Jasmine Sleigh writes for the Journal.

Over a lifetime we will spend 6 frustrated months of our lives looking for our key belongings amongst the plethora of things we own.

One third of us have enough clutter to fill a whole valuable room, and some of us are paying monthly for separate storage units for items we have forgotten about. We are filling up our homes with stuff and this has personal and community ramifications.

Our changing shopping habits have had a huge impact on our communities and planet as well as our personal space, relationships and finances. Our local high street is forced to adjust as nearly 40% of our purchases are now an impulsive online click away. There is an environmental cost to the manufacture and transportation of products, and the hidden cost for the appropriate disposal or recycling of those items once they come to the end of their short built-in shelf life. Our insatiable appetite for a bargain sidelines legitimate concerns about labour laws.

Yet a fundamental shift is happening right now that has required a u-turn on our deepest psychological desire to have and to hoard for ourselves. We are starting to question the clever marketing instructing you and I that we must own something to have all its benefits, including a lifestyle that miraculously comes with it. We are beginning to see this may be a basic ploy to have us simply buy more and line the pockets of billionaires. We can take stock, literally take stock, and assess if there may be another way to make use of items that already exist in within our local communities.

The establishment of the inspiring ‘Library of Things’ where you can borrow or hire out at minimal cost vital tools, equipment has been a huge success. For years the large Devon catalogue of books has been available to order books direct to Exmouth Library. We are now asking how often we require an item, could we borrow it.

The growth of Repair Cafes demonstrates an increased interest in seeking out to learn lost skills in maintenance and mending. We are learning to be better stewards of our stuff, recognising that we have a significant role as consumers and owners of tons of recyclable and reusable materials. We are noticing a call to invest in items that last or are striving for sustainable production methods. I recently purchased socks made in the UK, and you must really look for them, but they are out there.

Letting our stuff have as second life elsewhere is popular. There is also an ever-growing, active second-hand marketplace for the re-sell of items. Charities are thriving due to the vital revenue that their high street stores generate from customers buying preloved clothing and bric-a-brac.

Our clients donate hundreds of sacks of quality donations to charity each year, and in my view, our stores in Exmouth are some of the best stocked in the region. Amazing grassroot projects here in the town donate furniture and appliances for those in need.

In my book ‘Being Owned: A Decade in Professional Decluttering’ I shared some of the poignant stories from my working life where people were finding themselves actively impoverished by too many belongings. Lives were being stalled, and in some cases, safety completely compromised due to the weight of their acquired bric-a-brac. We shared tales of people becoming unstuck and freed to make important adjustments in their home and live their lives.

We are starting to carve a way forward, that at first felt like swimming against the cultural tide of personal possession. It is a way that offers a reflective space to ask ourselves some key questions when we look in our cupboards, and go shopping.

Jasmine Sleigh, owner of Change Your Space (www.changeyourspace.co.uk) and author of ‘Being Owned: A Decade in Professional Decluttering’ (2023)