead to old outcomes.

I find that doorways are often the larger goals in life, so instead let’s focus on the windows. What would you like to see in your life? Take one new ‘vision’ and focus on that. You know yourself better than anyone else in the universe, so how best can you work towards that vision? How can you create time to build a new habit into your day, to prioritise action? Great news, it often doesn’t mean you have to extend your day by waking earlier or staying up later, it usually means you have to think of a habit that doesn’t serve you and swap them over. For example, I spend a lot of time reading each week but I barely watch television. Personally, I adore books and find they enrich my world and whilst I do enjoy small amounts of television, I prefer to watch something with purpose, rather than just because the TV is on. Lowering screen time allows me to build in time to pursue my reading and also means I enjoy the television I do watch when I choose to. These small windows of joy collectively can help you reach your target doorways – whether that be the doorway to health and well-being or a doorway to financial freedom.

However, old keys for doorways from the past that aren’t aligned with who you are or who you want to be are often useless. They keep you in the past and lead to the same familiar places, again this isn’t always a negative but it’s worth taking time to reflect on the doors you do open.

The tongue weighs nearly nothing but few people can hold it

~ Fridgesays ~ Leave a comment

Quote anon

For readers that know me personally this might be a ‘pot /kettle’ kind of quote. I often lack the filter between my brain and my thoughts and with close people I can often over share. However, I was drawn to this quote for another reason.

Recently, I learnt a lesson that has since altered my perspective of human interaction. I was in a situation where I felt that someone needed to apologise for their behaviour, in general this human is frequently inconsiderate and rude. The interaction was via text (not someone close to me) and I sent the message in the politest tone I could. What came back to me several hours later was a message with no apology and a ramble of excuses, upon reading the text it was also rude and it lit a flame of fury inside of me. Until I realised that any interaction I’ve had with this human has been vile, why would this situation be any different? Why would a person who is inconsiderate be considerate in response?

The lesson is just this, we often expect others to handle situations the way we might, we push our values and societal expectations on others and then…we are shocked when people don’t meet our baseline. A person at a bus stop pushing in front of others, people that litter, people who don’t hold doors for others, narcissists being selfish…the list goes on. The reality that I realised was that perhaps the insane person in this scenario was me. I wouldn’t expect a person who speaks another language to understand English with no support. I wouldn’t expect a toddler to be articulate with their needs and desires. Why would I expect someone who is inconsiderate to act with consideration?

Learning this lesson made me feel instantly relieved. Often interactions with others don’t work out well and that’s ok, this serves two purposes 1) These aren’t your people – keep walking. 2) Interactions are often more about the other persons state of being than you. As such, don’t take it personally.

Holding your tongue isn’t always productive, it can quickly lead to storing negative energy in your body and that often leads to poor health, that said if you can let the negative interaction go whilst holding your tongue, walking away and feeling better – sometimes silence can be the best solution.

If you lost it, would you buy it again?

~ Fridgesays ~ Leave a comment

Quote by Fumio Sasaki

With the first month of the year behind us and warmer and lighter days on the horizon, I can’t help but feel a little hope for Spring. Traditionally a time for decluttering and deep cleaning, I’ve decided to begin early by moving items on.

I’ve currently created a three way declutter option that works for my family, my hope is this post will help you to do the same.

Sell it on: My favourite option (because people often come to your door, which means I can make money from my sofa) is facebooks market place. I will offer to drop off locally, or people can come to my home to collect, for certain items I ‘consider’ posting, working electronic items are great to sell, as often charity shops won’t accept these, although I never post these as they can get easily damaged in the post.

I’ve recently been late to the Vinted party to sell clothes as I don’t find they do well on Facebook but I am no expert. Either way, on average I’ve made between £400 and £800 on Facebook my selling items on each year. The downside is that all my friends that follow me have to look at my old rubbish (sorry)

Charity bag: I constantly have a bag for the charity shop on the go, after a while if it hasn’t sold on Facebook I’ll pop it in the charity shop, smaller items and things I think are more ‘charity’ will also go in the bag. We then drop off a small bag about once a month and know that our items that are in good condition will have a new lease of life whilst raising money for charity. The trick here is to have the bag ready so that it’s easy for you to pop in and not have to to think twice.

Sometimes it’s gotta go: Some items have had their day in the sun, have faded and need to go to the tip, items that are broken and no use. We keep this pile in our shed and this journey happens about four times a year. In an eco world where reuse and recycling is big this can often make people feel guilty. It’s worth mentioning that often the tip will recycle these items and our refuse place has a ‘to good to go’ section where people can pick up bits for free. Free cycle.com is also another site where things that need a little love are often collected by locals for free. However, sometimes things come to the end of their life and thats ok.

The main reason I’m a huge advocate of decluttering is that we don’t need it all, we hugely over consume as a society and I often find that decluttering can become a form of self care, the joy I receive from pulling out a cupboard of junk, going through it (sometimes laughing at the memories) and then reorganising and putting some items back, often makes me feel good. A clean and clearer cupboard often means my head becomes a little clearer too. I also feel good handing a bag of items over to the charity shop knowing they’ll find good homes and a new lease of life.

There are other websites you can sell on, from eBay to depop, and some people prefer a traditional boot sale is the way to shift items…find what works for you, but I urge you to release the items that no longer serve and embrace a little more space in your home rather than over flowing cupboards that resemble a game of Tetris. I promise you’ll feel better with less stuff and perhaps a little more cash in your back pocket.