“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."

I strive to balance this mantra with other principles of organization as I continue in my forced small living experience.  I always try to re-purpose worn out items in my home to serve a new function and avoid a new purchase.  At the same time, if an item can't be re-purposed quickly, it's gotta go.

One of the interesting things about living in California is that fashion can be dirt cheap or outrageously expensive.  I like visiting a store called Heavenly Couture to pick up really inexpensive trendy accessories like sunglasses and scarves.  Last summer I purchased a beautiful black and white tribal print circular scarf with red tasseled trim for $12. Cheaper than Target!

I wore that scarf over and over.  Loved it! Eventually, the red trim bled into the white tribal print in an unattractive manner and my cheap scarf could not be refreshed.  I used a seam ripper to remove the still vibrant trim from the scarf and put it away for another sewing use.  The scarf itself is a very thin weave and I decided that I could make lavender sachets for our shoe bin instead of purchasing sachets from Homegoods.

I purchased some loose lavender in 2013 at the Ojai Lavender festival. I've used half the bag for other projects but I still had 2 or 3 cups to put to use.  I cut some simple squares from my beloved scarf and quickly stitched up the sachets making use of the rest of the lavender.  The remainder of the scarf fabric has been put away in my fabric drawers. This is a simple project but an excellent exercise for myself as I try to embrace our tiny house.