Can You Store all of the Things that you Buy on a Whim for that Once a Year Special Occasion?

Valentine’s Day has just been and gone. My Facebook news feed was full of lovey dovey posts etc, which I’ve come to expect. This morning, an old school friend of mine posted up some new pictures of her Valentines day lunch. Nothing odd about that, you say, of course there’s not. My post is about the items that were on her table, not the cause for the items being on her table.

Now, it’s obvious that not everyone lives in the same size house. Mine is relatively small for a 3 bedroom, compared to my sister’s 3 bedroom in to which I could fit my living room and kitchen into just her living room! But the size of your home does determine how much storage space you have. We tend to grow into our homes.

My friend’s Valentine’s day post got me thinking; where do people store all of the random items they buy when celebrating special occasions? She had four heart patterned wine glasses, four heart shaped felt material coasters, a red table cloth, candles, place mats etc, all set up and looking marvellous on her dining table. It did look amazing. But, where is she going to store all of that now? Does she have random space in her kitchen cupboards for four new glasses? Can she store the coasters and place mats in a draw somewhere which is maybe empty? How do you live in a house for years and still have space for random accumulation, especially of items that you’ll maybe only use once a year?

I don’t have that much space at all anywhere, and recently had to have a clear out simply because I’d run out of space for the things I actually needed. We had to buy an extra kitchen corner shelf unit to house our cups and glasses, and a plate rack, to make space in my one double and two single wall cupboards for essentials like food stuffs. But, my sister’s house has enough kitchen cupboard space for 96 mugs and still room for plates, cups, glasses, vases etc.

I have to think long and hard about buying anything, because I don’t have the cupboard space to store it. I would have loved to buy a couple of cute heart shaped mugs and some candles, decorate my table with fake petals and other accoutrements etc, but, I literally don’t have anywhere to keep them afterwards. Now, I haven’t spoken to this particular friend in many years, but she posts lots of pictures, therefor I know her house isn’t that much bigger than mine. She might have had the same Valentine’s items for years and she uses them once a year as a tradition, therefor they already have a place to live somewhere? Like those sentimental value items that you find places for when you move in, because you aren’t getting rid of them due to lack of space. Other stuff be dammed. I own a few cups that are precious to me, so they have a safe spot in the back of my bigger single kitchen cupboard, the rest live out on the shelf unit we had to buy.

But really, what happens to all of the random accumulated items that are bought for that one special occasion a year? I certainly don’t have the money to buy things I’ll use once and then get rid of because I can’t store it. So why buy it?

Do people buy this stuff, shove it away somewhere and years later when they’ve run out of space decide to clear out and go ‘Ohh, I forgot I owned this’ and chuck it into the donation pile? Do they ever think, where will I use this again? Is this something I’ll make good use out of? I bought a £14 battery operated can opener last year, because my wrists are no longer up to the job of a manual one. It lives in my cutlery draw, which I had to clear out to make space for it. It’s used daily. But I don’t have the space for heart patterned glasses and placemats I’ll only use once, and I’m not getting rid of sentimental or useful items.

My main once a year decorations are Halloween and Christmas. Those decorations live in the loft and have been added-to over the years, so their storage boxes have evolved over time. You’re not likely to forget that you have those types of decorations, if they’re all kept in their places and used. But, random things like felt coasters and patterned glasses is just, useless, unless you’re planning on keeping them to re-use each year? and what happens to them afterwards, if you haven’t got anywhere to keep them until next year?

Charity shops receive so much in donations from Valentine’s and Easter holidays that they can make whole window displays and still have shelves full. Because people buy so much stuff for one holiday that they then can’t keep. It might look cute for the day, your photos are wonderful on FB. But in reality where is all of this random unnecessary accumulation going afterwards?