You’ve heard of Dry January and Veganuary – we’re doing  Use It Up-uary. 

Use It Up-uary

Instead of taking things up, or giving them up, we’re doing “Use It Up-uary”. This extends through January and February for us, but you can do it at any time. 

A New Year, A New ….?

January is a cold, dark month here in Wales. The days are short, and nature is sleeping. Although there are some signs of the spring that is to come, with late winter flowers blooming and daffodils pushing up through the frozen ground, nature is telling us that it is a time of rest.

However we are encouraged to spend January in a frenzy of activity.

Take up these new things!
Give these things up!

Try a different diet!
No not that diet, this one!

Declutter your wardrobe!
Buy these fashions for a new you!

Declutter your home!
Transform your home with these purchases!
In this new colour (that wall paint is so 2025…)

Reduce your impact on the planet!
Book these foreign holidays now!
We’ll even invent “Blue Monday” as a marketing stunt to get you thinking of travel abroad …

It can be overwhelming

Anyone else exhausted just thinking about all of the things we are encouraged to do in January? Good grief, we’ve just got through the busy-ness of Christmas and New Year holidays, and now we’re supposed to be rushing onto the next thing?

(Don’t get me started on Easter eggs already in shops. It is January for goodness sake.)

What is Use It Up-uary?

Rather than giving up or taking up new things, I’m spending the next month or two going through the house and using things up. It’s surprising how many food, body care and other items can be found dusty and forgotten at the back of cupboards and drawers.

I’m also checking seed supplies and making sure the oldest packets are going to be used this spring.

This is a great job for these shorter days because it can be done indoors. I go through the baskets of body care products in the bathroom, kitchen cupboards, spice cabinets, the depths of the freezer and other storage places, to see what we already have.

It is surprising how many duplicates of things I found. Does any home really need to be storing 12 jars of cranberry sauce and eight tubes of toothpaste?

Having a clear idea of what we already have means that items are not forgotten and can be used. 

Be prepared!

I live in a rural area and we can be cut off for days by the weather. Last week it wasn’t safe or sensible to drive, because the lane was covered with snow and ice, for four days. Last year we were without electricity for three days and had no wifi for almost three weeks. So it is important to have supplies in for emergencies. I’m not encouraging anyone to leave the cupboards bare!

Being prepared is important. I always make sure we have easy to prepare food and beverages (for us and the animals), water (that often gets cut off), candles, matches, torches and batteries, firewood and a well stocked medical kit.

Use It Up-uary is great because …

It’s free!

You don’t have to buy in anything to do Use It Up-uary because you’ve already got the items in your home. It doesn’t require a set of new storage boxes, a snazzy using-it-up outfit or a fancy filing system.

It saves money

Using up what you already have saves money because you’re using stuff you’ve already bought. It means fewer trips to the shops, which reduces the likelihood of adding impulse purchases to your basket. Money is tight for many of us as prices increase, so it’s especially frustrating to find produce and products which are well past their use by date and have to be discarded. Use It Up-uary should mean this doesn’t happen anymore.

You’ll still need to buy in fresh produce, as needed.

It helps to prevent waste

Food waste and stuff ending up in landfill is a huge problem. Checking supplies for Use It Up-uary  makes it less likely that we’ll end up having to toss things away because they can’t be used.

Body care products and make up often come with free samples. Now is a good time to check those and use them up. Wash your hair with that tiny bottle liberated from a hotel!

There is a big difference between Best Before and Use By dates. Best Before dates are about quality and Use By dates are about safety. There’s more information about this here. 

It creates more space

Whilst I am all for having enough supplies in, how did I end up with twelve jars of cranberry sauce cluttering up my kitchen cupboard? I think I’m still in “Mum stocking up the house for feeding three growing kids and their friends” mode, but only one lives at home now.

Similarly, whilst having an extra tube of toothpaste is useful, eight tubes is a lot!

Once the surplus stuff has been used up, there’ll be more space to enjoy.

It’s creative

Discovering interesting jars, packets and tins of food, given as gifts or bought on impulse, and then forgotten about, opens up delicious culinary possibilities. I’m enjoying using some some gorgeous olive oil brought as a gift from Crete, rather than keeping it for special occasions. Olive oil goes rancid in time, which would be such a waste of something so delicious.

Use really out of date seeds for plants with edible shoots and leaves (salads, brassicas, peas) to make micro-leaves for a tasty vitamin filled salad.

Use odds and ends of soap to make products for the home. I’ll be sharing the recipes here soon.

The special occasion is now

Do you have lovely scented candles, a gorgeous hand cream or a wonderful olive oil, stored away for a special occasion? Over time the candles will lose their scent, and the hand cream and oil go rancid and unusable.

The special occasion is now.

Light that candle, and enjoy its light and fragrance during the winter months.

Use the hand cream: nourish and protect your hands against winter weather.

Drizzle that oil over vegetables for roasting, or your winter salad (I love radicchio and orange salad at this time of year). 

What ideas do you have for Use It Up-uary?

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The Productive Garden

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