Candle mess

For several days now, I have done small decluttering projects in the evening. Yesterday, it was time to go at those candle boxes and cupboards. What I found in there was the result of keeping candles in a room that has no air condition for several hot summers (which also tells a lot about how long I haven´t been looking into those cupboards). Several of the candles had actually melted together into one unrecognizable block of wax, others were bent into a c-shape, and some more were so badly dented on the surface that no polishing could restore them to a semblance of presentability.
What was left after tossing these were all in all three unopened packages of vanilla scented votive candles, so I know better than to get another of these before having used up those I already have, plus six large-diameter candles.
And five heavy iron candle holders intended for those altar-style large candles. The thing being that I use, these days, a brass candle holder for the big candles, so these haven´t been used in a long while. As DH was against tossing them altogether, they will go to the cellar to join the extra china.
Two also unopened boxes of IKEA chandelier candles are bearing witness to the dangers of their decorations department. Being yellow and blue, I´ll use them up in the spring. And the half-burned chandelier candles I also found will be used up this season. These are actually left over from table decorations, as I like to have a fresh candle to light for every celebration. In the future, we are going to have candlelight for dinner more often, and I´ll try to always use up a candle once I put it in the holder.
At the end of  the evening, I had created enough space in my cupboard to store the leftover candles so that they will, hopefully, not melt or bend before I can use them up.
And I found myself at a goal line of sorts. The things inside my cupboards now are things I do, at this point in time, not want to throw out.
So, when I get around to using up those candles, the space I have then is what I must work with,  unless I take another swipe at the pocket book and video department.
Which perhaps I should do. There are still too many books that entered my household whenever there was a book sale in the vicinity, and which were sometimes not even read. The worst marketing trap for me used to be the sales where you got a hefty discount if you bought a certain number of books. I always came home from these with several carrier bags full of books. Most of the time, when looking inside, they turned out to have been marked down for a good reason- uninteresting, boring, or plain literary junk.
Now if I want to decide whether to buy a book at full price, I go to the closest bookstore and take a look inside. Most of the time, that´s enough to see that the cover is the most interesting thing about that book, and it stays where it is. At book sales, I did not take that time.
A lot of the results have been decluttered already. But I´m certain there are still enough to get rid of.
Besides, I have found myself reading a lot less since DH moved in with me. You see, we actually talk to each other, so there´s no need to anaesthesize myself with books in order to not feel the loneliness any more.
Thus, I am free to keep just the best ones, and let go of the rest.
I know which cupboard I´ll be digging in tonight...


Julia